In the Argentine province of Córdoba, a 15-year-old boy was shot by the police on 25 October. This time it was in a small town. In addition to denouncing the murder of the police, we want to analyse what explains the fact.

The Argentine economic model has never placed dry rural areas on the map. Thus, the northwest and the north of Córdoba have run out of people, many baserritarras have gone to the cities. Dry areas have become deserts and so, yes, entrepreneurs have come to concentrate the land. The neoliberal model exploits some sectors as worthless labor, feeds the mass of unemployed to keep low wages and gets workers faithful to the repression among the poor. The young people living in these rural areas are a brutal example: those who were exploited at the time of harvest (at this time they put together the onion from dawn to dusk), those called to be unemployed at most times of the year, police officers and jailers. The monuments to this model are prison schools and police, located at the head of the region; most of the police in the province are from the north-west, with little chance of maintaining a fixed salary, dreaming of being policemen since childhood. They say they're going to go up to social classes.

So on one side were the exploited and the unemployed, on the other, the uniformed. They're the same, they grew up and they grew up together, they played soccer together. At one point, some got the uniform, the salary and the gun. And they thought their neighbors were dangerous, they made them believe. We are talking about the class struggle between the exploited. Exploited, adolescent and young people use poor quality drugs or drinks to run away and have fun. The police also use alcohol and drugs, perhaps of another quality. But biases get deeper, dangerous people don't finish school, they don't have a job, or they have very little work, and weekends get drunk and drugged. Prejudices based on racism and class to make young “black” dangerous.

Today we are talking about boys, it seems that girls are safe, except in homes. But it is not so, pregnancy and motherhood in adolescents is common in this territory, as it is also common to suffer violence from couples, or sexual assaults and violations within the family. Domestic work, children and family care: they have little time and little opportunity to dream of other futures.

Contradictions are deepened, there are small burglaries or drug sales, and clashes between groups... and the police do not answer (for some, because they are part of the business). Care policies do not help either. People no longer believe in “democratic” ways of resolving conflicts and ask for a tough hand. And when you give it hard, it looks good. Those who have suffered violence are angry at the injustices and at the neighbours. The contradictions in families are exacerbated, in all there is a police officer and someone who has suffered police violence.

In this context, on the night of 25 October in the village of Paso Viejo (about 1000 inhabitants) the police killed some young people, killed Joaquín (15 years) and wounded two other young people with bullets. It is the third young man who has been killed by the police in the province since the beginning of the pandemic, the ninth in Argentina. In this context, their angry friends destroyed the police station. According to police analysis, young people were in a state of drunkenness and under the influence of drugs.

The people are demanding impossible justice, because Joaquin is dead, and there is no justice possible; young policemen of the same town shot him behind his back and left, let him die. Justice also for their friends, for those exploited and stigmatized young people, so that there are no more deaths. While recalling Joaquin and calling for justice, other people’s neighbours have spoken out in favour of the police and have denounced young people.

This time they have not been able to silence the case and have not had the ability to create a false case. Therefore, there are five policemen imprisoned, the Córdoba police have pulled out a new protocol and other political reactions have occurred; human rights groups, the Sports Advisor and others have come to visit us.

But the model remains the same; the land and water are in few hands and the young people have no real chance of being baserritarras, they will remain in exploitation. One of the few possible options for getting a salary and going up to class is wearing the uniform, and for thousands of young people that's the dream. The leisure model is based on toxic consumption of poor quality. There's no gap to dream, to hope, to the future -- and at the same time, we're still in the decay of society.

The ties and social networks of the people have been broken these days: violence, falsehoods, fears, criminalisation of victims and racial prejudices. The organized popular movement of the area is the Rural Movement of Córdoba and sees the popular organization as a possible solution: productive projects, rural schools, training and health centers or women encounters; developing challenges, problems and victories in favor of a different model of society, a peasant model. To create and recreate links with the popular organization, not on the skin but on the bottom, in a healthy social, economic and political model, supporting and supporting each other.