Argentina: Protests for more income and help against inflation sweep the country

On the eve of Argentina’s July inflation announcement, which promises to be the highest monthly rate in 20 years, precarious and unemployed workers belonging to militant social organizations demonstrated on Wednesday in Buenos Aires, demanding better incomes and help from the State.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered in different avenues of the city to go to Plaza de Mayo, where the Government House is located, to meet with the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa. As Massa did not receive them, the social organizations started an encampment in front of the government headquarters at dusk, initially until Thursday morning.

Economic consultants agree that inflation in July – which the government will announce on Thursday – would be around 7% over the previous month.

According to the latest official data for June, the price hike was 5.3%, while the year-on-year rate rose to 64%, placing Argentina as one of the countries with the highest inflation in the world.

The members of the Unidad Piquetera, which integrates the different social organizations, demand a quick response from the Minister of Economy to the loss of purchasing power of workers, both in the informal sector and in the formal economy.

Early in the morning, the demonstrators, many of them accompanied by small children, marched in line with banners from the Polo Obrero and the Socialist Workers Movement, among other groups.

With information from Estadão