Mexico Passes AMLO’s Austerity Law Curbing Excessive Spending

Michael O'Boyle. Bloomberg. October 8, 2019

Mexican lawmakers on Tuesday approved President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s sweeping “austerity law” that seeks to end excessive spending by government officials while also banning work in the private sector within 10 years of serving as a regulator.

Lower house lawmakers voted to approve the bill, in general, but debated into the night over several articles. The bill had already been approved by the Senate and, if no changes are made, it will be sent to the president to be signed into law. Lopez Obrador’s Morena party, which holds a majority in the lower house with its allies, backed the reform while opposition lawmakers voted against it.

AMLO, as the Mexican president is known, won a landslide election last year promising to stamp out corruption. He slashed his own salary, capped government wages and put the presidential plane up for sale in favor of flying commercial.

The austerity law enshrines cost-saving measures designed to end government privileges and cracks down on the revolving door between public service and the private sector that AMLO has described as a “cancer.”

The legislation would prevent any high-level official from working at a company that they had regulated for 10 years, one of the longest such “cooling-off” periods anywhere.

“The quality of the public servants that will remain will be really bad,” Fernando Galindo, a lawmaker from the former ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party, said before the vote.

Morena Senate leader Ricardo Monreal said in an interview last month that lawmakers may present a reform measure to scale back the waiting period.

In the weeks ahead of the vote, half a dozen top officials quit at the national banking and securities regulator, including those in charge of certifying licenses of 85 new financial technology companies, according to current and former officials with knowledge of the resignations. They requested anonymity since they were not authorized to speak with the media. The imminent approval of the law was a top reason for quitting, the people said. The officials who resigned did not respond to requests for comment.

Salary cuts have already sparked an exodus from government agencies and some officials are planning to resign before AMLO signs the austerity bill into law.

The legislation also bans a wide array of practices, including the creation of special government trusts that have been criticized for their lack of transparency, the remodeling of offices for “aesthetic“ reasons, buying government cars priced over $19,000 and generous pensions for ex-presidents.

Bolivia’s Ruling Party Confident of Morales First-Round Victory

EFE. October 9, 2019

LA PAZ – Bolivia’s ruling party says it believes that control of the national legislature is up for grabs in the Oct. 20 general elections but that leftist President Evo Morales is poised to secure a fourth term with a resounding victory.

Bolivian Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera referred to the prospects of the ruling Movement toward Socialism (MAS) party in an interview with EFE in La Paz, acknowledging that recent fires in the eastern area of Chiquitania will have an impact on the results but expressing confidence that Morales, the first indigenous president of that majority indigenous nation, will emerge victorious in the first round of balloting.

Garcia Linera, a prominent Latin American leftist politician and former leader of a indigenist-inspired guerrilla group, has been Morales’ vice president since the latter first took office in 2006 and is his running mate once again in the current election cycle.

The opposition, for its part, questions the legitimacy of the current ruling-party ticket for allegedly defying constitutional term limits and not respecting the results of a 2016 referendum, in which voters rejected Morales’ bid to amend Bolivia’s charter to allow him to seek another five-year term.

How do you see this new election? Some polls put your party, the Movement toward Socialism (MAS), as the winner in the first round, while others say there could be a second round.

We’re working to secure a first-round victory. The polls ... indicate that the MAS is rising. (The momentum) slows down at times, but then it picks up again.

A second candidate, Carlos Mesa, who’s falling (in the polls), started off at 39 percent and now is battling to be at 25. And a third and fourth candidate who are struggling to rise.

We’re confident that we’re going to win in the first round and we’re going to have a majority in the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate.

The question in these elections is whether we’re going to have two-thirds or not. Whether we’re going to have two-thirds like in (the 2014 balloting) or we’re going to go back to a system of divided government, with one of the chambers under opposition control, which happened in 2005.

Ultimately that’s what’s at stake in these elections, not so much who’s going to win but with what margin and whether it’s with the two-thirds to control both chambers.

A portion of the voters is backing the opposition so the MAS doesn’t continue on. Do you think it’s possible that you could lose the majority in Congress?

