Thousands protest on Argentinian streets as hunger grows amid austerity measures

(Patria) - Thousands of people protested across Argentina on Friday, demanding food aid for the poor as soaring inflation and President Javier Milei's harsh austerity measures take their toll.

Since taking office in December, Milei has slashed public spending, winning the approval of the International Monetary Fund and securing a budget surplus for the first time in twelve years in a country whose previous governments suffered inflation and multiple fiscal crises.

However, annual inflation has soared to 254 percent, bus fares have more than tripled, and the government has frozen key aid to soup kitchens that are seeing growing numbers of users.

"In just over two months, this government has created a very critical situation of poverty," Alejandro Gramajo from the UTEP union told AFP. "No to fare hikes," demonstrators chanted, alongside cries of "Hunger doesn't wait" and "Pots are empty, pockets too".

Around 38,000 Argentinian meal centres, which provide a hot meal to those in need, received their last batch of government-supplied provisions in November before Milei, a libertarian and self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist", was inaugurated.

Milei's government says it plans to audit the needs of each individual soup kitchen and establish a direct aid system, aiming to cut out intermediaries such as social movements that he describes as "managers of poverty".

"There is no money," Milei said when he took office, vowing to end the "decadence" of his predecessors who spent too much money, whose management was marked by repeated inflationary crises and debt.

Milei (53) has devalued the peso by more than 50 percent, eliminated tens of thousands of public jobs and halved the number of government ministries. An outsider elected on a wave of anger over the country's decline, Milei has warned the population that the economic crisis will worsen before it gets better. "When we hit rock bottom, we will bounce back," he said.

Social tensions are rising, with train drivers and health workers striking this week, and teachers next. However, Milei's government has won praise from the International Monetary Fund, to which it owes $44 billion, for its "bold actions to restore macroeconomic stability". The government says monthly inflation is under control and should be in the single digits by the second half of the year.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met Milei in Buenos Aires on Friday and said "working to stabilize the economy is absolutely vital".

"We see an extraordinary opportunity here in Argentina," he said, adding that the country could "count" on the United States as they work to end the economic crisis.