Argentina’s Milei government is now dealing with the consequences of its decision to starve poor Argentines by refusing to provide food to community soup kitchens, on which 10 million citizens rely every day for two meals. On June 1, federal judges in the provinces of Buenos Aires and Tucuman ordered police to raid a warehouse in each province, where 5 million tons of food is stored, and which the Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello had refused to distribute. Buenos Aires federal judge Sebastian Casanello had given Pettovello until May 31 to provide him with detailed information about the food stored at the Villa Martelli warehouse and a plan for its “immediate” distribution. She failed to comply with the judge’s order.
Similarly in Tucuman province, on June 1 federal judge José Manuel Diaz Velez ordered the police to raid the Tafi Viejo warehouse, to determine what food was being held there, if any of it had passed the expiration date, and what could be distributed right away. The government lied outrageously about what kind of food was stored, claiming that most of it was the herbal tea máte, that it was being held for “emergencies,” etc. This, at a time when poverty and hunger have expanded dramatically in Argentina as a result of Milei’s draconian austerity.
