The Justice in Argentine ordered the far-right populist government of Javier Millay to “immediately” proceed with the distribution of food aid to the poor, which has stopped being distributed since December.
Federal judge Sebastian Casaneho ordered the Ministry of Human Capital to provide him, within 72 hours, with a detailed list of the quantities of food retained and to proceed “immediately” with their distribution.
The judge cited in his decision statistics that show that half and more Argentina’s population is now below the poverty line.
Collective appeal
The decision follows a lawsuit filed in February by social groups after the interruption, shortly after the Miley government took power in December, of the supply of food to social kitchens.
The government justified the suspension of supply by arguing that it is carrying out a rigorous audit of NGOs and groups that offer social assistance. Recently, during a presentation to parliament, he stated that audits showed that almost 50% of the country’s social kitchens do not actually exist.
The government talks about “trafficking in poverty” and has committed to repressing it; In mid-May, there were dozens of raids and lawsuits against “ghost” soup kitchens that, according to government complaints, misuse state money.
Government appeal
At a press conference, the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, announced that the government will appeal the decision, stressing that these are “reserves” intended to face “emergencies” or “catastrophes”.
According to social organizations, there are around 45,000 social kitchens in Argentina that offer free meals, but an undetermined number of them have suspended their operation as the State’s supply has been cut off, while some still operate thanks to donations from citizens. .
In fact, the Catholic Church in the country asked Miley’s government to proceed “quickly” with the distribution of the food aid stocks it has.
“We were informed that there are two food warehouses belonging to the ministry (of Human Capital) where five million kilos of food are stored (…), in a period of food emergency, this should make us think again, they should be distributed quickly”, said the president of the Episcopal Synod of Argentina, Oscar Ojea.
Sources: APE-MPE, AFP