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Argentina boasts of being able to produce food for more than 400 million people , but this week's political debate focused on hunger: there are important sectors of the country that do not have enough money to feed properly. Thus, the third economy of Latin America is heading to extend until 2022 the "emergency food law" that has been in force since 2002. It was already passed unanimously last Thursday in the Chamber of Deputies and will become law next Wednesday in the Senate . The rule states " an emergency increase of at least 50% of the current budget items for the current year corresponding to national public food and nutrition policies", and also authorizes the Government to reallocate budget items to comply with it.

The 222 votes in favor and none against the session in Deputies give a false impression: there is no unanimity on the issue in the polarized political life of the country. Everyone is clear that the strong economic crisis unleashed after the brutal devaluation of the peso in 2018 and 2019 requires direct measures for the most affected sectors in a country that has a third of its population below the poverty rate.

The key data for the food emergency is that of homelessness: 6.7% of the country's inhabitants, which is equivalent to three million people, do not have enough income to meet their food needs. The figure is impressive for a country that its inhabitants consider "the granary of the world" , although it implies a non-excessive disbursement, 8,000 million extra pesos (about 120 million euros) until the end of the year.

The food emergency law is lived in the country with some ambivalence: if until Thursday the issue was one of the main stories of local newspapers, yesterday was crushed by the triumph of the selection of basketball at the World Cup.

The key is at the end of the camping on Avenida 9 de Julio, the main artery of Buenos Aires . If on Wednesday and Thursday the city center was chaos, with the axis that connects the south and north taken by shops and only a couple of lanes that allowed circulation, the return to normal in the area and the approval of the law took public attention from the matter. Aware that the taking of public spaces is their main weapon , the toughest sector of the picketers promises to camp three days next week if the Government does not respond to its claim to increase the amount and amount of social plans. "The food emergency law is far from satisfying claims," ​​they say.

Social assistance in Argentina is largely privatized. It is the social organizations that receive the money and redistribute it . That broad-hand policy initiated by Kirchner, and that Carolina Stanley, Minister of Social Development of Mauricio Macri, continued, generated strong criticism in recent days in the government coalition: members of the cabinet of ministers and mayors of Greater Buenos Aires question that, with a record level of social assistance, the Executive will continue to attach the label of social insensitivity.

"Argentina is not Biafra either , " said Miguel Ángel Pichetto, candidate for vice president of Macri and until four months ago spokesman for Peronism in the Senate. "Senator Pichetto is right," replied Peronist deputy Leonardo Grosso. "This is not Biafra, this is the Argentina of Mauricio Macri and Cambiemos."

Patricia Bullrich, Minister of Security and representative of the hard wing of the Government of Macri, strongly questioned the street take this week: "Who can go to look for work if every day is in this? It is one of the issues of the future that has What to change the background: all those who receive State aid must have a job, a way out of freedom and not a domain of this type of organizations, whose logic is to keep the poor in poverty. "

Everything that is said these days in Argentina has electoral logic. After the overwhelming victory of the Peronist Alberto Fernández over Macri in the primary of August 11, the country is heading towards the elections of October 27. Fernández is increasingly acting as president-elect , even if he is not, and Macri limits himself to exercising hyperactivity as president and waiting for October to launch a short and intense campaign that will allow him the miracle of reaching the second electoral round of 24 November. Peronism is interested in installing the image of a sunken country on all fronts, because if you win the election you can always say that you received a dramatic situation. Talk about "food crisis" is consistent with that goal. The Government, on the other hand, wants to raise the issue of public debate as quickly as possible .

But Fernández is convinced that Casa Rosada is his as of December 10, with former president Cristina Kirchner accompanying him as vice president. And that has its risks. " Let's not lose our cool, let's avoid being on the streets, " he asked this week, which earned him the fury of leftist organizations and the toughest sectors of Peronism.

"The pressure, apparently, is directed at Macri. But it is a preventive message for the [Peronist] candidate himself," writes analyst Carlos Pagni. "The motivation is multiple. Those who claim the most vulnerable lack unified leadership and place at Fernández's table. They place their place on the street in a future power scheme."

Fernández already senses that his presidency, if it becomes concrete, will face enormous difficulties in the beginning. The same is estimated by the International Monetary Fund, which froze the disbursement of $ 5.4 billion planned for these weeks and will wait for the winner of the elections to be defined. It is also a preventive message for Fernández.

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