Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2brh9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T19:51:21.479Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Bread or Solidarity?: Argentine Social Policies, 1983–1990

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Georges Midré
Georges Midré
Affiliation:
Georges Midré is Professor of Social Policy, University of Tromsø, Norway.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

This article describes the introduction of two social policy programmes aiming to provide adequate nourishment to poor families in Argentina between 1983 and 1990. They were called PAN (Programa Alimentario Nacional), and the Bono Nacional Solidario de Emergencia.

A study of the introduction of social policy measures during these years can help us to understand parts of the value-structure upon which Argentine society is built. Such a study also highlights some of the main social functions that welfare programmes perform in structuring the relationship between the political system and society. Finally, the management of the programmes and the political debate surrounding them illustrate some key features of the Argentine political system and its ability to formulate a coherent social policy project.

The debates concerning the organisation of social welfare schemes, in 1983 as well as in 1989, must be seen in relation to the general structure of the social welfare system in the country. Both by European and Latin American standards, Argentina's first ‘labour laws’ were passed at an early stage.2 However, Argentina never became a ‘Welfare State’ in the sense that all of the population was included. One of the reasons for this is connected with the impotence of the State. Several analysts have underlined the particular weakness of many Latin American States, a consequence of a pronounced corporative logic that dominates the implementation of public policies.3 In fact, the social impact of welfare policies reflects the overall power structure in society in a more clear-cut way than we see in most European Welfare States.4

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Latin American Studies , Volume 24 , Issue 2 , May 1992 , pp. 343 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

2 Isuani, Ernesto A., Las orígenes conflictivos de la stguridad social argentina (Buenos Aires, 1985).Google Scholar

3 Malloy, James M., ‘Statecraft, política y crisis de la seguridad social’, in Mesa-Lago, Carmelo (ed.), La crisis de la seguridad social y la atención a la salud (México, 1986).Google Scholar

4 Mesa-Lago, C., Social Security in Latin America: Pressure Groups, Stratification and Inequality (Pittsburgh, 1978).Google Scholar

5 Mesa-Lago, C., ‘Social Security and Extreme Poverty in Latin America’, Journal of Development Economics, vol. 12 (1983), p. 85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

6 Isuani, Ernesto A. and Tenti, Emilio (eds.), Estado democrático y politica social (Buenos Aires, 1989), p. 21.Google Scholar

7 Isuani, and Tenti, , Estado democrátic y politica social, p. 25.Google Scholar

8 The reasons are manifold and cannot be considered within the scope of this paper. See Feldman, J. et al. , Maduración y crisis del sistema previsional argentine (Buenos Aires, 1988).Google Scholar

9 Marshall, A., Políticas sociales: El modelo neoliberal (Buenos Aires, 1988), p. 54.Google Scholar She shows that contrary to its claim to be pursuing laissez-faire policies, the government actually intervened in the labour market and enforced conditions that set the price of labour. Wages were frozen, working conditions were regulated and the labour unions were banned. On the other hand, the conditions for buying labour were not regulated in the same way. Neither were prices of commodities and services.

10 Ministerio de Trabajo y Seguridad Social, Directión Nacional de Recursos Humanos y Empleo, ‘La problemática ocupacional en un contexto de crisis, Argentina, 1976–84’ (Buenos Aires, 1984).Google Scholar

11 In fact, the budget of La Secretaría de Desarrollo Humano y Familia, from which public aid to the elderly, the disabled, children and mothers is administered, was reduced by between 40 and 60% during the Junta years when compared with the 1975 budget. Fanfani, E. Tenti, Estado y pobreza: estrategias típicas de interventión (Buenos Aires, 1989)Google Scholar, table 18.

12 Alvarez, Sonia, ‘Las políticas en subvenciones en concepto de asistencia social: el caso de Salta’ (Buenos Aires, 1987), p. 26.Google Scholar The author illustrates these changes by describing the activities of La Directión General de Promoción Social and Banco de Préstamos y Asistencia Social in Salta.

13 Del Franco, Analía, ‘Consideraciones organizacionales acerca del PAN’, in Kliksberg, Bernardo (ed.), ¿Como enfrentar la pobreza? Estrategias y experiencias organizacionales innovadoras (Buenos Aires, 1989), pp. 199–200.Google Scholar

14 Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados de la Nación, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo I, p. 244.

15 Luis Alberto Cáceres (Unión Cívica Radical, Santa Fe), ibid.

16 Juan Carlos Barbeito (Partido Justicialista, San Luis), ibid.

17 Ibid., p. 1,057.

18 Congreso National, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Senadores, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo II, p. 760.

19 Congreso National, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados de la Natión, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo I, p. 1,072.

