The Polo Obrero social movement today launched a week of protests demanding work and rejecting poverty and hunger. The protesters are expected to join other movements, culminating in camp-outs and marches in central Buenos Aires on Wednesday and Thursday.

The protest actions started at 7 a.m. this morning with speeches in Las Heras, Santa Cruz province, and La Quiaca, in Jujuy. The week of protests will continue tomorrow with activities across the country. 

“From one end to the other of the country, literally from Ushuaia to La Quiaca, thousands of comrades will set out to bring our demands to the center of political power,” said a Polo Obrero statement. 

On Wednesday, activists will hold a vigil in Plaza de Mayo, with a speech at 4 p.m., followed by a camp-out, culminating in a protest on Thursday, together with social movements Unidad Piquetera, the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP, by its Spanish initials), and the Front of Organizations in Struggle.

Columns from across the country are also expected to gather outside Congress from midday Thursday onwards, before marching down Avenida de Mayo to the Social Development Ministry, where they plan to camp out.

Social movements have organized frequent protests against poverty, welfare cuts, and lack of employment recently. On April 5, Polo Obrero organized 128 roadblocks across the country after national statistics showed that poverty was rising despite Argentina’s economy growing. 

There have also been protests over the government’s plans to exclude “ineligible” welfare recipients, in line with requests from the International Monetary Fund. Social leaders say new requirements for beneficiaries to verify their identity are not accessible to some of society’s most vulnerable.

-Télam/Herald