A policeman in a looted supermarket on August 22, 2023 in José C. Paz, a popular suburb near Buenos Aires, Argentina (AFP / Juan MABROMATA)
Thirty people have been arrested in recent days in Argentina after looting of businesses in at least three provinces, occasional “criminal” acts according to the government, which does not read a “social reaction” on a large scale.
“There are several detainees (…) and many of the perpetrators are people with a criminal record. We do not see it as a social reaction but as facts which deserve the full weight of the law”, declared to the urges the head of the cabinet of ministers, Agustín Rossi.
According to the police in the province of Cordoba (center), around twenty people were arrested, the majority of them minors, for attacks or attempted looting of a dozen businesses over the weekend. In the province of Mendoza, seven people were arrested and charged.
A police officer recovers abandoned goods from a parking lot after a supermarket was looted on August 22, 2023 in José C. Paz, a popular suburb near Buenos Aires, Argentina (AFP/Juan MABROMATA)
In a district of the capital Buenos Aires, an attempt to loot a store was reported Monday evening, foiled by residents. Security Minister Anibal Fernandez reported arrests there too, without specifying the number.
Tuesday afternoon in José C. Paz, a popular suburb 45 kilometers from Buenos Aires, another supermarket was partly looted on Tuesday afternoon, police and witnesses told AFP, who told AFP. found many other businesses subsequently closed as a precaution in the area.
Mr. Fernandez assured that the government “is following the case closely” and indicated that attempted attacks on stores had been spotted since last week, via express mobilizations on Whatsapp exchanges.
“There is not a great degree of organization,” said the minister, for whom it is “criminal acts, to generate confusion and conflict”.
The damaged entrance to a supermarket after it was looted on August 22, 2023 in José C. Paz, a popular suburb near Buenos Aires, Argentina (AFP / Juan MABROMATA)
Argentina is going through an endemic economic slump, with inflation at 113% over twelve months and purchasing power still eroded last week by a 20% devaluation of the peso, two months before general elections.
Many Argentines have traumatic memories of scenes of looting of businesses during the “Great Crisis” of 2001, a social explosion accompanied by clashes with the police which left 39 dead.
© 2023 AFP
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