20 Ramón A. Almendra (Partido Justicialista, Santa Cruz), ibid, tomo II, p. 749.

21 This is hardly a correct view. In the beginning of the twentieth century many of the demands as well as law proposals for welfare rights were initiated by the Socialists and Anarchists. In defiance of the Justicialist movement and their efforts to monopolise the concept, Palacios, Alfredo, a well-known Socialist, called one of his books La Justicia Social (Buenos Aires, 1954).Google Scholar

22 Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados de la Nación, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo I, p. 1,058

23 José Luis Manzano (Partido Justicialista, Mendoza), ibid. p. 1,070.

24 Miguel Pedro Monserrat (Partido Intransigente, Province of Buenos Aires), ibid. p. 1,064.

25 ibid. p. 1,065.

26 Augusto Conte (Partido Demócrata Cristiano, Capital Federal), ibid.

27 Ricardo Ramón Balestra (Partido Liberal, Corrientes), ibid. pp. 1,066–7.

28 Alvaro Carlos Alsogaray (Unión del Centro Democrático, Capital Federal), ibid. p. 1,064.

29 Manuel Vidal (Movimiento de Integración y Desarrollo, Formosa), Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Senadores, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo II, pp. 754–6.

30 Luis Alberto Cáceres (Unión Cívica Radical, Santa Fe), Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados de la Nación, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo I, p. 1,071.

31 Ramón A. Almendra (Partido Justicialista, Santa Cruz), Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Senadores, 1983Google Scholar, Sesiones Extraordinarias, tomo II, p. 749.

32 Ambito Financiero, 23 Dec. 1984Google Scholar, quoted in Sigal, Víctor et al. , ‘Aspectos de implementación de una política pública: el caso PAN’ (INAP, Buenos Aires, 1986).Google Scholar

33 Grosso, Carlos A. (Partido Justicialista, Capital Federal), La Gaceta de Hoy, 20 May 1985Google Scholar, quoted in ibid.

34 Alsogaray, María Julia (Unión del Centro Democrático, Capital Federal), La Gaceta de Hoy, 20 May 1985Google Scholar; cited in Sigal et al., ‘Aspectos…’.

35 He was chairman of La Gerencia General del Programa.

36 Sigal, et al. , ‘Aspectos…’, p. 10.Google Scholar

37 INDEC (Institute Nacional de Estadística y Censos), La pobreza en la Argentina, indicadores de necesidades básicas insatisfechas a partir de los datos del Censo Nacional de Población y Vivienda 1980 (Buenos Aires, 1984).Google Scholar

38 Sigal, et al. , ‘Aspectos…’; and the World Bank, Argentina, Population, Health and Nutrition (Washington, B.C., 1987).Google Scholar

39 Tenti, , Estado y pobreza…, pp. 147–148.Google Scholar

40 Sigal, et al. , ‘Aspectos…’, p. 52.Google Scholar

41 Ibid. p. 56.

42 The World Bank, Argentina….

43 See footnote 70.

44 INDEC, La pobreza en el conurbano bonaerense (Buenos Aires, 1989), p. 49.Google Scholar The same definitions of poverty were used as in the INDEC study of 1984 (see footnote 37).

45 The World Bank, Argentina…, p. 22.

46 Alvarez shows how in the Province of Salta a food programme was used by the provincial government to obtain the loyalty of the recipients before the provincial elections in 1985 (Alvarez, ‘Las políticas…’.). A certificate required for obtaining provisions had to be signed by a party official, and the food was distributed through the local party units. The fact that the food was supplied under a social policy financed by the State was thereby concealed. The party officials acted as if they owned the goods they were benevolently distributing to the poor.

47 Alvarez, , ‘Las políticas…’. p. 24.Google ScholarTenti, , Estado y pobreza, p. 149Google Scholar, offers another example from the Province of San Luis.

48 One recent event is documented in a newspaper article explaining how the police in the province of Neuquén investigated the robbery of 20 tons of food from the PAN. The food was used to feed pigs and the police arrested three public servants in the provincial government. Clarín, 20 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

49 Piven, Francis F. and Cloward, Richard A., Regulating the Poor: The Functions of Public Welfare (New York, 1971)Google Scholar, and Lis, Catharina and Soly, Hugo, Poverty and Capitalism in Pre-Industrial Europe (Brighton, 1979).Google Scholar

50 La Nación, 16 May 1989.Google Scholar

51 La Nación, 27 and 28 May 1989.Google Scholar

52 In Argentine politics the label ‘subversive’ has in many cases been used to justify violations of civil rights. The concept is most imprecise and can be applied to almost anyone. See for instance Nunca Más, Informe de la Comisión Nacional Sobre La Desaparición de Personas (Buenos Aires, 1985).

