Otilia Ledesma, 48, came to Argentina from Paraguay almost two decades ago. While she was looking for work, a neighborhood soup kitchen in the neighborhood where she settled “saved” her: she went there with her children, ages eight years and six months, to provide at least one plate of food a day care for. Ledesma stopped eating there when she got a job, and today she's a cook at one of those community centers. Places like this have been operating across the country for years to feed people in vulnerable situations, but since Javier Milei's government took office, the neighborhood organizations that coordinate some of the soup kitchens have criticized the state for no longer sending them resources. This Monday they denounced the “food emergency” with a line more than two kilometers long in front of the Ministry of Human Capital. “Hunger is violence; Exposing children is violence,” claimed Ledesma.
Ledesma formed a line before 10 a.m. that began at the doors of the Ministry of Human Capital in Buenos Aires and stretched for 20 blocks along the sidewalk of one of the country's main streets, 9 de Julio. A week ago, department head Sandra Pettovello refused to deal with the representatives of social organizations who showed up to ask for food for the neighborhood soup kitchens and sent them away in front of the television cameras: “Guys, are you hungrier? Come one by one and I'll write down your ID. [documento de identidad nacional]”, the name, where they come from and whether they receive individual help.” The organizations took the suggestion literally and called on the soup kitchen employees and the beneficiaries to line up this Monday to be received by the minister.
“I hope he answers us (…) The question is: How does he do it with the line that exists?” The feeders are working precariously and we can no longer take on their responsibility. [del Gobierno]“Said Ledesma this Monday. The dining room where he works for 78,000 pesos a month [90 dólares a la cotización oficial] It's called Tacitas Poderas and it welcomes 200 people a day, a number that he says has started to grow in recent months. She and five other women make it. In addition to feeding the arriving people, they sometimes also have to deal with situations that they are not prepared for, she says: “They tell you what is happening in the houses, and that hurts me a lot.” In the last few months they have also started holding raffles and selling used clothes to buy the gas cylinders needed for cooking. “The body doesn’t give, the head doesn’t give, the heart doesn’t give, but we keep going because if we don’t, no one will,” he says.
This Monday, people carry signs protesting against hunger in front of the Ministry of Human Capital in Buenos Aires. AGUSTIN MARCARIAN (Portal)
There are more than 40,000 community kitchens and picnic areas in the country that are registered in the National Register of Community Kitchens of Civil Society Organizations. Managed by various organizations, they help prevent the situation from deteriorating further in the country, where more than 40% of the population lives in poverty and more than four million children and young people suffer from food insecurity. This Monday's protest was called by the Peronism-affiliated National Economy Workers' Union, which denounces the government's suspension of food deliveries, and by the United Nations Development Program, which supplies and inspects the canteens. The lack of food in community centers is not a new complaint, but it has “increased” due to the adjustment made by the Milei government upon its arrival at Casa Rosada, the organizations say, although the government denies this.
Pettovello assured this Monday that he would not take care of her. “I did not call the people to be under the sun, the leaders called them. Recently, due to a special situation, I went to take care of them. But this time I will not receive them because I did not call them,” the minister said. The ministry also warned that canteens “applying for funds” must do so “through official channels and in compliance with the relevant requirements.” “Our goal is to eliminate brokerage. In this process, we will curb those who have the least by providing aid in the most effective and transparent way,” said a series of messages shared on X (formerly Twitter). Hours after Pettovello's comments, social leader Juan Grabois filed a criminal complaint accusing her of failing to fulfill her “duties as a public official.”
Created by the new government in its desire to cut public spending, the ministry led by Pettovello concentrates the old education, labor and social development portfolios under the leadership of a single minister. Pettovello wants to change the current aid model and make “direct transfers” to soup kitchens instead of “distributing food to the organizations” that coordinate them. As part of the new strategy that it intends to implement, it signed this Monday a food aid agreement with the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches for 177.5 million pesos [138.500 dólares al cambio oficial] to help around 36,000 people, and another with the Child Nutrition Cooperating Foundation. Behind the government's proposed change is the idea, reiterated in the cabinet, that social organizations “do business with poverty”.
The Argentine Bishops' Conference joined the complaint of the Union of National Economy Workers, which expressed in a statement that “food must not be an adjustment variable” and highlighted “the value of the organized community response.” “All care facilities that provide food, all community kitchens, parishes, evangelical churches and popular movements must receive immediate assistance,” says the text signed by Bishop Oscar Ojea, president of the Episcopal Conference, which he adds: “In our country.” Nobody should go hungry.”
A woman and a child outside the offices of the Ministry of Human Capital, guarded by police.AGUSTIN MARCARIAN (Portal)
The signs held by people outside the doors of the Ministry of Human Capital this Monday contained similar claims: “Eating is not a privilege,” “You cannot think when you are hungry,” “There is no freedom when there is nothing.” “The world is in there.” Table”, “The pots are empty”, “We are hungry”. “We are eight siblings and since Milei took office we only eat once a day,” said 20-year-old Ivana Juncosa, who told EL PAÍS: “My father was a licensed electrician and died in the pandemic.” Now we all go to work , also my youngest brother, who is 15 years old and works in a grocery store. “My sister recently moved in with her husband and niece because they can’t pay the rent.”
The critical situation in which Argentina found itself worsened after the first directives of the Milei government, which, among other adjustment measures, devalued the currency by more than 50% and announced cuts in energy and transport subsidies. Although the government has stated that food is “of course” not an adjustment variable, people present at the protest this Monday expressed the impact that the executive's decisions have had on their homes. Monthly inflation topped 25% in January and retail consumption fell 28.5% compared to 2023, according to Argentina's Association of Medium Enterprises.
The protest takes place against the backdrop of growing social conflicts in the country. Since Milei came to power, there have been spontaneous demonstrations by residents, meetings from various sectors – the last ones, organized by the left, were suppressed – and a general strike call by the unions. However, the president still enjoys great popularity among his supporters, who voted for him with 56% of the vote in November.
“The political situation affects the neighborhoods that have the least,” lamented Agustina Acevedo, 29, who has worked in the Milagros dining room for six years. Acevedo describes what he observes around him on the western outskirts of Buenos Aires: “January is hard, but now it's even worse. The number of homeless people has increased, unemployment has increased… Or those who have a job have little salary to support their families.” If they normally provide food three times a week, now they only do it once, in order to to ration supplies. At her side, other women hold flags with the names of the soup kitchens where they work: Arcoíris, Los ibiyes, El arroyito, Granja de Helen… Acevedo already knows that the minister will not receive her that day, but if she does if it did, she would give her an invitation. : “We look forward to waiting for you and telling you about the situation in the districts.”