Argentine court orders Milei government to distribute held-up food aid
- Aid to tens of thousands of soup kitchens was frozen after Javier Milei took office
- About 50 per cent of inhabitants in Argentina live in poverty as inflation soars
An Argentine court on Monday ordered President Javier Milei’s government to release tonnes of food meant for the poor – about half the population – but held in storage pending an audit he had ordered.
Aid to tens of thousands soup kitchens was frozen after Milei took office in December vowing to slash public spending and weed out corruption in the social welfare system.
Earlier this month, dozens of raids were carried out against soup kitchens and the groups that manage them, amid accusations that the poor were forced to attend anti-government protests in exchange for food.
The protests were allegedly organised to pressure the government into doling out more money and food, part of which never found its way to the intended recipients.
Milei is seeking to eliminate the practice of using NGOs and political parties as intermediaries to deliver state aid and end what he calls “the business of poverty”.
On Monday, a judge granted a request brought by aid organisations, ordering the government to provide a detailed breakdown of the food being withheld, and to proceed with distributing it “immediately”.