There’s always that possibility. But with the polling data and the face-to-face work we’re doing with people, we think we’ve got an absolute majority in Congress assured and we’re striving to get that absolute two-thirds majority (needed for constitutional changes).

The opposition wants to take that two-thirds majority away from us and even wants to take one of the chambers, and that will be decided in the final days of campaigning. We’re confident we’ll achieve that victory.

If that doesn’t occur, would there be a repeat of the scenario in 2006, when the MAS didn’t have the majority (in the Senate)?

That would be problematic for any government. A government that doesn’t have the support of Congress, of one of the chambers. will always have problems. Don’t forget that Carlos Mesa didn’t have the support of the National Congress and had to resign (in 2005) .

Is it enough to have the support of social movements that back the change process you have with the (Patriotic) Agenda 2025? Will that (support of hard-core supporters) be sufficient?

It’s important because those are the low-income sectors of Bolivian society, the poor, the working people. At heart, the MAS is a party of the poor, the lower classes, but being in power nationally always requires the support of ... middle-class sectors. And that’s what’s in play.

Over the past 13 years we’ve managed to bring nearly 30 percent of the population into the middle class. It’s a new middle class of working class and indigenous origin.

We’re confident that a large section of that middle class, which is the fruit of a process of change and still carries the symbols of their popular, indigenous identity, will support the MAS in a big way.

The government’s response to the fires in Chiquitania has been applauded by different sectors but called into question by others. Do you think that what happened could take votes away from the MAS?

(The fires in that area of the eastern Bolivian region of Santa Cruz ravaged nearly 4 million hectares of grassland and forest, according to the regional government, between August and this week, when they were finally extinguished due to heavy rains).

Certainly the issue of the fires in Chiquitania will have an electoral impact. In fact, that’s already been seen in the polls.

Six ministers dedicated to this issue, an outlay of nearly $25 million and $200 million made available to address the problem. We hired the world’s biggest fire-fighting planes and helicopters. We mobilized 4,000 men of the armed forces, 2,500 from the Bolivian National Police.

The state went all out to extinguish the fires, and while it’s never enough in the face of a phenomenon of that magnitude, I think people are starting to understand that we did all that we could and even in the area of international aid we sought to enlist (the help) of all of the world’s countries.

Ecuador’s Strike is a Class Struggle, Not an Endorsement of Previous Government

Real News Network. October 9, 2019

Massive protests have brought Ecuador almost to a standstill. Much of the country is paralized by a coalition of social organizations, including the indigenous movement under CONAIE, many student organizations, the Unitary Front of Workers or FUT, and many citizens in general, especially farmers and workers.

The protests erupted after President Lenin Moreno declared a host of economic and social austerity measures, proposed by the IMF, as a condition for loans. These included eliminating subsidies, raising gas and food prices, and restructuring work laws, based on more neoliberal standards, among other things.

Building up to the protests, anger among Ecuadorians reached a boiling point when the National Assembly struck down a law that would have made it possible to confiscate private assets from people involved in corruption.

By the second week of massive protests, thousands of indigenous protesters paralyzed towns and roads and thousands more arrived in the capital, after walking in many cases hundreds of miles from their rural homes, all the way to Quito.

Andres Tapia, Communications Director CONFENAIE: “We are all striking against a massive increase in food and transport prices, also the government’s agreement with the IMF. These agreements with oil, mining and timber corporations, represent a great danger for our indigenous lands.”

We spoke over the phone with Andres Tapia, he is the Communications Director of CONFENAIE, short for Confederation of Indigenous Nationalities of the Ecuadorian Amazon.

Andres Tapia, Communications Director CONFENAIE: “We are extremely worried about [the destruction of the biosphere], and that is precisely the central demand of the indigenous movements articulated under CONAIE.

However, on this particular strike our demands are the following:

1- no to the austerity measures imposed by the IMF,

2- no to a mining and oil based economy,

3- no to the new laws regulating work.

So we want to be categorical on this: our protests are an organic process by social organizations, along with the indigenous movements and in no way is it an endorsement of Correa or any other Ecuadorian political figure.”

The fact that the protests, at least from the indigenous movement, do not endorse former president Rafael Correa, is precisely a very important part of the issue.

