Argentines Protest Barbecue for the Rich with Stew for the Poor

Argentine residents from poor neighborhoods in Buenos Aires staged an alternative “stew” protest against the barbecue championship organized by federal authorities Sunday, denouncing federal and provincial policies that they say favor the upper classes.

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The barbecue took place on the south side of the obelisk of Buenos Aires, where 24 teams from all the country's provinces competed before a jury, including Buenos Aires governor Horacio Rodriguez Larreta.

On the opposite side of the obelisk, social movements cooked and handed out for free over a thousand plates of stew, a typical and modest meal among the poor. The best stews were awarded at the end of the event by the organizers—La Corriente Villera Indepediente, a federation of various associations of Buenos Aires' neighborhoods, and Popular Movement “La Dignidad.”

“Today we are cooking a stew of wheat, one of rice, one of tripe, one of noodles, because barbecue for so many people represents a big budget, but we came here to cook so all the poor can eat for free, because our movement defends dignity,” said Amalia, one of the cooks, to Infobae.

In a communique, the collective denounced the “immorality” of the policies implemented by governor Larreta, saying he “wasted about US$659,000 in the federal championship of barbecue, while so many of us are poor.”

The protest came one week after an official report found that poverty rates skyrocketed in the country, with one Argentine out of three considered “poor” and one out of two minors are considered “poor or extremely poor.”

Protesters denounced federal and provincial policies that aim at “creating one Argentina for the wealthy, and another one — Argentina for the poor — who mobilize and resist,” said Rafael Klejzer, one of the movement's leader to Prensa Latina.