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ARGENTINA | 27-09-2024 06:52

Numbers have names – the stories behind Argentina’s high poverty rate

Argentina’s poverty rate stands at 52%, according to UCA’s Observatorio de la Deuda Social poverty watchdog – the highest level in two decades.

“Poverty in Argentina can be observed everywhere – on the street, in homes, in supermarkets, in factories, in shops, in hospitals, in schools,” affirms a recent communiqué issued by the CELAG (Centro Estratégico Latinoamericano de Geopolítica) think tank. It argues that, taking into account how unrepresentative the average income level is, 73.3 percent of the population today is poor.

As estimated by the Catholic University of Argentina’s (UCA) Observatorio de la Deuda Social poverty watchdog, the figure was 52 percent in the first half of the year – the highest level since 2004.

But these are just numbers, percentages. Behind them are millions of stories, which are being multiplied.

“In this past year we’ve seen how much the homeless have increased,” said Cecilia Martín, the founder of the Acción PSC (Acción por Personas en Situación de Calle) civil association, in an interview.

From 2017 to 2019, Acción PSC has witnessed the exponential growth of those living on the streets – from 4,500 people in their first census to 7,200 in their second. 

“For us the most important thing is to make such people visible. Arriving at a place and finding out that Juan has a puppy with its own story, asking if he could sort out his DNI identification paperwork and get his medicine,” she commented.

Knowing such realities up close has permitted the organisation to understand that while the material aspects may be the most visible, they are not the only way that poverty curbs freedom of choice.

“If somebody has the possibility to get off the street and go to a hotel, we continue that link, giving them a small bag of food to cook,” said Martín. 

“The homeless or people going to soup kitchens can never choose what to eat, deciding which day they want to eat pasta and which day lentils although they might end up getting it all the same. That may sound superficial but if people can at least make that decision, it humanises them,” she explained.

 

No other option

Increasingly more people are attending the soup kitchens of the Sal de la Tierra NGO because they have no other option.

“We began 20 years ago in the [Villa] Fiorito neighbourhood where there are many scavengers. Over time pensioners and working people who cannot cover their needs came to join them,” Pastor Leonardo Alvarez, its founder and president, said in an interview.

The queues grow ever longer while the resources to meet this demand become scarcer.

“Since December [when President Javier Milei took office] we have only received food from Buenos Aires Province, because the Human Capital Ministry, beyond knowing us and that we never demonstrate nor ever bother anybody, has not included us in the list of private organisations receiving food,” said Alvarez, someone who knows this situation up close on the basis of personal experience.

To those difficulties is added the fact that the price of a bag of cardboard has gone down from 10,000 to 2,000 pesos due to increased supply, hitting the incomes of cartoneros, street scavengers who collect the material for recycling. 

“Kids go out at night to collect scrap with their parents and afterwards they obviously do not go to school. Since the price of cardboard has dropped so much, they have to work more to earn much less,” explained Alvarez.

With the increased poverty index, added Alvarez, a higher incidence of diseases such as tuberculosis is also observed. 

Poverty has a great impact on health, above all in the long term.

“Argentina has extremely high indices of obesity in adolescence, which has an enormous incidence on the probability of having heart disease, hypertension or diabetes as well as some oncological pathologies such as colon, breast and some other cancers. Obesity paradoxically increases with a rise in poverty because the intake of proteins and vegetables tends to diminish,” said Dr Alejandra Sánchez Cabezas, the president of the Argentine Association of Public Health (AASAP in its Spanish acronym), in an interview. 

 

Changing face of poverty

Fundación Sí, which today counts on 3,000 volunteers nationwide, has been working since 2012 on various projects. The project began with night runs to accompany the homeless, bringing them hot drinks, warm clothing and food. 

Having witnessed the reality of poverty up close for more than a decade, the NGO’s volunteers have not so much observed a considerable increase in numbers as a change in the characteristics of that population.

“When this project began, the homeless were normally aged over 40 or 50, male, some pensioners. In recent years we have found much younger kids who have had substance problems from a very early age,” said María Jesús Espil, a Fundación Sí volunteer.

This first project has been joined by others such as Sí Pueden, a campaign which consists of visits to soup kitchens “where we work on developing the emotional intelligence of children” and free university residences for youngsters graduating from rural schools or alienated from the educational system, explained Espil. 

The organisations, which define themselves as non-partisan, agree in pointing out that behind every name there is abandonment.

“What has happened to these people is that the state, whether national, provincial or municipal, was not there at any point in their lives to help them, whether in health or education or with a housing subsidy or a decent job,” summed up Martín. 

The Asociación Amigos en el Camino also recognises this situation. Mónica De Russis, the executive director of the organisation, said in an interview that since the NGO’s establishment in 2011, it has been increasingly overwhelmed by the increase in demand. What began as a small group of volunteers accompanying the homeless with a plate of food or a warm drink is today a large association which assists people with different needs and from different angles, including offering legal aid.

“We not only speak to the homeless but to those at risk of going that way. And this risk increases every day,” said De Russis.

“There were years when such people did not approach us but now they do. We see an increase [in the numbers], which provokes much sadness for us. Pensioners who have nothing to eat who approach. We try to give them bags of goods but the truth is that we cannot keep up,” she explained.

Apart from material aid for a growing demand, these vital organisations need volunteers who can cook from their homes or provide companionship. 

“What our friends most value, beyond the material aid, is that short spell when you pay attention to them, engage in dialogue, listen, [to] transmit a word of encouragement. They are waiting all week to be able to share that – the encounter with another, the look in the eyes with empathy, giving value to that other person, who could be me,” concluded De Russis.

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Agustina Bordigoni

Agustina Bordigoni

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