President Moreno and other high ranking government officials have alleged a destabilization plot by Correa, as a justification for declaring a state of exception, similar to martial law, and sent the military and riot squads to repress the protesters.

Even the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido tweeted about his support for President Moreno, claiming that there is a Pro-Maduro – Pro-Correa plot that is financing the protests. Guaido made these claims despite a decade of Correa’s forceful opposition to the indigenous movement.

Correa not only imprisoned many indigenous leaders, but also intensified a surveillance state apparatus on them, violently repressing demonstrations and waiving many of their constitutional rights in favor of mining projects.

Andres Tapia, Communications Director CONFENAIE: “The indigenous movement’s agenda goes beyond supporting a political or presidential figure, like Rafael Correa was. Historically, In that sense the indigenous movement spoke for the great majority of the Ecuadorian people. Now is not the exception. Over the last decades, we have been protagonists of Ecuador’s social changes.”

Recently there have been many documented cases of human rights violations, including three deaths (by Oct, 7th), about 600 people detained, dozens of cases of often grave injuries, such as shots with pellet bullets and even live rounds, public beatings, run-overs, and even many alleged cases of torture.

The official in charge of this operation is General Oswaldo Jarrin, who was trained in Israel and The School of the Americas, as part of “Operation Condor,” back in the nineteen eighties.

Jarrin ordered elite troops and assault vehicles to be stationed outside the Carondelet Presidential Palace in preparation for Wednesday’s general strike.

In the early 2000’s, very similar strikes took down three governments, one after the other.

However, this time, to avoid being deposed like many before him, President Moreno strategically flew to Guayaquil, under the protection of the Social Christian Party which runs the city and surrounding areas.

Apawki Castro, Communications Director CONAIE: “[The alleged plot of Correa financing us], is a lie, a “PR strategy”, trying to control information, and also the Correa faction is obviously trying to use our momentum and get on board. We are not supporting any character, our struggle is about rights, ours and nature’s, along with the rest of our demands. They have that strategy, trying to use us, on a move to bring back Rafael Correa, but we are steering clear from any of that.”

There are supporters of former president Rafael Correa on the streets, trying to swing the momentum in their favor, including the Governor of Pichincha and many Alianza Pais figures, some like Luis Tuarez where violently rejected by the crowd.

But by far, the core of the protests is formed by the indigenous and student movements, along with an angry population tired of imposed austerity measures, while corruption cases involving millions of dollars multiply, many unprosecuted.

And while on the streets people protest, in the background, the political right stands to win. Right wing parties, have encouraged and supported Moreno, letting his government do all the “dirty” austerity work, and they are now in a position to win the next elections and take over a stronger state apparatus.

Apawki Castro, Communications Director CONAIE: “As indigenous movements, we have proposed a new economic model, away from the current extractivist model, which is not a sustainable model for our nationalities and territories. So for now, that is demand number two on our agenda.”

Furthermore, Tapia, who represents a group from the Amazon regions, stresses the importance that nature has for the indigenous movement.

Andres Tapia, Communications Director CONFENAIE: “The indigenous movement has always been active defending the land, locally, internationally, and even in a global context. We have been at the forefront of the fight against climate change. In our struggle, [PachaMamma or Mother Earth] has been represented in one of our main traditional standard flags, and it still stands as such. In that context [taking care of nature] is one of our main demands, especially in the amazon. In principle, we oppose the many mining and oil concessions, given all over the country, by this and past governments, including that of Rafael Correa Delgado.”

On October 7th two official CONAIE documents were published.

The second document addressed several cases of looting, stating that whoever committed such crimes is not part of their movement, and furthermore stating that they have identified several groups of agent provocateurs, sent by the military, operating to spread chaos.

And as a response to that, in the build up for the general strike on October 10th, indigenous guards will provide security and detain violent individuals.

Ecuador’s indigenous people are leading the anti-government protests. They have a record of ousting presidents.

Kimberley Brown. Washington Post. October 10, 2019

QUITO, Ecuador — Juan Oshcu traveled more than six hours from his rural farm, walking and hitching rides, to reach the Ecuadoran capital. For three nights, he’s slept on wooden benches in one of the city’s cultural centers, a temporary base for the thousands of indigenous protesters who’ve arrived here this week.

