Quote from UK Man

I've rarely had to talk with the police here. When I have I just say ''no hablo Espanol'' and they go away.

That's one of my favourites and I always use it if things start to get tricky

Here's my summary of the total lockdown.

I make no apologies for the length of this post.

In Argentina, the lockdown was announced by the president live on TV at 22.00 on 20th March 2020 and I immediately jumped on my motorcycle to stock up on one or two necessities before the hammer came down at midnight.

The following day when I walked out of the front door, it was like a scene from a Wild West ghost town without a sound to be heard, except the birds (who were exempt, apparently) in the trees. And we all sensed fear, but not from COVID, but from the authorities.

The next day, my wife needed to see her Mum of 85 years old who lives about six blocks away, but she was stopped by a police checkpoint two blocks from our house. Documents were demanded and she was turned back until she could provide the correct certificate 'to be on the street'. She got off lightly because others were detained. She also turned on the tears.

More fear.

Since I'm a motorcycle courier, I managed to wrangle/blag an exemption certificate for essential services (food, medicine delivery etc) and from day three I was travelling hither and thither around the city of Buenos Aires which had become a fortress due to the ring of steel erected around it, quite literally.

I should point out here that Argentina is no stranger to states of fear, having endured numerous military coups d'etat over the decades, the last being from 1976-1983, where states of emergency and curfews were almost daily occurrences and there is always a remnant of that fear, that it could happen again in most Argentines minds.

Well it did happen again and the fear for most people was being caught unauthorised out in the street. The fear of COVID was unanimously overtaken by fear of the state.

There were incidents of men and women being dragged bodily off buses, trains and other locations, yet the populous accepted it all. What could they do? Plenty really, but it was a rock and a hard place.

Both the city of BA and the provincial area where I live were infested by armed police checkpoints. And when I say armed, I'm not talking about service revolvers, but huge, long shotguns and semi-automatics. If you didn't have a good reason to be out and about, you were detained. More fear.

I wised up very quickly, plasticised the exemption certificate and stuck it on the bike's windshield, so that I could get through the enormous traffic jams more quickly, without having to stop and show them every document I possessed. It worked.

Steel barriers were erected on every exit and ingress of the main city ring road/motorway which mean that a journey which would normally take thirty minutes, took more than twice that time.

In the meantime, the president was hosting birthday parties for his pals at the official residence just down the road from where I live and when the vaccines arrived, they started by giving their pals and notable VIPs jabs before the rest of the population.

For me, the final straw was when I parked the bike in a deserted recreation area next to the Rio de la Plata and strolled ten meters to the river bank. Before I knew it, two police officers on motorbikes came tearing across the grass, jumped off their bikes and told me to move away from the river bank. As my jaw fell to the floor, I looked around and couldn't see another living soul and asked them what the hell they were talking about. They insisted that I walk back to my bike in the car park not ten meters away, but I refused.

At this, one of them began to quote verbatim, the actual presidential decree, which incidentally was unconstitutional, until I stopped his rant by showing my exemption certificate, more out of frustration than anything else. A long conversation then ensued, the end result being that if I didn't move away from the river bank, I would be arrested and would need to accompany them to the comisaria. I should really have let them arrest me, but instead reminded them of their military dictatorships as a comparison to their behaviour which seemed to soften their attitude. But they were on auto-pilot, determined to enforce their interpretation of the decree, so I shambled back to my bike as they glared at me every inch of the way.

Clarin pajero.

Now the wankers are suggesting that we all have a good wank.

You couldn't make it up

Coronavirus en Argentina: la masturbación se revaloriza en tiempos de cuarentena

Let's hope this doesn't go on for too long.

That is indeed crazy UK Man

I just asked Adri about the pensioner fiasco and she gave me the example of her mother who is 83, very bright and able to walk to the shops and do other chores. Her pension is paid into her bank account and she has a debit card and online banking.

