Timeline of the Collectors' Eviction at Parque Rivadavia

Since February 2, the City Government --with the Buenos Aires police as its enforcing arm-- evicted the Collectibles Fair that had been set up since 2022 by "manteros" (street vendors). But let's call them fair dealers and collectors --which is what they actually are-- because the other term seeks to stigmatize them and brand them as usurpers of public space. As I anticipated in September in this article, it was clear this was going to happen.

Some context before we continue, because some of you know me but many don't. I'm not just a collector -- I also used to go to Parque Rivadavia to sell my stuff at the fair, and I'm a local resident of the area. And I love it; it's a very important place to me. That's why I'm following this story: so there's a record of it.

Comuna 6 (Caballito) received 120 signatures from residents complaining about the fair and, with a judge's order, decided to evict more than 200 street vendors who were trying to work and were bringing life to the Park. Not only messing with the collector identity that defines the place, but also with the micro-economy it generated for the sellers and the surrounding businesses. No fair, no people.

Episode 1, Sunday 2/2

On Sunday 2/2, the police showed up when the Park gates opened and prevented the setup of the "blankets" (vendor mats), under threat of confiscating merchandise. We were told --I participate in that fair-- that just this once they would allow deliveries, but they didn't want people gathering in the Park anymore. The complaints, valid from the residents' perspective but also lacking empathy, highlighted the occupation of the plaza's public space, fights between neighbors and vendors, and the alleged sale of illegal goods.

I'm a collector, a Caballito resident for 10 years, and a fair dealer at the Park. As I wrote before, I can understand that the complaints are partly valid, but there are two points I want to dig into.

On one hand, the fair ran from 8 AM to 3 PM on Sundays and was "self-governed": there was no one organizing it, so we can't vouch for more than 200 people. If someone got into a fight, if someone was selling illegal goods, those were situations that could happen. In my experience, however, I never saw conflicts beyond an old lady who would always come to pick fights with us and the dogs, but it never escalated. Still, this lack of guidelines and controls caused the Park's occupation to spiral out of hand, and that drew a lot of attention. That would be the mea culpa that those of us who inhabited the Fair should make, but people are afraid of "organizing" because they associate it with politics, and taking the lead of such a large movement isn't easy.

The other point is that if there's a public space that generates employment, tourism, and strengthens the neighborhood's micro-economy, and you can see the fair growing from 10 to 50, to 150, to more than 200 vendors, the City Government should have come to talk and seek policies to help us organize, do a census, see what's going on, find solutions. We already know the PRO party's "solution": they're terrible at keeping the city clean but very effective at acting against the people, their work, and their culture.

Episode 2, Sunday 9/2

The following Sunday (9/2) there was no police operation and people gathered at the Park to trade collectibles. Some even set up their blankets. The idea that "the police won't come back" took hold in some minds, and they were convinced that the following Sunday the fair would return. A grave mistake.

Episode 3, Sunday 16/2

Sunday 16/2, I walk from home to the Park (about 5 blocks) and upon arriving I see once again most entrances closed and police at the few open ones, one on Av. Rivadavia and another on Rosario and Doblas. I approach and two officers ask me to open my backpack to enter the Park. I ask why, and the answer is "people can't gather to deliver things." Not wanting to pick a fight, I turn around and head toward Av. Acoyte and Av. Rivadavia, where I find about 100 people delivering toys, trading stickers, selling toy cars. Now the neighbors will really be happy, I think. The solution of kicking us out of the park created more chaos.

From the Government's side, the message is that the fair still exists. Which is partly true, because the structured stalls (about ten of them) were able to open. But the Park showed its first signs of death, turning into a desert what used to be a promenade that generated not just work but also culture and happiness for many. The Park, the amphitheater, El Quinto Escalon, all empty like the heart of the Comuna 6 president, Federico Ballan, and like the administration of the head of government, Jorge Macri.

That Sunday was one of sadness. Meanwhile, far from finding solutions and organizing, the fair dealers were fighting in Facebook groups where goods are sold and information about the Park's current situation is exchanged.

Episode 4, Sunday 23/2

When it seemed things couldn't escalate further, with police already blocking Park access and searching backpacks, on Sunday 23/2 the police control unlocked a new achievement: they issued a misdemeanor citation to a collector who was making deliveries near the book stall Fair area "for sitting in the same spot for too long." The guy (known as Tutti and admin of one of the Park's Facebook groups) lived through a horrible moment just for delivering online sales in an area that belongs to the Park but isn't part of its fenced-off zone.

Yet another Sunday of closed gates and police control where some interesting changes were also witnessed. For some reason, if you had trading stickers you could enter the amphitheater. Maybe Fede Ballan was missing some from his Worst Commune Leaders sticker album, but I think he must have completed it by now. On the other hand, something to celebrate: some fair dealers got together to look for a solution. I was able to talk with Gonzalo (known in the scene as Gonzalien), who together with his partner was chatting with fair dealers and collecting signatures.

It was no longer just another Sunday of chaos on Acoyte and Rivadavia, with an empty Park and police control -- the latter had reached an absurd level. While so far this year 25 prisoners have escaped counting Caballito alone, the enforcement effort is focused on the working person and the overweight collector.

Episode 5, Sunday 2/3?

We'll keep following the events. We'll be there to reclaim the identity that was stolen from the Park. This is a crusade for work, culture, and people's happiness against those who are anti-people, who want to install FutbolGolf courts and impose a poshness that we neither have nor are, looking at cities we don't want to become. Because we are Argentine, because you don't mess with people's livelihoods, and because we will defend our culture.