Argentinians gripped by hunger in country's worst recession

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina -- Jose Perez and his wife, Maria, have 11 hungry mouths to feed. So they travel each week to Argentina's biggest vegetable market to raid the Dumpsters.

Rotten tomatoes, blackened potatoes, rubbery bell peppers -- the throwaways from the central market are all the Perez family will eat today.

Hungrily oblivious to trucks rumbling into the market with loads of fresh oranges, melons and other produce, they fend off the flies and claw through the mushy debris for anything edible.

A four-year-old economic downturn has become the worst recession in Argentine history. The jobless rate has soared to 20 percent, the peso has devalued more than 70 percent against the dollar, and more than one-third of the 36 million people now live in poverty.

"My husband hasn't been able to work a decent job in years, and we still have to eat," said Maria, hefting a paring knife in calloused hands as she hacked out black spots in rotting potatoes.

Jose, a laid-off electrician, carried a plastic bucket of water to wash the vegetables that often give his family stomach aches.

Nearby, a grizzled man in an old army jacket already had a meager pot of potatoes and cabbage bubbling over a smoky fire. "Tell Mr. Bush we still want to pay back the debt, but give us more time," he said with a laugh.

He meant the $141 billion Argentina owes after January's default, when the crisis exploded.

Hunger is becoming evident in Argentina -- from the overrun soup kitchens to the streets of the capital where armies of people sift the trash each night for anything to recycle, sell or eat.

On March 23 a truck carrying 22 cattle overturned near Rosario, 180 miles to the north.

As hungry shantytown dwellers gathered around the injured animals, men appeared with butcher's knives and carted away dripping sides of beef.

Sociologist Artemio Lopez, at the Equis consulting group, said the government's "basic food basket" of essential goods like bread, rice and eggs soared 47.4 percent in the first five months of the year.

To properly feed a family of four cost 215 pesos in March and 252 pesos in April, government figures show. That's an increase from $61 to $72, and salaries haven't risen at all.

The cash-strapped government has social programs for the poor, but critics say these can't keep pace with the spreading crisis. On May 17 the government started dispensing aid worth $42 a month to 1 million unemployed heads of households. The critics say it should be double that amount.

Across town, at a warehouse piled high with bags of pasta and rice, hundreds of women with plastic buckets wait outside a soup kitchen where 300 pounds of macaroni is boiling in a steel vat.

The soup kitchen is called Cara Sucias, Spanish for "Dirty Faces," as the homeless are known. Those worst off see the soup kitchen's specialist, Dr. Javier Sary. Wearing a white smock, he listened with a stethoscope to the hacking cough of Daniel, not yet 2, his eyes slightly sunken.

"Here is a case of malnutrition," the doctor said as Daniel's worried mother looked on. "He lacks the basics and is at risk of bronchitis or pneumonia if he isn't treated."

"This is certainly not the hunger you see in Africa ... but this is an Argentina that didn't exist before: people going hungry, people malnourished ... If it weren't for the help these people receive, I'm afraid they'd simply die in the streets.

Argentine Schools Try to Feed Fainting Children *** Joel Medina calls politicians the "biggest scoundrels there are," but accepts the occasional 10 pesos from one party or the other in exchange for his vote: it is more than he earns in three days' scrounging for dirty bottles in his broken boots.

Resignation etched on his face and a Bible on the table, he wants Hernan, who dreams of being a lawyer, to complete school even if his chances of finding work are slim. "What use is studying if there are no jobs? But he has to have the right," he says. "Education is the only thing that can save us," says Nelida Soto. "An ignorant country chooses bad leaders."

Argentine president vows financial rescue ***Espert, the economist, said the IMF has called on Argentinean governors to make cuts that would force the dismissal of as many as 500,000 employees of the 1.2 million workers now on payrolls of state governments.***

U.S. ties Argentina support to reform***WASHINGTON - (AP) -- The Bush administration assured Congress on Wednesday that it will insist Argentina reform its economy before the United States will support further loans from the International Monetary Fund.***

I hope everyone is watching what's happening to our south.

Chavez facing a storm of coup threats - Wary Venezuelans hoard food, guns*** CARACAS - A new wave of coup threats against President Hugo Chávez is pushing Venezuelans to the edge of hysteria, with many residents of the capital stockpiling food and condo associations preparing an inventory of guns in case of looting. Clandestine communiqués and videos from alleged military officers vowing to topple the leftist president emerge almost daily. As each rumor peaks and wanes, the country's battered currency fluctuates wildly against the U.S. dollar. The threats and an accompanying gusher of dire rumors have sparked an unprecedented crisis in this oil-rich nation, virtually paralyzing the country and awakening fears of bloodshed, even civil war.

U.S. Ambassador Charles Shapiro said Wednesday the coup rumors helped prompt a State Department warning this week that Americans in Venezuela should take security precautions. ''In a country where there are so many rumors, it's important for foreigners to be careful,'' he said. The crisis atmosphere is even more intense than in April, when a sudden military coup forced Chávez out of power for two days amid a whirlwind of political violence and looting that left 70 dead. ''The country is on the verge of a nervous breakdown,'' the centrist TalCual newspaper said this week in an editorial that called for calm.***

The Bush administration assured Congress on Wednesday that it will insist Argentina reform its economy before the United States will support further loans from the International Monetary Fund. < /I>
It is the ever growing volume of IMF loans that got Argetina (and a lot of the rest of the third world) into this mess in the first place. We make loans to the crooked folks that run these places knowing full well that the plane load of money will make a short diversion to the Caymen Islands or Switzerland, and then we beat up on the country when we discover (we're shocked, shocked) that the citizens who never consented to the loan in the first place and have received little if any benefit can't pay it back.

It is no wonder we are hated. We are nothing but the enforcers for a bunch of loan sharks.

Hey, they come with their hands out because they squander the money. Bush has said he will not fund corruption. Of course, in their eyes, that makes us the bad guys.
If these countries want to prosper, they need to get out from under the idea that graft and bribery is the cost of doing business and reverse the trend of putting as many as possible on the government payroll.

the trend of putting as many as possible on the government payroll

This is one of the biggest reasons for Argentina's problems. Bureacrats there make, relatively speaking, a fortune and everybody wants to get on the government payroll. This is a problem that has still not been addressed. I bet you don't find many Argentine government employees out there Dumpster diving.

I bet you don't find many Argentine government employees out there Dumpster diving.

Exactly. If they want socialism, they're on the right track. If they want prosperity and stability, they need to get freeloaders off the government payroll and put them to work.

Argentina never had a Pinochet.

Instead, they had the bad luck to run into the Peron Family. Having a great deal more natural wealth than Chile only enabled Argentina to go far deeper into Socialism and corporate Statism.

The cruel poverty of Argentina is a great lesson for Americans. Unfortunately most of us are too ignorant to find Argentina on a map, and many of us too foolish to resist the Peron-like blandishments of the Democrats.

The IMF is not the way out for Argentina. It was their way into the mess in the first place.

He meant the $141 billion Argentina owes after January's default, when the crisis exploded.

How much food does 141 billion buy?
It sure is a lot more fun spending it than planning for the future, isn't it.
11 kids?
Right.

It is becoming increasingly clear that the world sees the American Taxpayer as having the obligation to support all of the world's deadbeats.
And if it takes joining them in their misery, they will be happy to make it happen.

I for one, reject their invitation.

Argentina never had a Pinochet.

You hit the nail on the head. The Argentinians pride themselves on being very European. Socialism and vast corruption are a deadly mix. It was just a matter of time. I wonder if this is what we can expect from France and other European countries in a few years?

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