They Say It's the 39th One That Really Hurts

The Secretary of Culture of Buenos Aires, Gustavo López, announced yesterday, after the 39th salary-related strike of the year, that he was suspending the performance schedule at the world-famous Teatro Colón until "we can guarantee the season will proceed in a predictable and reasonable way, and over all with repect to the theater-going public." This is the third performance suspension--after 1984 and 2000--due to labor disputes. Today, musicians and theater technicians asked that the theater be reopened, and the ATE (the Asociación de Trabajadores del Estado, a state employees union) threatened a general strike.

As someone who both lives in Buenos Aires (and endures strikes, and deals with the inflation people are striking over) and has gone to see a show at Teatro Colón (the Barber of Seville), let me say that it's one of the most beautiful performance spaces I've ever seen, and for so many reasons I hope that this can be resolved quickly. [Colón interior photo via Soldi.com.ar]