Photo: Ministry of Human Resources Press
The Ministry of Human Capital announced plans on Thursday to redistribute more than 5,000 tonnes of food to vulnerable people across the country, narrowly missing a 24-hour deadline set by the Ministry of Justice.
The Buenos Aires City Federal Court issued the order on Wednesday. Two weeks earlier, news site El Destape reported that the food was stored in two government warehouses in Villa Martelli, Buenos Aires, and Tafi Viejo, Tucuman. In February, Juan Grabois, head of the social group Movement to Eliminate Tabajadores, filed a formal complaint against Human Resources Development Minister Sandra Petobello. Grabois followed up on the complaint in May with a request for an in-person inspection of the warehouses.
On May 24, prosecutors Andrés Nazer and MarÃa Paloma Ochoa, in a decision signed by Judge Santiago Casanero, gave the Ministry of Food five days to deliver the food to registered soup kitchens. The Ministry appealed the decision, but federal judges MartÃn Illulsún, Eduardo Guillermo Faller and Roberto José Boico unanimously upheld it in a 38-page decision.
The plan was announced by newly appointed Secretary of the Ministry of Children, Youth and Families, Yanina Nano Lembo, who replaced the scandal-hit Pablo de la Torre, who Milley's administration severed ties with. De la Torre is currently under criminal investigation for allegedly obtaining irregular employment contracts through Ibero-American countries (whose Spanish acronym is OEI), in a separate case.
Nano Lembo said 300,000 liters of milk expiring in July would be sent to the Child Nutrition Cooperative (Fundación CONIN, its Spanish acronym), which would be responsible for paying for it. The operation began on Wednesday with the deployment of military trucks in Tucuman province.
“The remaining food will be distributed to disadvantaged schools across the country,” Nano Lembo said. “Disadvantaged schools are those with a high number of at-risk children and lower educational levels and socio-economic outcomes.”
The government's decision to comply with the court order was announced by Deputy Minister of Human Resources Leila Gianni, who had a tense exchange with President Grabois earlier this week after he accused her of robbing the poor. Gianni added that the food was meant to be used in the event of a disaster.
“The court's decision means this possibility cannot be considered,” she said.