“We have risen to say, in one united voice, ‘Enough, Mr. President!’” said Oshcu, a small-scale farmer from the indigenous Kichwa community of Latacunga.

Labor unions, women’s rights groups and students all are protesting the austerity package introduced this month by President Lenín Moreno. But Ecuador’s majority indigenous population is now at the heart of the demonstrations that have paralyzed this South American country — a challenging development for Moreno, given the movement’s success at ousting previous presidents.

The country braced Thursday for an eighth day of protests in Quito and other cities, sparked last week when Moreno announced labor and tax changes and withdrew decades-old fuel subsidies — part of a belt-tightening program required under a $4.2 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund.

As Ecuador protests grow, president moves government out of the capital

Protesters have blocked streets in the capital and highways in the countryside; occupied government buildings, oil fields, water-treatment facilities and a hydroelectric plant; and clashed with security forces. Moreno has called for dialogue but says he won’t reverse the austerity measures, which he says are needed after years of overspending by his predecessor, Rafael Correa.

“It’s necessary to correct grave economic errors,” he said last week.

Moreno declared a state of emergency and, as protesters descended on the capital this week, moved his administration 270 miles south to the port city of Guayaquil. Security forces have surrounded key facilities and fired tear gas and pepper spray. Five people have been killed, scores wounded and more than 680 arrested. Officials have put economic losses at more than $1 billion.

Ecuadorans have a history of ousting presidents, driven mainly by the indigenous movement. Most recently in 2005, Lucio Gutiérrez’s attempt to introduce austerity measures under an IMF agreement prompted tens of thousands to protest, and lawmakers voted to remove him.

This time, CONAIE, the national indigenous federation, is by far the largest organized group protesting. CONAIE President Jaime Vargas says that the community rejects the government’s new reforms and subsidy cuts but that their complaint goes further.

“Our fight is in defense of our territories,” he said. He said measures to appease the IMF have led to increased oil and mining in indigenous lands, actions that “don’t respect the collective rights of the indigenous people.”

Vargas says he won’t speak with the government unless it agrees to reverse the austerity measures and stop selling concessions of their land to oil and mining companies.

In Ecuador, Assange’s expulsion reflects desire for better relations with the U.S.

Many here have noted parallels between 2005 and 2019. But Vargas has stressed that the indigenous movement is not trying to destabilize Moreno’s government.

Political analyst Decio Machado says if the government falls, it won’t be because of the indigenous movement but rather for mistakes he says it has been making since protests began: calling the state of emergency, cracking down on protests and refusing to negotiate over the austerity measures.

Oshcu, in Quito, says cutting the fuel subsidies affects indigenous farmers in the countryside directly because it raises the costs of transporting their goods to collection centers.

“When the price of gasoline rises, the income for the community decreases,” he said. “That’s why we came.”

Violent clashes have been reported in cities including Quito, Guayaquil and Cuenca. Indigenous demonstrators are putting eucalyptus leaves in their noses to filter the tear gas and pepper spray.

“We are here for our rights,” Oshcu said. “If you don’t like that idea, then get out of the presidency.”

Ecuador paralyzed by national strike as Moreno refuses to step down

Dan Collyns. The Guardian. October 10, 2019

Indigenous protesters have clashed again with riot police in Ecuador’s captial as thousands of people joined anti-government rallies and marches calling for the repeal of austerity measures which have sparked the worst political unrest in a decade.

Hooded youths threw stones and burned tires as police fired tear gas around the empty parliament building which had been sealed off. Demonstrators also tried unsuccessfully to storm barricades around the presidential palace, which the president, Lenín Moreno, left on Monday, moving his government to the port city of Guayaquil.

Other groups including labour unions and indigenous federations marched, for the most part peacefully, on the first day of a national strike which leaders say will not end until the government repeals a decree scrapping fuel subsidies which caused the price of petrol to spike by a third and the cost of diesel to more than double.

Moreno’s government lifted the petrol and diesel subsidies last Tuesday as part of a $4.2bn loan deal with the International Monetary Fund reached last year that hinges on belt-tightening reforms. According to the government the payments had cost the country close to $1.4bn (£1.1bn) annually, according to official sources.

