Groups of protesters marched on the square Plaza de Mayo in the Argentine capital of Buenos Aires on July 28, led by professional organizers or “piqueteros” demanding more social plans and a basic universal income from the nation’s center-left government.
The demonstrators called for a minimum monthly income subsidy of 100,000 pesos, which amounts to US$758.
More administrative shake-ups also took place last week after President Alberto Fernandez reportedly removed the country’s newly appointed minister of the economy, Silvina Batakis, on July 27 after only a few weeks in office.
President of the lower house of congress, Sergio Massa, was quickly given the position after Fernandez removed Batakis.
Massa is currently the minister of the economy, agriculture, and productive development.
The former minister of the economy, Julian Dominguez, resigned last week on July 29. This arrived on the heels of the presidential adviser and secretary of strategic affairs, Gustavo Beliz, stepping down on July 28.
So in less than 30 days, four high-level Argentinian cabinet members have either quit or been relieved from office.
Beliz’s resignation comes at a critical time for the politically divided administration. He was one of the officials closest to Fernandez and assumed different roles, including the direction of the economic and social council.
Meanwhile, many Argentinians struggle to access basic necessities for survival due to soaring inflation, which reached 60 percent in July.
The looting of a supermarket in the town of Rawson, in the province of San Juan, took place in broad daylight over the weekend on July 30.
A large group of individuals entered the store Chango Mas, taking control and looting while trapping 20 store employees inside. The employees were eventually rescued by local police, according to a supermarket spokesperson.
Law enforcement officers arrested 36 people involved in the looting incident.
Inflation aside, much of the recent panic over commodities was triggered by the government’s authorization of food rationing at grocery stores throughout the country.
The measure was initially introduced at the end of March, giving markets the ability to ration food supplies in an attempt to avoid shortages.
Since then, inflation has skyrocketed, leaving empty shelves and long lines at some stores to buy everyday items like eggs, flour, and bread.
Items for sale no longer have price tags since it changes literally by the hour. In other words, the price of a dozen eggs at 8 a.m. won’t necessarily be the same at noon.
And U.S. dollars are the preferred method of payment.
Argentinians have ramped up the use of dollars as an inflation life raft since the pandemic began in 2020. Some experts think this could be a short term strategy to the country’s economic tailspin.
“At first, the dollarization would have a very positive impact, reducing the inflation rate. Argentina practically no longer has currency,” political analyst Orlando Gutierrez-Boronat told The Epoch Times.
The continued devaluation of the Argentinian peso and dwindling reserves of hard currency underscore the nation’s crisis. Compounded by the government’s inability to pay its foreign debt and heavy taxes crippling the agricultural sector, some experts have noticed similarities between Sri Lanka’s crisis and Argentina’s sharp downward spiral.
Boronat notes that while using dollars in the short term can take some of the inflation pressure off, there needs to be a plan for the future.
“It’s essential ... to generate the incentives to attack structural problems the economy has. Basically, those are high and inefficient public spending and the endemic fiscal deficit,” he explained.
“As is known, the deficit is financed with monetary printing because the country no longer has [international] credit and the tax pressure is very high.”
Boronat’s words echo what countless other analysts and economists have said for years: poorly managed finances and spending has dug a hole no recent administration has been able to pull itself out of.
Some legislators recognize the need for a revised spending package.
During her short turn at the helm as minister of the economy, Batakis told investors the country needed to pay its debts and mentioned budget cuts to government spending.
Subsidy cuts within the energy sector began in June.
Yet the cries of protesters wanting more government money continue to be heard in the streets. Videos from protests last week show demonstrators calling for a social plan similar to Cuba.
Fernandez is being crushed under the weight of “bad economic policy and planning,” according to Boronat.
“This is compounded by his desire to both have Argentina become a first world nation, but at the same time, become a partner and an advocate for the dictatorships in Cuba and China, and for the Russian Federation under Putin.”
