Argentineans, increasingly precarious, demonstrate to have enough to eat and work
Audio 01:18
Protesters in the streets of Buenos Aires demanding jobs, better income and more assistance, October 14, 2021 © Matias Baglietto, Reuters
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Social mobilization day this Thursday, October 14 in Argentina, with demonstrations all over the country.
While four in ten Argentines live below the poverty line, social organizations have blocked many roads as well as the main accesses to the capital Buenos Aires to demand more means for food assistance and the creation of formal jobs.
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With our correspondent in Buenos Aires,
Théo Conscience
Sitting in the middle of the road, hundreds of "
piqueteros
" blocked the Saavedra Bridge, the main access north of Buenos Aires this Thursday morning.
Objective: to “
isolate
” the capital to alert people to
the critical social conditions
in which millions of Argentines live.
"
We are active in neighborhoods where you can see the hunger and misery that there is in the soup kitchens
", explains José Carlos Vazquez, member of the Workers' Pole.
With 18 million Argentines
below the poverty line
, these soup kitchens are increasingly in demand, and need more resources, insists Mariela Copertari.
She works in one of these canteens: “
The government thinks that the only food we need is polenta, pasta and tomatoes
!
"
Large public infrastructure plan
At around noon, the activists lift the roadblocks at the entrance to the city and head to the Ministry of Social Development with a demand: a large public infrastructure plan to create jobs and put an end to informal work.
“
There are neighborhoods where there is no sewage system.
So, if we launched public works to resolve this issue, that would also create jobs
, explains Guido Vidal.
What we want is to work, to be able to access decent work, formal work.
"
At the end of the day, the demonstrators disperse with a warning: if their demands are not heard, they will return to set up a camp in front of the ministry.
►
To read and listen also:
International report: Villa 31, Argentinian slum
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Argentina
Poverty
Economic crisis
Social issues