Pensioners the biggest losers of Milei’s first year in office

At 80, Alicia Ceresoli scrapes by on her pension. She misses the “smell of leather” from new shoes and craves a steak – luxuries of a life she describes as diminished since President Javier Milei took office in Argentina last December.

“Then you think: why should someone running a country be able to shut down your life? It’s like they’re saying, ‘You won’t eat, you won’t buy medicine, and you’ll die.’ That’s dictatorial,” she reflects on the hardships pensioners face, a group forming part of the 53 percent of Argentines currently living in poverty.

Living alone, Ceresoli is grateful for her health and that she owns her home in Villa Adelina, a northern suburb of Buenos Aires. Not paying rent – prices for which the government has deregulated – is a relief, as is not needing medicine, which has risen in price by 200 percent over the past 12 months.

Like nearly five million pensioners, Ceresoli receives the minimum pension and a bonus, amounting to around US$320, just a third of the living cost estimate for an older adult calculated by the Ombudsman’s Office.

In December, she’ll get a 2.7 percent increase. “It’s grotesque, 300 pesos a day,” said Eugenio Semino, Ombudsman for the Elderly.

According to Milei, “in dollar terms, pensioners’ purchasing power has soared” this year. But prices have surged.

“The government says ‘there’s no money,’ but that’s a lie because the savings from the pension system are the key to balancing the fiscal surplus,” Semino argues.

‘Big losers’

While the government celebrates achieving fiscal balance after decades of deficits, “pensioners are the big losers,” Gabriel Vommaro, a sociologist at the National University of San Martín, told AFP.

The Centre for Public Policy (CEPA) reports that between January and September 2024, 25.3 percent of state spending cuts came from a decline in pensioners’ purchasing power.

Alicia feels this acutely. In her modest home, without pay-TV, her one indulgence was buying fresh flowers “because they brighten the house, but they’re so expensive now.”

“Now I use plastic ones,” she says.

Her first job was at 13, in a shoe factory. “I’d love to smell a new pair of leather sandals again. Meat? I don’t eat it anymore. Two small steaks cost 6,000 pesos (around US$6).”

What saddens her most, however, is how life has shrunk to essentials.

“Last year, I’d treat myself to the cinema, followed by pizza with a friend. It wasn’t luxury, but we were happy,” she recalls. Now, “we grow bitter because life shrinks as our finances do.”

Divorced, her only daughter lives 300 kilometres away. She used to visit every two months but can no longer afford it.

“It breaks my heart because my youngest granddaughter is 10, and childhood doesn’t last. I’m 80; I can’t wait for the economy to improve.”

‘Worse than ever’

Every Wednesday, Alicia protests outside Congress with the Jubilados insurgentes (“Insurgent Pensioners”) group demanding a “dignified pension.”

This ritual began eight years ago, long before Milei’s government. “It’s not new that things are bad, but they’ve never been worse,” she says.

Alicia recounts returning home “bruised from police shoves” more than once since Milei’s administration toughened its response to protests.

This hasn’t deterred Rubén Cocorullo, 76, another pensioner who never misses a demonstration.

After a heart attack and three stents – which he attributes to “stress from so many bad governments” – he takes medication that, up until November, was free.Now, he must pay for them due to the government restricting access to free prescriptions.

The administration also froze a monthly US$70 bonus for minimum pensions in March, amid near-200 percent annual inflation.

From 2025, a scheme allowing those without 30 years of contributions to retire will end – an almost unattainable requirement in an economy where 40 percent of workers are informal.

Nine in ten women and eight in ten men retired through this programme. From 2025, they’ll only qualify for a pension 20 percent lower than the minimum.

“This government has it in for old people,” Cocorullo concludes.

A retired electromechanical technician, he survives by repairing discarded appliances.

“I’m not ashamed; the government and the crooks inside Congress should be ashamed for not defending us,” he says while protesting. Signs around him read, “We either eat or buy medicine.”

Despite lacking a majority, Milei succeeded in getting Congress to uphold his veto of a law raising pensions by eight percent. In return, he feted supporting lawmakers as his “87 heroes.”