Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cavallo's neoliberal talk had bamboozled the IMF and international
bankers alike. Every year, they offered fresh loans.
The neoliberal reforms caused two of every five citizens to suffer. In
the rush to privatize state industries in the early 1990s, thousands of
employees lost their jobs in the oil, railway, and telephone industries.
Between 1990 and 1998, Argentina sold 55 state companies for a total
of more than $23 billion. More than 4,000 oil workers in Patagonia
lost their jobs when investors purchased YPF's assets. Foreigners also
bought up grazing and forest lands in Patagonia. “I used to go and camp
or fish,” remarked a former oil worker, “but now I hear that Ted Turner
is here, Rambo there, the Terminator somewhere else. And I say, no, this
is not my Argentina” (Cohen 1998, A7).
Unemployment rose steadily to become the most serious social
problem faced by the country. In 1997, 17 percent of the working
population had no employment. Even having a job did not ensure
that members of the working class could escape impoverishment, as
official poverty levels rose to 50 percent of the population. The middle
class also suffered. College graduates left the country or took jobs
driving taxis. Some critics spoke of the “disappearing” middle class.
Unemployed demonstrators block a highway in Salta in 1997 as the national police prepare to
clear them out.
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