The streets were in turmoil.
The banging of saucepans nearly masked the gunshots. Fireworks went off in all directions. Wood and tires were set aflame, blocking all vehicle traffic. Grocery store owners stood atop their buildings with rifles, trying desperately to protect their lifetime of hard work.
Those who had slaved away their whole lives were now poverty-stricken and unemployed.
The windows of the supermarket were covered. Fences and gates provided an extra layer of protection — but not enough for the angry Argentines.
“In glory we shall die!” They shouted.
With children to feed, the mob tore the gates from the fence.
They rushed the store, ripping the steel blinds apart and shoving one another out of the way. They snatched up shopping carts and took to the aisles, filling them up with boxes of pasta, grains, and meat — whatever the store had left in stock.
The store owner, an Asian man in his mid-fifties, stood outside crying. He would kill himself later that day.
This 1987 scene in Argentina was not uncommon during hyperinflation or the economic collapse of 2001.
Bank accounts were blocked. The grocery stores were nearly empty. If one wanted a loan, they would have to pay it back within seven days at a sky-high interest rate.
“I remember going to the grocery store when it was closed,” said Gaston Santhia of Vision Media. “We had to knock on the door because they knew us. Everyone was extremely frightened, so the owners would lock their door. They only sold to us because we were neighbors.”
The cost of pasta and rice increased every half-hour. Employees were constantly on the phone, announcing price changes by the time one reached the checkout counter.
Many Argentines were fed up. The costs of basic necessities were jumping up faster than their shape-shifting salaries. They had tried stocking goods, often buying 10 bags of milk instead of one, but the cost continued to double within the same day.
“The images of the looters were the exact same as of the recent earthquake in Chile,” Santhia said. “People were stealing from the supermarkets trying to find basic food, you know? Pasta, rice, things like that. Not brands. People were fighting to survive.”
Some jeopardized their survival to stop the fighting.
On Dec. 19, 2001, several policemen began firing at the bottom of a school while a supermarket was being looted. A well-known social activist by the name of Claudio “Pocho” Lepratti climbed to the roof to protect the kids who were eating inside.
“You sons of bitches!” shouted Lepratti. “There are kids eating in there!”
The policemen shot him without hesitance.
“Like the L.A.P.D., the policeman have an ‘easy trigger’ here,” Santhia said. “I remember that we paid a lot of attention to when the policeman killed the black guy (Oscar Grant) in the California streets. A lot of riots started to appear in the United States. Imagine the same situation here but in a more reduced state. People were not destroying stuff. They were trying to find food.”
The hyperinflation-induced chaos occurred during a time of both renewed hope and distorted confusion. The military dictatorship had recently ended, democracy was restored and the people of Argentina were amidst a search for a conclusion of the Dirty War. When
President Raul Alfonsin was forced to resign because of hyperinflation, Argentines looked for other individuals to blame.
Some cursed the corrupt bankers.
Some cursed the International Monetary Fund.
Others cursed the USA.
With a vehement distrust for the financial system, the country shifted its monetary exchange to something more off the grid. The rich bought real estate. The middle class bought dollars. Many started keeping their money “bajo el colchon,” or “under the mattress.” No one knew if they would have their money the next day.
They took one step towards the problems waiting on the horizon, but could not seem to walk as one unified nation: “A typical Argentine is like MacGyver — they can solve anything,” Santhia said. “We don’t use those skills for a national benefit, but rather just for personal gain. I think we have a lot of clever people, but they go to other countries to become doctors and engineers. We haven’t found a way to use our talents altogether. You know? Synergy.”
One would imagine that a country that has been through multiple economic crises, incidents of government corruption, and a “dirty war” that killed thousands of its citizens would be hopeless about the future. As a professor of international marketing, Gaston Santhia sees it quite the opposite.
“Just because economic problems originate in the USA doesn’t mean they are to blame,” Santhia said. “The most clear example is when I receive American students on their first day in this country. The average American person thinks like us. We want similar things for the human future. We all want peace. We all want the same world. We all want to take care of the environment. We all think the same way.”
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