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Six opposition blocs at the Argentinian Congress agreed to extend the emergency until the end of 2022.
Opposition lawmakers in Argentina will present on Tuesday a bill to extend the "food emergency" until December 31, 2022.
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“The national state must guarantee, in a permanent way, the right to food and the right to food and nutrition security”, the drafted law holds.
On Jan. 15, 2002, President Eduardo Duhalde decreed the first "national food emergency", arguing that the "very serious economic crisis" and the "deep productive paralysis" had generated extreme poverty levels.
He then created the National Food and Nutrition Program (PANN), which was intended to cover the nutritional requirements of poor pregnant women, children aged 14-years and below, the disabled and the elderly.
Initially, the food emergency was scheduled to last until Dec. 2002; however, the Argentinian government maintained public food programs as a way to control poverty levels.
In Dec. 2016, President Mauricio Macri decreed a “social emergency” which would last until Dec. 31, 2019. Neverthless, the situation for the Argentinian people has not improved at all.
No quieren declarar la #EmergenciaAlimentaria Están provocando al pueblo Quieren incentivar el conflicto social Fogonean los saqueos Se saben derrotados en las urnas para irse como víctimas pero ellos son los victimarios #MacriYaFue #EmergenciaAlimentaria pic.twitter.com/e45qOmfRSO
— Raul J Lucarini (@raul_lucarini) September 4, 2019
The Macri administration "does not want to declare food emergency. They are provoking the people. They want to encourage social conflict. They encourage looting. They know they are defeated at the polls and want to leave as if they were victims but they are the perpetrators."
According to “The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World in 2019" (SOFI), a report published by the United Nations, the number of Argentinians experiencing “moderate or severe food insecurity” increased from 8.3 million (2014 -2016) to 14.2 million (2016-2018). In other words, Macri increased food insecurity by 71 percent.
On Sep. 4, the General Confederation of Labor (CGT) formally requested Argentina's right-wing president to extend the food emergency. Given that Macri did not agree to issue a decree to extend public policies against hunger and malnutrition, the opposition established its own project, which will be discussed in the Lower House on Thursday.
This bill proposes a 50 percent increase in budget items related to food and nutrition policies. The Victory Front's the Justicialist Party, the Renovating Front, Network for Argentina, Evita Movement and 'We are From Victoria Donda' participated in the elaboration of the final text.
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