53 La Nación, 30 May 1989.Google Scholar

54 La Nación, 2 June 1989.Google Scholar

55 Página 12, 31 May 1989.Google Scholar

56 La Comisión de Pastoral Social de la Conferencia Episcopal Argentina, referred to in Sur, 31 May 1989.Google Scholar

57 Página 12, 28 May 1989.Google Scholar

58 Bruschtein, Luis in Página 12, 1 June 1989.Google Scholar

59 Murracciole, Jorge in Sur, 3 June 1989.Google Scholar

60 La Nación, 4 June 1989.Google Scholar

61 Página 12, 4 June 1989.Google Scholar

62 Natalicchio, Marcela and Berthet, Rodrigo Serrano, ‘Hiperinflación y estallido social, los saqueos en la Argentina’ (GADIS, Buenos Aires, 1989).Google Scholar

63 La Nación, 7 June 1989.Google Scholar

64 La Nación, 1 June 1989.Google Scholar

65 Sur, 1 June 1989.Google Scholar

66 Sur, 3 June and La Nación, 6 June 1989.Google Scholar

67 Decreto 392/90. On this occasion, the Undersecretary of Rights, Human, Rey, Guillermo Frugoni, resigned in protest. Página 12, 6 March 1990.Google Scholar

68 Página 12, 23 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

69 Due to lack of funding the content of the PAN package was reduced by 50% at least in some parts of the country. Aguirre, Patricia ‘Deterioro de las canastas alimentarias, precios y salaries entre enero y mayo de 1989 en sectores populares del area metropolitana bonaerense’ (Buenos Aires, 1989).Google Scholar

70 It was, however, occupied by the homeless. In spite of the absence of elementary sanitary facilities, the buildings became the permanent home of more than 600 families. In April 1991 the buildings were evacuated and demolished.

71 The leader of the Citibank, Guillermo Stanley and the head of San Ignacio Distilleries are mentioned by Clarín, 6 July 1989. In addition a private foundation – Fundación de Acción para la Iniciativa Privada – as well as the powerful Unión Industrial Argentina supported the fund. See also Somos, 2 Aug. 1989.Google Scholar

72 Tenti, , Estado y pobreza…Google Scholar, table 4.

73 Clarín, 6 July 1989.Google Scholar In June 1989 the Minister of Health and Social Action travelled to the United States to study the organisation of Food Stamps.

74 Decreto 400/89. Trámite Parlamentario no. 71, 4 Aug. 1989. La Nación, 8 Aug. 1989.Google Scholar

75 The National Emergency Council had the following composition: the Ministers of Health and Social Action, Work and Social Security and of the Interior, the head of the Industrial Union of Argentina (UIA), the general secretary of the General Workers Union (CGT), the head of the charity organisation within the Catholic Church, Caritas, and a general, the head of the Military Institutes.

76 Clarín, 20 Sept. 1989.Google Scholar

77 La Nación, 11 Aug. 1989.Google Scholar

78 A total of 39,000,000,000 Australes were transferred from the Treasury to the Programme as loans. Ministry of Health and Social Action, Report presented to the Lower House Parliamentary Affairs Committee by the Minister Eduardo Bauzá, 14 Feb. 1990.

79 Ley 23,740. Both the UIA (Industrial Union of Argentina) and SRA (Rural Society of Argentina) opposed the taxes. Clarín, 16 Sept. 1989Google Scholar and La Nación, 26 Sept. 1989.Google Scholar

80 José Luis Manzano (Partido Justicialista, Mendoza). Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados de la Natión, 1989Google Scholar, Sesiones Ordinarias, 13 Sept., p. 3,536.

81 Molina, Pedro (Justicialista, Partido, Cruz, Santa). Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Senadores de la Nación, 1989Google Scholar, Sesiones Ordinarias, 27 Sept., p. 2,568.

82 Manzano, José Luis (Mendoza, Partido Justicialista). Congeso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Diputados de la Nación, 1989Google Scholar, Sesiones Ordinarias, 13 Sept., pp. 3,537–8.

83 José María Ibarbia (Unión del Centro Democrático, Buenos Aires), ibid. p. 3,549.

84 José Luis Manzano (Partido Justicialista, Mendoza), ibid. p. 3,539.

85 Molina, Pedro (Justicialista, Partido, Cruz, Santa). Congreso Nacional, Diario de sesiones de la Cámara de Senadores de la Nación, 1989Google Scholar, Sesiones Ordinarias, 27 Sept., p. 2,568.

