On his fourth trip to the United States in six months, Argentine President Javier Milei met this week with the leaders of Silicon Valley companies to promote the creation of a technological innovation hub in the South American country. From there, Milei received good news: the new Chief of Staff, Guillermo Francos, managed to take the State scrapping bill one step further and is now ready to be voted on by the Argentine Senate in June. But he also learned that the scandal over the Government’s refusal to distribute more than five million kilos of food stored in state warehouses had grown to affect one of its star ministers, Sandra Pettovello, head of the Human Capital portfolio.
Pettovello reversed the Government’s initial position on Thursday and announced that he would implement a protocol “for the immediate delivery of food that is soon due through the Argentine Army.” In addition, he dismissed a senior official and opened an internal investigation for poor performance. The decisions show a change in narrative: in the previous days, the Government assured that the food purchased by the previous administration was saved “for future catastrophes”, questioned its quality and appealed a judge’s ruling that forced its distribution.
Among the food retained there are almost 340,000 kilos of powdered milk that expire at the end of next month, according to social leader Juan Grabois, author of the complaint that gave rise to the judicial summons to the Government to present an urgent plan for the distribution of the food. The list also includes oil, flour and yerba mate. “Distribute the food, scoundrels,” Grabois shot through his social networks.
The controversy has hit the Government in a sensitive area, assistance to the most vulnerable population in a country where one in two people is poor. Argentina has had a food emergency for years that has worsened since Milei came to power. Households with insufficient income to buy food have multiplied and at least five million people, mostly children, depend on aid to avoid going hungry. A clear indicator of the magnitude of the crisis is that milk consumption has plummeted by almost 20%, a basic good that is sold today at European prices in Argentina.
The authorities have just increased the monthly sum that the poorest families will receive to buy food – up to a maximum of 108,000 pesos (about one hundred dollars) for those with three or more children – but they refuse to distribute bags of food to the free kitchens that operate in the poor neighborhoods of Argentina. The official argument is that irregularities have been detected in the distribution system managed by social organizations, which they accuse of being “managers of poverty.” Several of these organizations were part of the previous Government headed by the Peronist Alberto Fernández.
In his resolution, Judge Sebastián Casanello highlighted that the alleged victims are not those who manage the soup kitchens, but rather the people who “make up socially vulnerable groups” and attend them in search of a plate of food. “The dining rooms, in any case, are part of a containment network, they are a means, not an end in themselves,” Casanello stressed.
The presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, denied this Friday that there is any contradiction between the different versions offered by the Government since it was revealed last week that there were more than 5,000 tons of food held in official warehouses. “The schedule is not there.” [de reparto] still, but there is room,” said Adorni, confirming that there are packages of milk and flour that expire in July. “There would have to be a lot of cynicism to let food expire and not distribute it,” he said, without clarifying the fate that the Army will give them.
The Government claims that they are foods of dubious quality – it has sent a sample of yerba mate to analyze whether it is suitable for human consumption – and that they are reserved for cases of emergency or catastrophe. Even so, it did not send any shipments to Bahía Blanca in December when this Buenos Aires city was hit by a storm that caused at least 13 deaths, nor to those affected by the floods in the northern province of Corrientes in March.
When he visited Bahía Blanca, Milei encouraged the population to move forward on their own: “We always put forward our solidarity, because I am fully confident that you will be able to resolve this situation in the best possible way, with the resources that already exist.”
This week, the Argentine president once again categorically opposed all state intervention, even in the face of extreme situations such as hunger. “Do you think people are so idiotic that they won’t be able to decide?” he asked the audience at Stanford University on Wednesday. “There will come a time when you will die of hunger, so, let’s say, that is, you will decide in some way not to die. So I don’t need someone to intervene to solve the externality of consumption because, in the end, someone is going to solve it.”
Bleeding of senior officials
The scandal over the withheld food claimed the head of the Secretary of Adolescence, Children and Family, Pablo de la Torre. Pettovello not only dismissed him but also reported him to the Anti-Corruption Office for “lack of transparency” in his management, the presidential spokesperson reported without giving more details. According to the Todo Noticias channel, De la Torre is suspected of having hired more than a hundred people outside the State, including people who were paid but had no function, an accusation that the former secretary denies.
His departure is reminiscent of the one carried out months ago by the then Secretary of Labor Omar Yasín, whom Milei blamed for the 50% salary increase in the Executive through a decree signed by the president himself. Yasín then and De la Torre now have served as firewalls to silence criticism.
Milei’s Government has suffered the largest loss of senior officials in memory at the start of a term in Argentina. In total there are now 36, which gives, on average, one every five days, according to the list prepared by political scientist Pablo Javier Salinas. Three out of every ten resignations have been in Human Capital, the mega-ministry that absorbed the Education, Labor and Social Development portfolios and is in the hands of Pettovello.
“The president is aware of everything. He expressed his full support for Minister Pettovello,” Adorni said. “For us, Minister Pettovello is number one and she is giving everything in such a complicated Ministry,” he added about the management of this Argentine journalist and politician who is a personal friend of Milei. The citizens’ assessment differs from that of the Government, according to data from a recent survey by the University of San Andrés: The positive image of the minister is only 29%, while the negative image scales to 33%.
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