Argentina Govt Backtracks on Plan to Cut Disability Pensions

The Argentine government has taken a step back on its controversial plan to strip over 83,000 disability pensions, announcing on Thursday that it would review each claim on a “case by case” basis to ensure no pension had been wrongly suspended.

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Minister for Social Development Carolina Stanley told Rosario station Radio 2 that the government would reinstate “any pension of a person with a disability that, for error in the application criteria, may not have received the last pension payment.”

“There are 1.5 million families who receive a pension in Argentina and they are going to continue to receive it,” the minister added.

The move comes amid mounting public pressure to stop the subsidies cuts that would see 83,133 people lose their disability pensions.

Hundreds of people with disabilities gathered Thursday night in Buenos Aires to demand the government protect the welfare payments, which they say is their only livelihood.

"The basic right of any person with a disability is to get the minimum wage which is a pension. There are many people who have their pension being taken away and that is their only means of subsistence. It is not because they (disabled pensioners) want it but there is no other way to make a living," Diego Rodriguez, a protester at the march, told Reuters.

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The public uproar also forced the government to reinstate the pension of Yanina Martinez, a gold medal paralympian, after news of her cut went viral.

Plans to eliminate or temporarily suspend 83,133 disability pensions comes as part of a broader program of austerity measures introduced by President Mauricio Macri.

Since taking office, Macri has cut funding to education, laid off over 66,000 public sector workers and slashed budgets for social institutions, like the National Council of Women.