When Pablo Casas woke up in Buenos Aires on Tuesday, November 3, he soon discovered that he had been suspended from his job for a month.

For just over two years, he had worked in the Observability department at IT systems company ITTI, which provided support to the Grupo Vázquez holding company, primarily Ueno Bank.

In recent days, the Paraguayan-origin bank has become a central figure in a financial crisis in Argentina’s neighboring country. The crisis led to a freeze on customers’ savings and triggered impeachment proceedings against President Santiago Peña.

Casas is one of approximately 1,000 workers based in Argentina who were responsible for providing IT services to the conglomerate.

They were part of ITTI’s largest division. The company also has employees in Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Uruguay and Bolivia, as well as Paraguay, who are now facing a similar situation.

“Early in the morning [on Tuesday], they shut down all of the bank’s operations without saying anything, without any communication from management, and without explaining why,” Casas told the Herald.

The only explanation came in an email from Human Resources stating that “all communication channels were available” for employees to contact them.

However, that did little to reassure them. “We don’t really know much either,” was the response Casas received from HR.

Leandro Vildoza, another Buenos Aires-based employee who was suspended, told the Herald that he first learned of the problems facing the holding company the previous Monday through news reports from Paraguay.

That day, all scheduled meetings were canceled, while all communication channels used by employees, including Slack........

© Buenos Aires Herald