- Title: ARGENTINA: ECONOMY: FORMOSA EMERGES AS "MISERY CAPITAL" OF ARGENTINA.
- Date: 5th September 2002
- Summary: (W8) FORMOSA, ARGENTINA (RECENT) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: FORMOSA SLUM 0.07 2. GV: PREGNANT WOMAN WALKING WITH HER THREE CHILDREN 0.11 3. MV/GV: VARIOUS OF ADULTS AND CHILDREN IN SLUM BY SEWER WATER (5 SHOTS) 0.33 4. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) MONSIGNOR JOSE CONEJERO GALLEGO, SAYING: "I am worried about this human deterioration, this injustice and corruption... we can tell that the objective of social aid is not to help, but to increase political subservience." 0.51 5. GV: FORMOSA STREET 0.57 6. MCU: STREET VENDOR 1.02 7. GV: HOME IN FORMOSA 1.05 8. GV: LOCAL RESIDENT PATRICIA PALACIOS SURROUNDED BY SOME OF HER CHILDREN AND HOLDING UNDERNOURISHED BABY 1.10 9. MCU: PATRICIA PALACIOS WITH HER TWINS 1.18 10. MV: PATRICIA PALACIOS ENTERS HER HOME 1.22 11. GV/PAN: INSIDE SHACK WITH CRADLE HANGING FROM CEILING 1.28 12. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) PATRICIA PALACIOS SAYING: "I need a lot of things. At least milk and food for the little ones. They drink a lot of milk." 1.37 13. GV/CU: WOMEN COOKING FOR UNDERNOURISHED CHILDREN (2 SHOTS) 1.43 14. MCU: SIGN READING "HELP CENTRE FOR UNDERNOURISHED CHILDREN" 1.46 15. GV: INSIDE VIEW OF HELP CENTRE WITH WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN 1.52 16. MCU: GLORIA MILAGROS, UNDERNOURISHED BABY, BEING BREAST-FED 1.56 17. CU: GLORIA'S MOTHER, PATRICIA ROJAS 2.01 18. CU: GLORIA MILAGROS 2.04 19. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN SAYING: "My son came here weighing about 5:3 kilograms. He was about to die of undernourishment." 2.09 20. MCU: UNDERNOURISHED BABY EATING A COOKIE 2.13 21. MCU: (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) JUAN GIULIANO, NUTRITIONIST, SAYING: "We are talking about a malnutrition rate in Formosa of about 34 to 40 to a thousand children. This means that we have to admit that in this province we have a feeding system that doesn't work." 2.38 22. MV/CU: WOMEN AND THEIR CHILDREN IN HELP CENTRE (3 SHOTS) 2.49 23. GV: LOCAL MAN 2.54 24. GV/MV: NATIVES WEAVING BASKETS (2 SHOTS) 3.01 25. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF UNEMPLOYED LINING UP OUTSIDE LOCAL BANK TO CASH GOVERNMENT AID CHECKS (2 SHOTS) 3.10 26. MCU: PROVINCIAL MONEY (WORTHLESS ARGENTINE BONDS) 3.15 27. MCU;(SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) FATHER MARIO BISSARIO, LOCAL PRIEST, SAYING: "When you choke people, there is a moment when they react, even if it's only to get something to eat." 3.23 28. GV/MV: VARIOUS OF SLUM (3 SHOTS) 3.36 29. GV/TILT UP: CHILDREN IN A SLUM, ARGENTINE FLAG 3.47 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 20th September 2002 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: FORMOSA, ARGENTINA
- Country: Argentina
- Reuters ID: LVAER3AF2CNZXDFVZJIFPA50ICG5
- Story Text: In a country severely battered by an economic meltdown
since last December, the city of Formosa has emerged as "the
misery capital" of Argentina, with widespread levels of
malnutrition, poor health and an alarming child mortality
rate.
During the last nine months, Argentina has seen its
standard of living plummet to all time lows, unthinkable not
too long ago, when the country was proud to enjoy the highest
standard of living in Latin America.
But even by today's Argentine standards, the situation in
Formosa, the capital of the province bearing the same name, is
a case apart with 56.1 percent of children living on the
streets, open sewers flowing through the dirt roads and people
dying prematurely every day.
On the outskirts of Formosa, the "misery capital" of
Argentina, thousands of children are born, grow if they are
lucky, and eventually die surrounded by hunger and terrible
sanitary conditions.
Barely dressed, some of them have witnessed the deaths of
their siblings in their mother's arms. Children play among
mountains of rubbish and seek shelter from the burning
subtropical heat inside a home, that most of the times is no
more than a sheet made into something resembling a tent.
That scene repeats itself over and over again across the
neighbourhoods of Formosa, where 71,000 children live in
extreme poverty. Adults, of course, are not doing better as
the economy of the city, based on the cotton trade, was
virtually killed with the liberalisation of international
trade.
Now, most of them work for a bankrupt provincial
government, are victims of political manipulation and are paid
in worthless "argentine bonds" that nobody recognises as real
money.
The political manipulation of people in the city in
exchange for aid is causing some local personalities to react.
"I am worried about this human deterioration, this
injustice and corruption... we can tell that the objective of
social aid is not to help, but to increase political
subservience," said Monsignor Jose Conejero Gallego, chief of
the local diocese.
The depths of misery in Formosa were revealed by a study
commissioned by the federal Economy Ministry that found that a
worker in Formosa makes in 53 years of hard labour what a
provincial legislator spends in only one month.
"I need a lot of things. At least milk and food for the
little ones. They drink a lot of milk," Patricia Palacios said
sadly glancing to the six children she brought into this world
with no work and with scant possibilities of survival.
Palacios is among the unlucky majority in Formosa.
Palacios feeds her six children on a dollar a day and she
barely survives in a slum housing 70,000 people, one of many
that surround Formosa forming a crippling misery belt.
While Patricia's children run around her 15 square-meter
home (135 square feet), she admits that she is worried about
her 18-month old baby, who doesn't seem to grow. The 6.6 kilo
baby is badly undernourished, with lttle prospect her health
will improve in the near future. By now, she should weigh
about 11 kilos.
"We are talking about a malnutrition rate in Formosa of
about 34 to 40 to a thousand children. This means that we have
to admit that in this province we have a feeding system that
doesn't work,"said nutritionist Juan Giuliano.
Local social workers worry about the effects of the
conditions on the population, fearing hunger may provoke
unrest.
"When you choke people, there is a moment when they react,
even if it's only to get something to eat," said Father Mario
Bissario, a local priest.
dw/jrc
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