The lack of Panini stickers drives parents and children crazy in Argentina and becomes a matter of state

• Music The Argentine madness for Coldplay: 550,000 tickets sold in a country in chronic crisis

• Cine Argentina and Cristina Kirchner take the Mostra with a dry, sober and profound exercise of pain and memory

• Music The Argentine rock revolution that emerged after the Malvinas War

It shouldn't happen.

That a pack of trading cards drives parents and children crazy, confronts newsstands and digital sales platforms and consumes hours of analysis and meetings of senior government officials is something that should not happen.

But it happens in

"I've been trying to get even one package all morning: nothing," laments Claudio, a young 35-year-old father who, like many others, goes from kiosk to kiosk looking for "figurines" (that's what cards are called in Argentina).

But in most kiosks there are none, and

: home delivery applications, supermarkets, gas stations.

The discomfort of consumers even led to

.

Imports are not a solution either, because the Argentine government imposes strong restrictions on imports, fearful that the Central Bank will run out of international dollar reserves.

Cards arrive from Brazil, but not enough.

Thus,

, which in these times must deal with inflation that is already around one hundred percent per year, but offered its halls and senior positions to discuss Panini's wrong.

He summoned the Kiosqueros Union and Nicolás Salustro, members of the family that represents Panini in Argentina.

The twitter account of the Secretary of Internal Trade published days ago the most successful tweet in its entire history:

has begun . From the Secretary of Internal Trade we opened a channel of dialogue between the Unión de Kiosqueros and Panini Argentina, making our legal and technical teams available to collaborate in the search for possible solutions".

The solemn tweet was accompanied by an even more solemn photo, a round table at which 12 people sat for, for an hour and a half,

.

The posting on social networks generated a wave of ridicule and memes.

Matías Tombolini, the Secretary of Commerce, is directly responsible for dealing with inflation.

Seeing him leading a meeting for Panini was, for many, not very serious at least.

"It is the scarcity that

. The unionized kiosk vendors threaten pickets and ask for the government's participation. It is absurd that the Secretary of Commerce gets involved in these things, but it is also the inevitable path of excess regulations," analyzed the journalist Hernán Iglesias Illa on the site seul.ar.

"The problem of the figurines

. There are no figurines because we lack many other things. In Uruguay, Ecuador and Brazil, the other South American World Cup countries, there is no shortage of figurines Nor absurd import controls," he added.

The unhinged Argentine economy is not the only explanation for the Panini drought.

The Argentine soccer team has gone 33 games undefeated and in the two-time world champion country there are well-founded expectations that Lionel Messi, in what could be his last World Cup, will finally lift the champion trophy that he touched in 2014 at the Maracana.

Thus, the fever for "figurines" is remarkable.

And, with more demand - 18 percent - and less supply, the result is what it is: a thriving black market in which

Conforms to The Trust Project criteria

Know more

• Argentina

• Leo Messi

• Brazil

• Argentina National Soccer Team

• qatar