Controversy in Argentina over food distribution

This Monday, federal judge Sebastián Casanello ordered the Ministry of Human Capital to deliver a detail of the withheld food within 72 hours and to proceed “immediately” with its distribution to community kitchens. The judge supported his ruling on statistics that place more than half of the population in Argentina in poverty.

“In the face of this group that suffers acutely from food insecurity and on whom the cost of the reported paralysis weighs, there is a need to urgently adopt positive action,” he said. The decision is part of a court case initiated in February after protests by social organizations critical of the government, following the interruption in the provision of food to their community kitchens last December when the ministry began an audit.

According to the court order cited by the local press, the judge ordered the government to establish “a distribution plan for said food based on its type, quantity, expiration date and target group, foreseeing its immediate execution.” The court order comes in a context of inflation of 289.4% annually and with a poverty level that reaches almost half of the population.

The Catholic Church requested the distribution yesterday. “We have learned that there are two food warehouses in the Ministry of Social Development (current Ministry of Human Capital) that have five million kilos of food stored (…), in a time of food emergency this should call us to reflection, quickly They have to be delivered,” the president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference, Oscar Ojea, had said in a video released by the Episcopate.

The presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, announced this Monday at a press conference that Javier Mieli’s government will “appeal” the court order. “It’s a matter of public policy,” he argued. Asked about the reasons why the government collects this food, Adorni indicated that it is “preventive reserves for emergencies or catastrophes” and assured that “there is not a single food that is going to be thrown away.”

The government refers to these canteens as “ghost canteens.” According to the chief of staff, Nicolás Posse, in a presentation before Congress, the results of the audit revealed that “almost 50% of the canteens did not exist.” According to the organizations, there are about 45,000 community kitchens throughout the country, but an unspecified number stopped operating when the provision they received from the State was interrupted, while others operate thanks to private donations.

As reported by Capital Humano today, of the 5 thousand tons that are in the warehouses, 60% – more than 3 thousand tons – correspond to packages of yerba mate belonging to an irregular contract from the previous administration, which is under audit. Source: news

comments