Amid 18% hunger, Argentina's Milei administration releases thousands of tons of food it had sequestered

Argentina's Human Capital Ministry announced that the Army would distribute 5,000 tons of food sitting in government warehouses, a week after announcing it would not deliver them to soup kitchens.

Asked about who would receive the food, a spokesperson for the ministry said they “did not know that detail.”

A May 23rd story by the El Destape news website revealed that 5,000 tons of food purchased for the country's soup kitchens in the closing days of the center-left Alberto Fernández administration in late 2023 had since been sequestered, and that some of the food (mainly dairy) was close to its expiration date.

Government spokesman Manuel Adorni initially denied this. A day later, Milei's Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello acknowledged the problem.

Pettovello, however, initially refused to act - and following a lawsuit by leftist activist Juan Grabois, was enjoined by Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello on May 27th to deliver the food.

The Human Capital Ministry appealed - but amid a media uproar even in right-wing outlets, today relented.

Pettovello, 56, is a right-wing cable news producer with no experience in any of the areas overseen by the four ministries absorbed by the new “Human Capital” portfolio: Education, Labor, Social Development, and Gender and Diversity Policy.

Demand in the country's 40,000 soup kitchens has burgeoned since Milei was elected in November - with income poverty rising from 45% to 55%, and hunger rising from 9.5% to 18% in one of the world's agricultural powerhouses.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/politics/government-acknowledges-it-has-expiring-food-in-storages-tasks-army-to-distribute

Some 5,000 tons of food purchased last year for Argentina's soup kitchens by a previous administration piles up in a government warehouse over five months after the far-right Javier Milei administration took office.

The Milei administration has not been delivering food to most of the country's 40,000 soup kitchens - where demand has burgeoned amid a near-doubling in hunger to an estimated 8 million Argentines (18%) since Milei took office.

Social movements run most soup kitchens, and their leaders claim that the decision to discontinue aid is in retaliation for opposing the irascible Milei.