You Heard it on “No Te Duermas”
On the radio show, Ana María Ariza, a representative of the Mil Flores group, spoke about the soup kitchen for senior citizens she runs in González Catán.
Tomás Modini
@ModiniTomas
At the start of the interview, Ana María Ariza described the current situation of retirees: “What’s happening is the same as what’s happening across the country, there are more and more people, and not just at this soup kitchen. We have three more in the San José neighborhood, in Castillo, and in Luzuriaga. In all of them, it’s the same situation—the increasing number of people who come to get food because they can’t make ends meet, and the majority of them are older adults. Unfortunately, it’s not just one neighborhood.”
“What happens with retirees is a great suffering for everyone, especially for those who struggle to understand certain technological processes. The truth is, many of them, because they don’t have anyone to help them, go to PAMI in person and have to wait in endless lines. And that’s something that really affects the elderly, their health, and their ability to stand for long periods. In some places, they have to wait outside in the heat,” she elaborated.
Regarding this issue, she mentioned that “what affects them most is that they don’t have enough income with these new systems to live with dignity” and that “their income is insufficient, no retiree spends less than $50,000 or $60,000 on medication.”
“Those with chronic conditions spend a lot on medicine. For instance, diabetes medication is free, but just last week there was an issue between pharmacies, PAMI, and people, where many were left without medication because accessing it wasn’t easy,” she added.
The Lack of National Policies
As for what people feel in the soup kitchen, she emphasized a sense of hopelessness: “In reality, the elderly tell the volunteers who manage the soup kitchens about their struggles. It’s not just an issue for the elderly, it’s total hopelessness because no one listens to the people who have nothing.”
“There are policies in La Matanza related to Social Development that try to address this, along with some social organizations at the provincial level, where there’s some collaboration. But there are no national policies,” she stressed.
At the same time, she pointed out that “the fixed value of the subsidy given to retirees is similar to what happened with those who were part of the former ‘Potenciar Trabajo’ program, now called ‘Acompañar’” and that “they used to work, helping in schools, hospitals, and distributing goods, and now that’s no longer happening.”
“Since there’s no organization from anywhere, the national government prohibited people from organizing, leaving everything quite adrift,” she added.
The Complicated General Context
In the final section, the interviewee elaborated: “These workers earned their income with dignity, and now it’s frozen. In other words, it’s not enough for anything. This situation is going to keep getting worse because, according to the government, inflation has decreased, the dollar has remained stable, but prices keep going up.”
“And people are losing jobs because every day we hear about people being fired or forced to leave earlier. The percentage of layoffs is overwhelming, and then survey results show that 52 percent of Argentinians are living in poverty,” she noted.
To close, she mentioned that “it’s not enough for us to live, it’s a general issue,” and added, “What I’m saying about retirees comes from my personal experience. I can verify it. I’m not just repeating what I hear.”
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