Guillermo Cain, now 42, was just 14 when he became an activist with the Obrero party, a left-wing Argentine political party that is part of a larger coalition representing working-class interests in local parliaments.
Inspired by a vision of a better, fairer country and disillusioned with decades of governments that failed to deliver for the country’s workers, he has been involved in several labor movements over the past three decades and helped organize the piquetero movement in La Matanza, one of Buenos Aires’ poorest neighborhoods, the mass movement of unemployed workers that took to the streets during the 2001 economic collapse under the government of Fernando de la Rúa.
Cain will speak at 7 p.m. Saturday at Medicine for Nightmares bookstore, 3036 24th Avenue, between Treat and Harrison streets. He currently serves as a local council member representing Buenos Aires, is a history professor at the University of Buenos Aires, and is a vocal critic of Argentina’s new president, Javier Milley, a radical liberal who is determined to curb public spending.
Milley has vowed to cut taxes, abolish the national bank and cut state institutions by half. The new leader has been widely compared to former U.S. President Donald Trump. Indeed, Milley has repeatedly voiced his admiration for Republican leaders and former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.
Kane sees Millay’s rise as dangerous and worrying.
“He is certainly selling himself as the best scholar of U.S. imperialism,” Cain said. “You could say that in Argentina, our Project 2025 began in 2024 with mass layoffs and inflationary wage cuts. He is selling himself as a political tool of the U.S. in the region.”
The South American lawmakers are visiting San Francisco as part of LaborFest 2024, a month-long festival featuring events promoting workers’ rights. This year, organizers are celebrating the 90th anniversary of the 1934 San Francisco General Strike and the West Coast Maritime Strike.
During the conversation, Cain also promoted his new book, “The Crisis of American Empire: Trump and Biden,” drawing parallels between Milley, Trump and current President Joe Biden. “We’re trying to discuss some of the key strategic challenges to a revolutionary realignment in the United States, and this book is an attempt to start a discussion with American radicals and activists,” Cain said.
Medicine for Nightmares Bookstore is located at 3036 24th Street between Treat Avenue and Harrison Street. Guillermo Cain’s talk will run from 7 to 9 p.m.
