BUENOS AIRES, 30 Nov 2017:
A mother outside of Buenos Aires strangled her 23-month-old baby to death out of desperation at not being able to feed her child. The mother Karina Gomez said: “I couldn’t take the situation. I’m so tired.”
Gomez confessed at the scene: “I killed her, it’s done. I couldn’t feed her and now she doesn’t have to suffer anymore.” Gomez is jobless and depended on government subsidies for food.
Much of these subsidies have been lowered or eliminated since president Mauricio Macri took office in 2015.
Since entering office Macri and an aligned congress eliminated over 100,000 education sector jobs and cut natural gas and transportation subsidies. The price of natural gas has increased by up to 350% and public transport by 10% in some areas of Argentina.
Such austerity measures have increased poverty across the country. This year alone between January and June of 2017, poverty increased by more than 8% – from 20.4% to 28.6% on average.
In some Buenos Aires neighbourhoods, the poverty percentage rose to 13.4%, up from 9% in 2016.
Kids are particularly worse hit. Malnutrition is up from 43% in 2016 to 48% this year for those aged 2 to 19.
In mid-November, the Confederation of Solidarity Economy Workers and social movements marched in Buenos Aires and across the country to demand Congress pass the Emergency Food Law and the Popular Economy Law – which would protect society’s most vulnerable and marginalised.
They also demanded the halt of the government’s current economic reforms they say is driving people into poverty.
The Macri administration is threatening further cuts to public worker pay and pensions. Just today, Buenos Aires subway union and the taxi union halted service this morning during peak usage hours.
The Confederation of Education Worker (CEW) also went on strike today – so public education across Buenos Aires was cancelled due to the strike.
CEW secretary general Sonia Alesso said the government is cutting social spending, “directed by the IMF, like in the 90s (sic). These aren’t reforms. They are adjustment measures placed onto workers who lose their rights.”
– Bernama