Outside Quito’s parliament building, thousands of indigenous Ecuadoreans camped out on the grass, many of them carrying sticks. Through loudspeakers, leaders of different indigenous groups addressed the crowd.

“What the government has done is reward the big banks, the capitalists, and punish poor Ecuadorians,” said Mesías Tatamuez, head of the Workers’ United Front umbrella union.

Indigenous protests have played a central role in toppling a string of Ecuador’s presidents, including Abdalá Bucaram in 1997, Jamil Mahuad in 2000 and Lucio Gutiérrez in 2005.

Jaime Vargas, the leader of the Ecuador’s indigenous confederation Conaie, said there would be no dialogue until the government rolled back its order ending the subsidies.

“If it is repealed the people will then decide if we will talk or not, but we are angry because we have several injured, several detained and several dead, and this will not stand.”

Across the country, two people have died in the unrest, dozens more have been injured and more than 570 have been detained, according to official sources.

One demonstrator who wanted to remain anonymous said she had been among more than 100 protesters held by police in the basement of the parliament after a foiled attempt by protesters to take over the building on Monday.

“They treated us badly, they insulted us. There are children and young people who are suffering terribly, young people who are being subjugated,” she said.

Amnesty International called on the Ecuadorean government to end to “the heavy-handed repression of demonstrations, including mass detentions”.

“The state of emergency cannot be an excuse to violently repress people’s discontent over economic measures that may put their rights at risk,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

Ecuador’s defence minister, Oswaldo Jarrín, said the army was seeking to “restore, order, peace and tranquility” on Wednesday as widespread protests took place across the country.

Moreno, 66, has accused political opponents of orchestrating an attempted coup and claimed associates of his predecessor Rafael Correa – a former ally turned bitter enemy – were infiltrating the protests and stoking unrest.

“They are sectors who are taking advantage of the situation to generate an atmosphere of chaos in Ecuador, very different behaviour from a country which has seen other social protests,” María Paula Romo, the interior minister, said on Wednesday.

Correa, who governed Ecuador for a decade, has brushed off the claim he was behind the protest but called for Moreno to step down and for new elections in which he might consider being a candidate.

Protest leader Lourdes Tibán, a former parliamentarian, said the violence had been caused by “infiltrators who want to show that the indigenous activists are criminals and thieves who causes damage – but that’s not true”.

She said the vast majority of protesters were marching because the fuel price hike had inflated food and transport prices and the indigenous people were the hardest hit.

“Rafael Correa does not have the moral authority to praise this protest when he criminalised social protest for us,” she said.

Street vendor Carmen Jaque, 50, who had marched to the capital from the Andean province of Chimborazo, said: “We, the people, are marching here, not infiltrators. We’re the ones feeling the price rises.”

Moreno was elected in 2017 as the candidate for Correa’s centre-left party but has since moved to the right. Though he enjoys the support of business and the military, Moreno’s popularity has sunk to under 30%, compared with 70% in 2017.

Exclusive: As Trump grows frustrated on Venezuela, U.S. to 'squeeze' Cuba, scrutinize Russia

Matt Spetalnick and Luc Cohen. Reuters. October 9, 2019

WASHINGTON/CARACAS (Reuters) - The Trump administration is preparing new sanctions on Cuba over its support for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and is taking a "closer look" at Russia's role in helping him remain in power, the U.S. special envoy on Venezuela, Elliott Abrams, told Reuters.

President Donald Trump's frustration over the failure of his "maximum pressure" campaign to unseat Maduro has spurred foreign policy aides to ready further U.S. actions and press for tougher sanctions on OPEC member Venezuela by European and Latin American partners, a second senior administration official said on condition of anonymity.

Abrams said Washington sees Cuba and Russia providing a lifeline to Maduro, nine months after the Trump administration and dozens of other countries resolved to no longer recognize the socialist leader as Venezuela's legitimate president.

"We're always looking to ways to squeeze (Cuba) because we do not see any improvement in their conduct either with respect to Venezuela or human rights internally," Abrams said in an interview in his State Department office.

The new sanctions under consideration for communist Cuba, expected "in the weeks ahead," would likely target the island's tourism sector as well as Venezuela's cut-rate oil delivered to Havana, building on the U.S. blacklisting of tankers used to transport the supplies, the senior official said.

