Posted on 12/18/2001 11:36:34 PM PST by JohnHuang2
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (Dec. 19) - Hundreds of looters ransacked shops and supermarkets in northeast Argentina in the early hours of Wednesday as mounting anger at government austerity measures and deepening poverty erupted into crime.Argentines in wealthy suburbs of Buenos Aires smashed their way through shop windows under the shadow of night, stealing merchandise from food to clothing as police in full riot gear fired tear gas to disperse them.
In Entre Rios province north of Buenos Aires vastly outnumbered police looked on helplessly as hundreds more filled cars and carts with goods and fled with their booty, shielded by smoke billowing from piles of burning tires.
The looting coincides with a resurgence of social protest in Latin America's number-three economy, which is teetering on the brink of the biggest default in history and a devaluation amid a four-year recession and 20 percent unemployment.
"There are people in our neighborhood dying form hunger," one angry looter told local television. "We've only taken food. It's not much to ask."
One man could be seen fleeing balancing a stolen television on the saddle of his bicycle, while another man waved a beef steak in the air. Others arrived at the scene with rucksacks on their backs ready to be filled.
Officials said five police officers were injured in clashes with protesters, while one local television reporter was injured in the suburb of Moreno. Local media reported a bus was torched in one suburb.
Some protesters said they had been shot with rubber bullets. But there were no reports of arrests, and neither the police nor the government were available for comment. Police were reported to be planning to beef up their presence outside supermarkets in the capital on Wednesday.
Some resigned shopkeepers joined the looters, stuffing as much of their own merchandise as possible into their cars to limit their losses.
"The people have their reasons," said one toy shop owner in the suburb of San Miguel, 25 miles from the capital, his car full of his own boxed toys. "It is the situation. You can't blame the people."
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF
Food riots are ingrained in Argentina's national consciousness and Wednesday's scenes bring back harrowing memories of protests and looting in 1989, which helped topple the government of the time.
Street protests are a regular occurrence as an estimated 2,000 Argentines a day fall below the poverty line, and have intensified since the government restricted cash withdrawals to end a bank run that threatened to sink the economy.
Most economists see Argentina heading for a catastrophic debt default and the eventual end of a one-to-one currency peg between the peso and the U.S. dollar -- a rupture that would bankrupt thousands.
Protests are likely only to escalate as the government tries to cut its spending by nearly 20 percent next year to ensure it can keep servicing its $132 billion debt pile.
Approval of the budget is vital to hopes of unlocking International Monetary Fund aid and preventing Argentina from defaulting on its debt, but the government faces a tough struggle to get its spending cuts past a Congress dominated by the opposition Peronists.
Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo's austerity plans have failed dismally so far. The more the government reins in spending, the more the economy contracts and the more tax revenues plummet, squeezing already creaking state coffers.
The international Monetary Fund expects the Argentine economy to sink 2.7 percent next year.
Police said rioting and looting in the wealthy suburbs of San Isidro and Moreno, which are also home to some of Argentina's poorest slums, had been brought under control.
But live television footage showed shop sackings continued, as some taunted unpopular President Fernando de la Rua.
"He we go Buenos Aires. There you go De la Rua!" some chanted as they paraded their newly stolen goods before onlooking television cameras, clapping.
The mayor of San Isidro appealed to local supermarkets to stay shut on Wednesday to avoid a repeat of the looting.
Several provincial governments have appealed to De la Rua for help in handing out food packages to try to head off further looting.
I sure wouldn't shoot to kill anybody stealing food. That guy with the TV, though...he needs a serious @$$-whupping.
I love the smell of rubber bullets in the morning!
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