Argentine authorities appeal for food donations

Press, 2 June 1989, Page 6

Argentine authorities appeal for food donations

NZPA-Reuterßuenos Aires Argentine authorities yesterday appealed for people to donate food for the hungry in a dramatic bid to halt riots and supermarket lootings that have left at least 14 people dead in the last three days. In shantytowns local government officials asked shop and supermarket owners to give food away rather than risk further violence. Emergency food programmes were also put into action, with soup kitchens set up in the capital. A wave of bombings, lootings and food riots that has swept Argentina in the last three days calmed slightly yesterday. Local news agencies reported isolated violence, including the deaths of a nine-year-old boy and two teen-agers, bringing the

death toll since Sunday to at least 14.

Late yesterday the Interior Minister, Juan Carlos Pugliese, denied reports that at least 14 people had died in the food riots, though he did not give a number of victims.

Mr Pugliese, who had blamed Left-wing activists for inciting people to riot, said the Government would not take advantage of a state of siege, declared on Monday, to crack down on extreme Leftists.

Local government officials also reported an alarming rise in the number of people arming themselves to protect shops and homes against looters. The violence has increased pressure on President Raul Alfonsin to make way for his elected

successor, Carlos Menem, before the official handover date of December 10. Talks on an early transfer of power collapsed last week when Mr Menem’s Peronists and Mr Alfonsin’s Radicals failed to agree on a plan to heal the ailing economy.

Mr Alfonsin has proved unable to deal with Argentina’s worst-ever economic crisis, which United States officials and foreign-policy analysts blame on Government mismanagement. Inflation is expected to hit 100 per cent in June and the country is haemorrhaging dollars. Bankers said the cash flight to Uruguay in the last few weeks totalled SUS4OO million (SNZ6B4 million). As part of its last-ditch

effort to contain inflation, the Government closed down three large companies — a flour mill, a biscuit maker and a chemical firm — for a day for flouting price controls. It closed seven others on Tuesday. In Rosario, 300 km north of Buenos Aires and scene of the worst rioting, food and drink began to run out as supermarkets had been emptied by looters and delivery trucks were stopped by police for fear of attacks.

The vice-governor of Sante Fe province, of which Rosario is the main city, said he was having problems feeding troop reinforcements and the 1000 people arrested during the riots. A housewife standing outside a bakery said, “We can’t get anything. No bread, no potatoes.”