Federal Police vans, motorbikes, and officers spent all afternoon Monday stationed  at the entrance of three state media outlets in what journalist unions called “an act of intimidation.” The media outlets — news agency Télam, Televisión Pública, and Radio Nacional — are among the state-owned companies that could be privatized via President Javier Milei’s omnibus bill and thus far, there has been no explanation for the sudden presence of law enforcement outside their Buenos Aires headquarters.

Buenos Aires’ press workers union, SiPreBA by its Spanish acronym, considered that police presence generated “a climate of violence” and that it sought to impact the “freedom of expression, the right of communication, and democracy.” 

Two sources from the Security Ministry, which is in charge of the Federal Police, told the Herald they had no information on the matter. One of them rejected the idea of the operation being an intimidation tactic. A spokesperson for Security Minister Patricia Bullrich did not respond to requests for comment.

Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni said on Tuesday the operation was “an inconsequential episode” in his daily press conference.

Agustín Secchi, secretary general of the SiPreBA, said that when Télam workers asked the officers what were they doing, they answered that they did not have any tasks beyond being there. He said that there was no official explanation for the operation. Other sources told the Herald that no police vans came back on Tuesday, but that two police officers did.

“This happened at a time when the government wants to turn these outlets into corporations, to pave the way for their privatization,” Secchi told the Herald.

Télam and the state company that owns the radio and the TV station are among the 41 state companies declared “subject to privatization” in the omnibus bill Milei sent to Congress at the end of 2023.

“[The workers] considered it an attempt at intimidation, but they [the government] are not going to accomplish that because our comrades have a powerful fighting tradition,” Secchi said. 

Secchi said that the government has yet to name a board of directors in the state media outlets. The government did not accept the resignation of Bernarda Llorente, who was appointed as the Télam’s head by the previous administration. On Monday, Llorente, who is still in charge, called the police presence “surprising and inexplicable”

He said the union is fighting for the media outlets to remain state-owned companies, broadcasting an open radio transmission on Tuesday at the doors of the Radio Nacional station. It also filed an injunction against the privatization of public media outlets but has yet to receive a response.