Poverty in Argentina

Argentina is classified as an upper middle income country but has been unable to achieve the combination of economic stability and redistribution necessary to stamp out poverty. Furthermore the country’s National Statistics Institute has lost the confidence of the general public in its published figures for poverty, inflation and unemployment. For the first quarter of 2008, the official poverty measure was 18%, assessed by reference to the cost of basic food and essentials. Independent observers assert that the poverty line has been artificially depressed because the real rate of inflation is more than double the reported rate of 9%.

Feeding Argentinian children © Action Against Hunger-USA

These observers suggest that poverty could be as high as 30%, raising doubts as to the prospects for achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) target of 21% by 2015. The rate of extreme poverty (based on the cost of food alone) may also be rising well above 10%. Widening inequality is a problem not only between but also within provinces. Southern provinces tend to fare better than northern ones, with some of the northeastern provinces suffering the worst levels of poverty and inequality. This profile is mirrored in the capital, Buenos Aires, where open sewers in the south side of the city are leading to a health and sanitation collapse, on top of the poor education and job opportunities for more than 250,000 inhabitants of the slums.

Progress towards the MDGs for health and education has been more convincing. Literacy rates among both men and women are just under 100% and the rates of child and infant mortality have halved since 1990. Since the extreme economic crisis of 2002, the Argentinean government has also demonstrated greater commitment to those excluded from the country’s progress. Safety net initiatives provide emergency relief to the most disadvantaged, such as the unemployed, single mothers and those aged over 70. The country's MDG progress report states that these measures, necessary in the short term to eradicate the most extreme poverty, are a first step on the road to a more equitable and inclusive economy.

The Economy in Argentina

Urban slums, Argentina © In These Times

Argentina's roller-coaster economic history is often adopted by anti-globalisation activists as a significant cautionary tale. The neo-liberal and structural adjustment policies sanctioned by the IMF and the World Bank in the late 1980s arguably destroyed the country's industrial base leaving millions out of work, rendered agricultural products uncompetitive in the face of falling world prices, privatised essential public services with highly unpopular results, cut expenditure on health and education, and brought about a general economic meltdown. By 2001, Argentina had the highest rates of poverty of its history, with over 50% of the population living below the poverty line.

Workers manage ceramics factory, Argentina © Independent Media Center

The model also failed to address Argentina's extremely high level of foreign debt. By 2001 the country owed approximately $150 billion to public and private debtors, forcing the largest sovereign debt default in history. Since then, industry, employment and exports have all grown, led by surging agriculture markets for soya, beef and wheat. There have also been some remarkable stories of workers taking over factories abandoned by their owners. The government has been able to play cat and mouse games with its aggrieved bondholders, even paying off its entire renegotiated IMF debt of $9.8 billion in 2006.

However, the 2008 boom and bust cycle in agricultural commodity prices has once again plunged the Argentinian government into extreme indebtedness, squeezed by its policy of subsidising energy, food and fuel prices. With legal action and debts still outstanding from the 2001 default, the country has very limited recourse to international capital markets. Loans from Venezuela have come at a very high price. The dramatic decision to renationalise the country’s principal pension funds during 2008 was presented as an essential move to protect their value, but could also be seen in the context of the government’s urgent need of liquid assets.
Climate Change in Argentina

Floods in Argentina © Independent Media Center

Argentina is actively engaged in assessing the potential impact of climate change on its environment and agriculture. And there is global concern about the rapid melting of the Patagonian icefield which accounts for 9% of the rise in sea level attributable to the retreat of glaciers worldwide.

The country is itself a contributor to greenhouse gas emissions. Particular concern surrounds the boom in soya plantations - Argentina has become the world's 3rd largest producer of soya after Brazil and US, with the crop accounting for no less than 50% of the country's grain output. Over half a million acres of forest have been cleared and desertification is already spreading in many regions, in particular Patagonia. Agrichemicals have been used in conjunction with genetically modified soya with little thought given to the ecological consequences. With normal grain crops displaced on this scale, there has even been speculation that Argentina could lose its self-sufficiency in food production.
Politics in Argentina

In the latter part of the 20th century, Argentinian politics was dominated by two parties; the Partido Justicialista (a coalition of conservative Peronists) and the Unión Civica Radical (a party for reform). However, in the wake of the country's economic collapse in 2001, Argentina's political landscape underwent dramatic change. A period of almost constant social mobilisation saw protesters adopt the motto que se vayan todos (kick them all out) to express their profound discontent with the political establishment. At one stage three presidents resigned in a little over a week before it became possible to hold democratic presidential elections in 2003.