While U.S. sanctions on Cuba stem from accusations that it provides training, arms and intelligence to Maduro's security forces, targeting Russia would be based heavily on Moscow's financial support of Caracas. Oil giant Rosneft <ROSN.MM> has helped Venezuela market its crude since Washington imposed sanctions on state oil company PDVSA in January.

Asked whether Washington is preparing sanctions against Rosneft, Abrams said the administration was "taking a closer look at the ways in which Russia is sustaining the regime" but declined to specify any entities or individuals.

In early August, the Trump administration froze U.S. assets of the Venezuelan government and threatened "secondary sanctions" on any company doing business with it, an escalation of pressure on Maduro. The move was widely seen as opening the door to putting sanctions on Rosneft, which in recent months has taken around half of Venezuela's crude exports.

Abrams said the administration now intended to start "naming names" under Trump's August order and that new individual sanctions are expected over the next three months.

But U.S. officials are mindful of the need for caution in targeting a company as large and far-reaching as Rosneft over its Venezuela ties.

"We don't have the luxury of being haphazard," the senior administration official told Reuters, stressing that they were not specifically referring to Rosneft.

"If it was a company that was solely doing business in Venezuela, that's a slam dunk. But when you deal with entities that have multiple components, we have to be thorough."

At the same time, the Trump administration recognizes the risk of adding tensions to an already-troubled U.S.-Russia relationship at a time when the countries face geopolitical disagreements over issues like Syria, Ukraine and arms control.

'WHY AREN'T WE DOING MORE?'

With some critics saying the economic weapons at the Trump administration's disposal are dwindling, it remains unclear whether the remaining options will be enough to shift the balance of power in Venezuela.

Maduro retains the loyalty of the country's military despite opposition leader Juan Guaido's efforts to get them on his side after he invoked the constitution to assume an interim presidency in January, arguing Maduro's 2018 re-election was a fraud. Guaido leads the opposition-controlled National Assembly.

Further restrictions on Americans traveling to Cuba would be aimed at squeezing the island economically and expanding Trump's steady rollback of the historic opening to Cuba by Trump's predecessor, Barack Obama. The reversal, along with his pressure on Venezuela, has gone over well among Cuban Americans in South Florida, a key voting bloc in Trump's 2020 re-election campaign.

The senior administration official insisted Trump's growing impatience with the failure of sanctions and diplomatic pressure to push Maduro from power meant he would not ease up despite the president's decision last month to fire his hawkish national security adviser, John Bolton, who was widely identified with the hardline policy on Venezuela.

The official said that before the administration stepped up pressure in January as Guaido assumed the rival presidency, the process had been hampered by two years of "slow-walking" by other government agencies that preferred an incremental approach.

"That's the frustration that the president harbored - he'd been saying for two years, 'Why aren't we doing more?'," the official said.

However, a former senior U.S. official said the administration underestimated the complexities of the Venezuelan situation, especially the difficulty of spurring a mutiny in the ranks where many officers are suspected of benefiting from corruption and drug trafficking.

Asked whether Venezuela policy would change with Bolton's departure, Abrams said: "The policy of supporting Guaido, supporting the National Assembly, pushing for a return of democracy, is not going to change."

In farm-rich Argentina, hunger cries ring in leaders' ears amid crisis

Nicolás Misculin, Miguel Lobianco. Reuters. October 9, 2019

CLAYPOLE, Argentina (Reuters) - In the hard-up neighborhood of Claypole on the outskirts of Argentine capital Buenos Aires, Elena Escobar makes her way to the local Caritas Felices soup kitchen to serve food to street children who scrape by from meal to meal.

Escobar, 53, says the volunteer-run kitchen has seen a surge of kids and families seeking help over the last few months, amid a biting recession and fast-rising prices that have pushed millions of people into poverty.

“There are many children in need, many malnourished, with kids that get to dinner time and don’t have any food,” said Escobar. The kitchen receives over 100 children each week, up from around 20-30 when it opened its doors in April.

