Milei Celebrates Violent Repression of Thousands Protesting Hunger in Argentina

On April 10, the Federal Police and the Police of the city of Buenos Aires violently evicted and repressed a peaceful demonstration. The mobilization, organized by the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP) was one of many that took place in cities across the country to raise awareness of the critical situation faced by workers in the informal economy.

Organizations that are part of UTEP claim that the national government has suspended programs providing food to community kitchens, and has also refused to dialogue with organizations who have repeatedly denounced the suspension and now are unable to provide food to the thousands of families that they previously worked with. Many poor families across the country have also suffered from a freeze of and reduction to their “Social Complementary Salary,” a government program that provided supplementary economic aid to workers of the informal economy.

In Buenos Aires, thousands of protesters attempted to march to the Ministry of Human Capital when they were violently attacked by police with gas and water cannons. Over 10 were arrested and several were injured, including one protester who was dragged down the street and hit against the asphalt.

The Ministry of Human Capital is a creation of the Milei government as a part of his promise to cut the majority of ministries and secretaries and create “super ministries”. This move, in addition to massively reducing the number of people working for the ministry, also entailed severe cuts to dozens of social programs.