The winner, Néstor Kirchner, was formerly a little-known governor of a remote southern province whose party Frente para la Victoria (Front for Victory) is aligned with Peronist values. Economic recovery enabled Kirchner to enjoy reasonable approval ratings and, in parliamentary elections held in 2005 for the lower and upper houses of Congress, known as the Chamber of Deputies and the Senate, parties regarded as Kirchner allies strengthened their numbers.

For the October 2007 presidential elections, Kirchner made the surprise decision to stand down in favour of his wife Cristina Fernández, a lawyer and member of the Senate. A divided opposition and the populist appeal of Mrs Fernández de Kirchner enabled her to attain the necessary first round vote of over 45% to secure the presidency, the first woman to do so in Argentina's history. Although the overall margin was decisive, major urban areas failed to support the new president, perhaps unimpressed by her reluctance to defend her policies at press conferences or interviews.

While the country has made huge progress in democratic consolidation since 1983, Argentina is still beset by corruption at all levels of government and a poor record of judicial independence. The strong position in parliament of the Kirchner factions hampers the democratic process and journalists and NGOs have denounced the authoritarian tendencies of the political elite. Cristina Fernández has already felt the power of public dissent in her ultimately unsuccessful attempt to impose higher taxes on farm exports during 2008.

Civil society has grown markedly since the end of the country's last dictatorship. A large number of human rights groups are very active, most notably Mothers of Plaza de Mayo. Since the economic meltdown in 2001-2, many organisations have been formed to provide assistance to the growing numbers of poor, both locally and nationally.
Human Rights in Argentina

Argentina's human rights record is problematic. The country suffers from high levels of police brutality and severe overcrowding in prisons. According to Human Rights Watch, only 2 out of 10 prisoners in Buenos Aires has been through the full court process, the remainder awaiting trial or sentence.

The country has however witnessed important advances in human rights in recent years and in 2007 the death penalty was finally abolished. In 2006 Argentina marked the 30th anniversary of the 1976 military coup which lasted until 1983. An estimated 30,000 civilians "disappeared" and many thousands more were subject to atrocious human rights violations, notably kidnap and torture. Néstor Kirchner promised to bring the perpetrators to justice and, in 2003, Congress rolled back measures taken in the late '80s and '90s by previous administrations to pardon former military officials guilty of human rights abuses during the dictatorship.

In 2005 these amnesty laws were struck off by a Supreme Court ruling, opening the way to detention and prosecution of suspects. In 2007 a notorious former police chief, Miguel Etchecolatz, was sentenced to life imprisonment for torture and homicide. Further high level convictions have followed in 2008. Over 200 further trials are in the pipeline but the unsolved disappearance of the key witness in the Etchecolatz case in the final stages of the trial casts a shadow over the government's resolve.

Indigenous groups in the north and south of the country, who comprise about 2% of the population, are suffering loss of livelihoods as their traditional lands are sold off by local governments to logging companies who turn over the land to soya plantation. Several groups, most notably the Wichi of the northwest of the country, are engaged in a political and legal struggle to gain recognition of their land rights.
Information and Media in Argentina

Since the return to democracy, the Argentinean media has been vibrant and free for the most part and offers extensive choice. However, a number of journalists continue to suffer intimidation, control of information and surveillance, especially in some of the provinces where local politics are characterised by entrenched clientelism. Press and civil society groups express growing concerns about government pressures on the media, a result of the government's increasing political power. The government has been accused of subtle influence, for example by buying or cancelling advertising contracts with the media, curtailing access to press events and selective provision of information. Civil society and the media therefore continue to advocate freedom of expression and the development of laws to protect journalists from criminal - as opposed to civil - prosecution in cases of libel and slander.



The OneWorld Argentina Guide was first published in December 2005 with a text written by Volunteer Editor Lila Rabinovich

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