Buenos Aires (AFP)
No one escapes the economic crisis that is shaking Argentina, not even the dead: in this country where nearly 40% of the population lives below the poverty line, burials and the upkeep of graves have become a luxury.
"The problem is economic. People have no money to pay for a funeral service, they help each other with relatives or they borrow, some come to pay with dollars they had put aside or kept under the mattress ", tells AFP Juan Tapia, one of the owners of the Cocheria Tacuari funeral home.
"We offer services that are always cheaper because, unfortunately, people no longer have the purchasing power of a few years ago. Having to pay for one, this could amount to some families not eating for a month" , he adds.
The most accessible service offered by this house, founded 60 years ago in Buenos Aires, is cremation without a funeral vigil, at 25,000 pesos (around 376 euros). From the hospital, the deceased goes directly to the cemetery, in a basic coffin made of poplar wood.
Depending on the quality of the coffin and the services, the bill for a funeral can reach 180,000 pesos (about 2,700 euros).
The "direct" service has become the most popular.
"Almost 90% (of customers) opt for cremation. Young people do not want to know anything about a tomb, or a hut in a columbarium, or a vault," said Tapia.
In 2018, out of the total number of deaths recorded in Buenos Aires, 78.5% resulted in cremation, according to AFP calculations from official registers. This is the highest figure in the past decade.
"To rent a space in a cemetery you have to pay a certain amount per year and many do not want or can not do it, so they opt for cremation", which does not entail costs in the long term, deciphers this expert, in a country which is going through its most serious economic crisis since 2001 and whose new government has just adopted emergency measures.
- Case for sale -
In the event of burial or if the urn containing the ashes is deposited in a columbarium, the municipal cemeteries of the Argentine capital charge annual fees and maintenance costs which range from 400 to 2,000 pesos (from 6 to 30 euros) .
In private cemeteries, the plots are sold from 55,000 pesos (830 euros) and the maintenance cost comes down to a minimum of 500 pesos (7 euros) per month.
A few months ago, Patricia Alvarez, a translator, put an ad on the internet to resell a hut bought by her family in the municipal cemetery of La Chacarita, in the heart of Buenos Aires.
"I am selling it because it no longer makes sense" to own one, she told AFP. To date, she has received no calls.
"The expenditure is not so high, it is about 500 pesos per month, but when it accumulates, it can be embarrassing and that adds to other costs at the moment", confides t -she.
The Alvarez family's hut is in good condition, but others seem to be accumulating debts, as indicated by signs asking the owners to "come and see the administration" of the cemetery.
In the aisles, there are many abandoned, overgrown, or destroyed graves.
Standing next to her mother's grave, gloves and pruning shears in hand, Maria did not prefer to give her last name for fear of reprisals by the cemetery staff.
For Jorge Bonacorsi, president of the Argentine federation of funeral services (FADEDSFYA), these new practices correspond to a cultural change and are part of a global trend.
"What now prevails is a certain practicality in terms of feelings. People want to put an end (quickly) to this problem", explains Mr. Bonacorsi.
For his part, Daniel Ferreyra, one of the leaders of the group of private cemeteries Grupo Jardin del Pilar, located in the northern suburbs of the capital, warns: "the direct service from the hospital to the cemetery has a very strong psychological effect, because it does not allow loved ones to grieve. "
© 2019 AFP