Cristina: “No tengan miedo por lo que va a pasar, ustedes son los verdaderos dueños de su destino"

http://www.telam.com.ar President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner today asked Argentines "not to be afraid of what will happen" because "they are the true masters of their destiny," although she made it clear that the country will continue "on the path of change and transformation, since no one votes backward," as she spoke to more than 800,000 people who filled the Plaza de Mayo at the closing ceremony of the national celebrations. "I tell Argentines not to be afraid of what will happen, because you are the true architects of your destiny," the president told the crowd gathered in downtown Buenos Aires to celebrate the 205th anniversary of the May Revolution. The president spoke this afternoon on national television from the main square, packed with a crowd of more than 800,000 people who even filled the surrounding avenues, as part of the closing ceremony for the May 25th national celebrations, which began at 4:00 p.m. with a music festival. In this regard, Cristina reaffirmed her conviction that the next government that emerges after the presidential elections "will ratify the policies implemented over the last 12 years." Speaking from the stage, accompanied by the cabinet, governors, and artists, the president praised the historic role played by human rights organizations in establishing truth and justice, and noted that "the Mothers and Grandmothers are the ones who deserve the memory of the Argentine people." The president also urged "union leaders" today to "start December 10th to adopt the same attitude and the same principles to obtain benefits for the thousands of workers" they currently support. "If they don't, I'm going to tell the workers to change their leaders so they can continue to enjoy the same rights and benefits they've had for the last 12 years," she emphasized. The president, the keynote speaker at the celebrations for the 205th anniversary of the May Revolution, recalled that exactly 12 years ago, Néstor Kirchner, elected president "with barely 22 percent of the vote," gave a speech before the Legislative Assembly in which he declared that he would not leave his convictions at the door of the Casa Rosada. "That may be the most memorable phrase, but he also said that change should not only be economic, cultural, or social. He also spoke about his country's political leadership and stated that it would no longer be judged by its diagnoses, but also by its conduct, its efficiency, and, fundamentally, by the results of the policies that would be applied to the country," she stated. "Néstor picked up the pieces of the country they had left behind, with a hopeless society lacking self-esteem, but he had plenty of will, courage, and determination to rebuild it," and recalled several of the measures taken over the years, such as the nationalization of the AFJP (Federal Pension Funds) and Aerolíneas Argentinas (Aerolíneas Argentinas), and the recovery of YPF (YPF) into state hands, which became one of the "2,000 most important companies in the world." He also recalled that "with that firmness, despite criticism from both outside and inside, he stood firm and carried out the most important sovereign debt restructuring in the world, and today, a few powerful vultures remain fluttering outside, controlling the media and government organizations, those that proliferate everywhere, and no one knows where they get their funds." In her lengthy speech, which lasted more than an hour, she remembered the thousands of people who witnessed the transfer of the San Martín Sabre yesterday and the hundreds of children who paraded through the festivities in their uniforms commemorating the Liberator. She emphasized that "there is nothing more harmful than cultural subordination and educational misinformation that prevents us from deciding which is the right path." Cristina sent a message in view of the upcoming presidential elections, stating that "those who want to make people believe that it's good for everything to change every four years do so because they don't want to change anything and for everything to stay the same. However, this process of transformation that has been going on for 12 years must continue, because it must be deepened." The celebrations for the anniversary of the May Revolution lasted four days, and various stands were set up around the Plaza, including the "Homeland is Our Land" Walkway; The "Homeland is Innovation" exhibition and the "Our Land Products Fair," visited by more than a million people, and a giant stage was set up in the main square where dozens of popular artists performed.