The neighborhood of Villa El Libertador, one of the most deprived areas in the southern zone of the Capital, woke up yesterday with a different rhythm, as large Army trucks arrived with a cargo of over 34,000 kilos of powdered milk. This food will be distributed through the five delegations that the Conin foundation has throughout the province, without the participation of the provincial government and the municipal government. Following the court order from Federal Judge Sebastian Casanello, the Ministry of Human Capital of the Nation, led by Sandra Pettovello, decided to distribute the five thousand tons of food that had been stored since January in two warehouses: Villa Martelli, Buenos Aires province, and Tafí Viejo, in Tucumán.
The decision of the national social ministry was that no provincial or municipal government would participate in the distribution process of these foods, following the complaint made by social leader Juan Grabois last February.
Out of these five thousand tons of food, 465 thousand kilos correspond to powdered milk, which have expiration dates starting on July 30th. The Ministry of Human Capital has devised a distribution plan in agreement with the Cooperadora para la Nutrición Infantil (Conin) foundation, a foundation created by pediatrician Albel Albino in Mendoza, which has 64 delegations throughout the country but only covers 17 provinces. For example, there are no Conin headquarters in districts with high levels of poverty such as Formosa, Misiones, and Jujuy.
In the city of Córdoba, there are two entities associated with Conin: the Centro de Atención y Prevención de Desnutrición Infantil (Capredi), which operates in Villa El Libertador, and the Asociación Civil Vaso de Leche, on the Fiat premises. The rest of the delegations are in Villa Allende, Río Cuarto, and Corral de Bustos.
Marcela Pesce, one of the representatives of Capredi, explained that their foundation assists 70 needy families in the Capital. However, since they received 3,400 kilos of powdered milk, they will share it with another 22 soup kitchens and snack bars in the southern area. Each one serves about 40 families, who will receive 4 kilos of powdered milk each.
«While our foundation assists 70 families, we also work together with other soup kitchens that we know. That’s why this food aid coming from the Nation will be shared. In addition, this batch of milk expires on July 30th, so it needs to be delivered immediately,» explained Pesce to La Voz.
While the Asociación Vaso de Leche will receive 14,000 kilos of milk that will also be distributed to other soup kitchens in the area. The rest will go to the three Conin delegations in the provincial interior.
The soup kitchens that have received or will receive food aid in the coming days are also on the lists of the provincial Ministry of Social Development and the municipal government, but neither of the two administrations is involved in this distribution.
Powdered milk – a total of 465 thousand kilos – is just a part of the five thousand tons of food that the courts ordered the ministry led by Sandra Pettovello, the official closest to President Javier Milei, to distribute.
According to the national ministry’s presentation, these stored foods (oil, wheat flour, rice, tomato puree, lentils, and yerba mate) will be delivered to «vulnerable schools throughout the country.»
According to the Ministry of Human Capital, «vulnerable schools» are those that «have students with high levels of child risk and low educational and socio-economic performance indices.»
At least until yesterday, the national social ministry had not submitted to Judge Casanello the list of schools it considers «vulnerable» throughout the country.
When asked by this media outlet, the Centro Cívico and the Palacio 6 de Julio both administrations stated that they had not yet received any communication from the national government regarding the delivery of these foods to schools.
It is likely that the Nation will take more time to distribute these foods, as they may not have expiration dates as close as in the case of powdered milk.
The transfer of these stored foods in Buenos Aires and Tucumán will be done through the Army, but to reach the schools, an agreement with the provincial governments must be reached, which as of yesterday had not yet occurred in Córdoba.
In the Villa Martelli warehouse, Buenos Aires province, there are 2,751,653 kilos of stored food. Meanwhile, at the Tafí Viejo operations center, in Tucumán, Human Capital has 2,269,078 kilos of food on hold.
