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Tens of thousands of people, members of social organizations and left-wing political parties, demonstrated in the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires, to demand more economic aid from the government, as well as an increase in subsidies, to deal with the growing number of people in poverty. Inflation in Argentina is around 60% per year.
Social anger continues to gain strength in Argentina. Faced with the galloping rise in prices, which plunges more and more people into poverty and extreme poverty, on Thursday, June 9, demonstrations with thousands of people took place in the streets of the capital, Buenos Aires.
The demonstrators marched to demand state aid, since those decided so far are considered insufficient.
Thousands of members of the groups that make up the Unidad Piquetera, a group that includes social organizations, left-wing parties and groups from various unions, marched from the southern, northern and western outskirts of the capital, in columns of people that crossed the entire city, before stopping in front of the Ministry of Social Development.
One of the main claims referred to the problem of hunger, which continues to increase in the country.
“This is a food-producing country, we produce for 400 million people and here we are 47 million. It cannot be that there are families that today cannot put a decent plate of food on their table,” he told the AFP news agency, Silvia Saravia, coordinator of the organization Barrios de Pie.
According to the leader, the Ministry of Social Development failed to fulfill its promise to attend monthly soup kitchens and to improve the quality and quantity of food.
Saravia insisted that “there is a very serious situation, due to the deterioration of income due to inflation. Food inflation is higher than average inflation,” he warned.
“There is an adjustment plan underway and most of the people are suffering from it,” he assured.
The consequences of the war in Ukraine have aggravated an already worrying situation
Like many countries in the world, Argentina is affected by the consequences of the war in Ukraine.
In March, food prices rose by 7.2%, water and electricity by 7.7% and clothing prices by 10.9%… Inflation reached 16.1% in the first quarter and 55.1% in the last twelve months, one of the highest rates in the world.
If the consequences of the war in Ukraine are one of the factors that can explain this inflation, it is not the only one responsible. The social situation in the country had already been considerably aggravated by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Although the 10% growth rate of last year showed an improvement, Argentina lives, in more general terms and especially since the “great economic crisis” of 2001, from which it has not yet been able to recover, under the yoke of enormous debts .
In 2018, with the country mired in recession, the government of the then president, Mauricio Macri, requested an unprecedented loan of more than 45,000 million from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), which must be repaid in 2024.
Since then, Argentina increasingly lives to the rhythm of debt payments. And the requested loans are also accompanied by austerity measures demanded by the creditors.
Eduardo Belliboni, leader of the Polo Obrero, told the AFP news agency that “the social situation worsens as a result of the adjustment and the agreement with the International Monetary Fund that the government has signed, establishing priorities that are not those of the Argentine people.” .
AFP
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