The rise in hunger and poverty creates a complex backdrop for the leaders of Latin America’s no. 3 economy, who are in knife-edge talks with creditors to avoid default on billions of dollars of debt amid economic and political upheaval.

Ahead of a presidential election on Oct. 27, officials will head to Washington this month to meet with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a major backer that struck a $57 billion funding deal here with the country last year.

Those talks are likely to weigh on the current administration of President Mauricio Macri and the next one, likely led by left-leaning Peronist Alberto Fernandez, the front-runner to win the vote.

The Claypole kitchen is far from alone in witnessing rising hardship, with government data showing poverty rates jumped to 35% in the first half of 2019 amid recession and steep inflation, from 27.3% a year earlier.

‘A SCOURGE’
Around 13% of children and adolescents went hungry in 2018, according to data from the Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina, and rising food prices have become a regular target of popular anger in street protests around the country.

Political leaders know something must be done, but face a complex juggling act: bolstering growth and spending to ease issues such as hunger, while cutting debt and averting a damaging default that would shut off access to global markets.

“We can’t live in peace with such a scourge,” left-leaning Fernandez said in a speech on Monday in reference to hunger, which he described as Argentina’s “greatest shame.”

Fernandez, who has been buoyed by support for populist running mate Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, blames Macri and austerity measures agreed with the International Monetary Fund for the rise in poverty and hunger.

Macri’s running mate, Miguel Pichetto, meanwhile, said on Monday the way to eradicate hunger was to generate employment and attract “big global companies” to Argentina.

Both sides have said they would honor the country’s debts with creditors, including the IMF, though neither has laid out a clear plan for how to do so while boosting spending at home.

Most investors expect some sort of losses.

Indeed, Moody's Investors Service anticipates holders of Argentina dollar bonds will need to write off here 10% to 20% of their investments, while Fitch Ratings believes the government will write down local and dollar debt.

‘JUST NO WORK’
Hunger and poverty are not new in Argentina, but have risen abruptly over the past two years amid a series of economic shocks that have rattled the grain-exporting nation, famed for its rich arable land and cattle.

The issues have become a lightning rod for anti-government protests and marches, with the hardships of the poor brought into sharp focus as the government has been locked in talks with creditors about repayments on around $100 billion in debts.

Driving the problem is stubborn inflation, a tumbling peso and a slump in domestic production and consumption, which have hurt spending power, incomes and jobs.

“There is just no work,” said 46-year-old Isabel Britez, a volunteer at the Los Piletones dining room in Buenos Aires, who said that was the main message she heard from people eating at the kitchen, which serves around 2,000 meals a day.

Macri, looking to revive his election hopes, has rolled out plans to bolster jobs, including tax cuts for employers. He also announced a freeze on some food prices earlier this year.

Sergio Chouza, an economist at the University of Avellaneda in Buenos Aires, said food prices have rocketed nearly 60% over the past year, with basics such as dairy up as much as 90%.

“That results in a deterioration of diets and pushes many people below the poverty line,” he said.

MORE NOODLES, LESS MEAT
Poverty is a key reason for Macri’s fall from grace. His economic austerity, part of the $57 billion funding deal agreed with the IMF last year, reined in deficits but hit growth and voters’ wallets.

Macri was defeated heavily in a primary election in August. Since then, he has announced lower taxes for the middle class and higher subsidies for the poor along with food aid. The Senate approved an emergency food law last month.

“Perhaps we underestimated the impact of the economic situation on the elections. (The poverty issue) affected the vote for Mauricio,” Eduardo Amadeo, a Macri ally and member of Argentina’s house of deputies, told Reuters.

“The reforms we launched have stabilized the economy and we have tried to reduce the impact from the devaluation in August on people’s wallets,” Amadeo said.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Health and Social Development listed official measures to deal with the crisis, but declined to comment further on poverty rates.

In the meantime, even as soup kitchens flourish, some volunteers say meals are getting more meager amid tight funding conditions and as food donations dry up.

“Previously, people donated some meat and chicken; now we only get noodles and rice,” said Lorena Nievas, who works at the Abrazando Hogares soup kitchen in the southern Patagonian city of Puerto Madryn.

For many residents, however, there is no choice.

“I have people from the street who come in for their lunch and snacks here. It’s all the food they get,” she said.