Deep inside the dumpsters of Buenos Aires, Elías Fernández, 27, sifts through for a living. A construction worker who lost his job in November and now sleeps with his children on the floor of a friend’s apartment, Fernández – often accompanied by his teenage daughters, Morena and Valentina, and his wide-eyed toddler son Juan — is a full-time scavenger.
The Fernández family is part of a vast underground economy that has swelled as libertarian President Javier Milei plows ahead with Argentina’s most intense austerity scheme in recent history.
Although the nation’s official statistics agency reported Monday a decline in poverty in the second half of 2024, many Argentines have yet to feel the promised benefits of the economic reforms.
Like legions of other families, Fernández and his children beg for food and spend their days collecting scraps of cardboard, pieces of metal or strands of wire — hauling them on a rented cart to sell to a local recycler.
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