Argentine Presidential Candidate Launches Hunger-Free Argentina Program

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Peronist candidate Alberto Fernández, the 60-year-old favored in Argentina’s electoral race, launched on Monday morning, October 7th, the ‘Argentina Without Hunger’ plan, inspired by Brazil’s former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s ‘Fome Zero‘ (“Zero Hunger”).

“We live in a country that claims to have the potential to feed 400 million people, but which cannot solve the hunger of 15 million people living in poverty,” Fernández said during the program’s launching at the University of Buenos Aires School of Agronomy and Veterinary Sciences headquarters.

He referred to the new figures presented last week by the Social Debt Observatory of the Catholic University (UCA). The data, deemed the most reliable of its kind in the country, showed that 35.4 percent of Argentinians live in poverty, of which 7.7 percent are homeless.

Fernández is an admirer of the former Brazilian president who often repeats the ‘Lula Livre‘ (“Free Lula”) slogan and has already visited him in prison in Curitiba, Brazil.

During the prior administration (2007-2015) of Cristina Kirchner, the current candidate for vice president on the Fernández slate, the Universal Attribution per Child had already been created, based on the Brazilian Family Grant.

Under Mauricio Macri’s administration, the government slashed a significant portion of social spending on assistance plans to meet its commitments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

If Fernández is elected, he will take office on December 10th and the Argentina Without Hunger program will come into effect on December 11th. It will be his government’s priority, according to the candidate.

The program will include the distribution of a Food Card to the low-income population, with which they will be able to buy food subsidized by the government or with discounts from private supermarket chains.

There will also be regulation of food prices that make up the basic basket and an extension of Recommended Prices, which freezes the price of several items. Today, the program exists, but it is difficult to find the products – in general, they are on a shelf at the bottom of large supermarkets – and not all establishments follow the rules.

To fund the program, the Peronist candidate said that his team is already negotiating with producers and supermarket chains. The aim is to establish a council that allocates resources, with the participation of various sectors of civil society, as well as the government, such as churches, universities, business chambers and unions.

Fernández said he will propose to the legislature the so-called Shelves Law, which will establish space quotas in supermarkets in order to stimulate competition, avoid mega-brand monopolies and ensure that those who charge less are rewarded.

Cristina Kirchner developed a similar program during her administration, which extended to several areas (including transportation and electricity) and was sustained with state subsidies. The country’s economic situation, however, was different, with economic growth and good dollar inflows due to the commodity boom.

The country that Fernández will inherit, should he win the election, is facing a recession and is expected to shrink its GDP by 1.5 percent in 2020. Therefore, the alternative chosen is to seek funding from the private sector.

Fernández will also choose celebrities to “sponsor” and promote the plan, such as popular TV host Marcelo Tinelli and neuroscientist Facundo Manes, author of Argentine best-sellers.

Last weekend, two polls showed that Fernández could win the election in the first round. Consultants Opinaia and Federico González & Asociados announced a 48 percent win against Macri’s 30 percent and 50 percent against 27.9 percent, respectively.

In Argentina, to avoid a second, run-off vote and be declared president, the leading candidate must obtain either 45 percent of the votes, or 40 percent plus a margin of at least ten percentage points over the runner-up.

Source: Folhapress