86 Luis A. León (Unión Cívica Radical, Chaco), ibid. p. 2,570.

87 La Nación, 19 Sept. 1989.Google Scholar

88 Clarín, 23 Sept. 1989.Google Scholar

89 The senators were Tenev, Carlos (Chaco, Partido Justicialista) and Britos, Osvaldo (Justicialista, Partido, Luis, San), La Nación, 25 Sept. 1989.Google Scholar

90 In Europe these ideas seem to gain support in periods of economic recession, when the demand for poverty alleviation is on the increase. The underlying idea, that it is possible to isolate the ‘impostors’ from the ‘real poor’ by submitting all those seeking help to hard work, has never been a success. More important, when implemented, the theory has justified repressive policies towards the poor. See Piven, and Cloward, , Regulating the poorGoogle Scholar, and Lis, and Soly, , Poverty and capitalism.Google Scholar

91 La Nación, 11 Nov. 1989.Google Scholar The first Minister of Health and Social Action in the Peronist government, Julio Corzo, died in an air crash in October 1989. He had worked enthusiastically for the Solidarity Bond programme. The man taking his place, Antonio Erman González, was a Christian Democrat from Rioja province, later to become Menem's Economy Minister. In 1991 he became Defence Minister.

92 Página 12, 27 Oct. 1989.Google Scholar

93 Página 12, 14 Nov. 1989.Google Scholar

94 Clarín, 17 Nov. 1989Google Scholar and Página 12, 24 Nov. 1989.Google Scholar

95 Clarín, 15 Dec. 1989.Google Scholar

96 Clarín, 3 Oct. 1989.Google Scholar

97 Clarín, 6 Oct. 1989.Google Scholar

98 La Nación, 3 Nov. 1989.Google Scholar

99 Página 12, 14 Dec. 1989.Google Scholar

100 CGT-Azopardo, under its leader Saúl Ubaldini, lost the election but refused to evacuate CGT headquarters in Azopardo Street. The election was held in the Cultural Centre San Martín. The victors of the election were afterwards identified as CGT-San Martín.

101 The Peronist movement is divided into a number of groups. After the defeat in the election of 1983, a strong opposition to the domination of the old leadership appeared and to the traditional role of trade unions in the Justicialist Party. The ‘ renovadores’ discarded the concept of ‘national revolution’, questioned economic interventionism and aimed at limiting the role of the trade unions. Initially Carlos Saúl Menem belonged to the ‘renovadores’. He turned in a neoliberal direction when elected in 1989. See Chumbita, Hugo, El enigma peronista (Buenos Aires, 1989).Google Scholar

102 La Nación, 24 to 26 Jan. 1990.Google Scholar The operation was labelled Operativo Costanera. Ministry of Health and Social Action, Report presented to the Lower House Parliamentary Affairs Committee by the Minister Eduardo Bauzá, 14 Feb. 1990.

103 The editor deplored the fact that the people ‘were not required to give any real proof of their state of need: they were only obliged to sign a declaration “of good faith” of their situation of extreme poverty’. La Nación, 2 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

104 Página 12 and Clarín, 6 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

105 La Nación, 12 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

106 Clarín, 15 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

107 Clarín, 6 Oct. 1989 and 13 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

108 The Minister of Health and Social Action reported to the Congress in mid-February that 3,000 bonds had been delivered to the armed forces, 4,000 to the jail wardens, 70,000 to the Peronists in the House of Deputies, and 64,000 to each of the two CGTs. Finally, 10,000 bonds had been issued directly to the mayor of Santa Fe, and an equal number to the mayor of Rosario. Ministry of Health and Social Action, Report presented to the Lower House Parliamentary Affairs Committee by the Minister Eduardo Bauzá, 14 Feb. 1990. Página 12, 26 Dec. 1989Google Scholar and Clarín, 15 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

109 La Nación, Clarín, Página 12, 7 Feb. 1990Google Scholar and the following days.

110 La Nación, Página 12, Clarín and Buenos Aires Herald, 7 to 12 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar The Viceminister had to resign, but was offered the job as Argentine ambassador to the International Labour Organization in Geneva, a position he subsequently declined.

111 Página 12, 11 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

112 Página 12, 11 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

113 Ministry of Health and Social Action, Report presented to the Lower House Parliamentary Affairs Committee by the Minister Eduardo Bauzá, 14 Feb. 1990.

114 Trámite Parlamentario, no. 227, 12 and Clarín and Página 12, 15 Feb. 1990.Google Scholar

115 Index on Censorship, no. 10 (1990), p. 4.Google Scholar

116 Aguirre, Patricia, ‘Impacto de la hiperinflación en la alimentación de los sectores populates’, paper presented to the Foro Interdisciplinario de Cultura y Salud, Instituto Nacional de Antropología (Buenos Aires, 1990).Google Scholar

117 Ibid.

118 Offe, C., Contradictions of the Welfare State (London, 1984)Google Scholar and Malloy, James M., The Crisis of Social Security and Health Care; Latin American Experiences and Lessons (Pittsburgh, 1985).Google Scholar