Up until now she has been going to the bank and withdrawing most of it in cash personally, not at an ATM, but personal attention. It's been pointed out to her on numerous occasions that it's risky doing that under any circumstances and walking home with a bag full of cash. Her reasons for doing it are that she likes to have the cash in her house and maybe there still lurks a mistrust of banks, although she didn't admit to that.

Since the lockdown, Adri has been paying her mother's bills online (she has always had access to her mum's account anyway for security reasons), but her mum still insists on having cash on hand, although not as much as before.

It's also true that ALL those pensioners queuing up have bank accounts and debit cards but for some reason are unable to get their heads around pin numbers and suchlike.

Quote from UK Man

You know I haven't had a KitKat for about two weeks now. Don't see them around as much as I used to. Here's hoping they haven't decided to stop selling in Argentina. Although I wouldn't be at all surprised if they have as the supermarkets were charging ridiculous prices for them. I don't understand the way supermarkets operate here....just doesn't make sense unless they're being forced to do it that way.

This government website allows you to report price abuses which I would have no hesitation in using with Chinese supermarkets being the main culprits.

https://www.argentina.gob.ar/preciosmaximos

But of course, everyone is blaming everyone else, except those queuing up at the banks.

Quote from serafina

I thought that all pensioners had free bank accounts in any bank!

And there is also the basic bank account with debit card that is free from anybody.

If that's the case, force the fuckers to actually use them and get their families to help guide them.

How about creating a pensioner bank account with no charges? But wait, that would be a $$ loser, bearing in mind how shittily successive governments have treated pensioners in this country and that includes Macri.

They've been queuing up through the night.

Why do pensioners have to go to the banks anyway? Why aren't their pensions paid directly to their accounts so that they can later use ATMs?

He was also minister for health back in 2002-2007 and is in fact a surgeon, so one would expect some real facts from him.

If it had been left to run wild, we would be facing an unimaginable global catastrophe on both fronts, so your option #1 could never be a choice. I understand the hypothesis, but that's all it is.

I think @JAN is referring to a global financial disaster that's predicted by many. But a more extreme, right wing position would have sat well during the military dictatorship, surely?

Here's Lord Sumpton, former Supreme Court Justice, talking about our freedom being taken away, the emergence of a police state and his objections to the hysteria being created by the media.

On some points, I have to agree with him.

Quote from serafina

Motorcycle courier work is very sought after these days. I am on a FB group called 'Agenda Amiga' where people ask for suggestion/help on services/products and nowadays most requests are about moto delivery services with a permit to circulate.

Sometimes it is people who need to collect/send stuff to stores, others they have to send stuff to relatives, or are looking for someone who could go grocery shop for an elderly parent that lives far. It looks like crossing the City access is a big deal, so people are looking for someone on the other side of the 'border' for these tasks.

Thanks for that serafina

We're currently trying for the exemption but the government site is down as usual. Most of the bike courier companies around here are operating which is why I'm trying to get this first otherwise I'll be detained.

Argentina has been in total shutdown for about 11 days now, with other countries having taken this step much earlier.

However, with the dire state of the Argentine economy already being evident long before the virus outbreak, it's clear that the lock-down is going to plunge this country into an even more severe financial crisis, with most of the population being unable to earn even a basic living and default is not out of the question.

From a personal standpoint and bearing in mind that my income is based on locally generated income through Mercadolibre sales, computer repairs and motorcycle courier work, that income has now been reduced to ZERO.

My partner's income as an accountant (she is the bread-winner) has halved and we now face a very uncertain future, just like the majority of the population.

I would argue that a more flexible lock-down be instigated, allowing certain small businesses to open, maybe on certain days, perhaps related to DNI numbers, thus enabling at least some trade and production. Kiosks, for example, are ubiquitous and provide a very useful service to millions in this country, but most, if not all, are now closed, as are banks.

The point I'm trying to make here is that the damage of a full and protracted lock-down in Argentina will be felt for years to come and will make 2001 look like a walk in the park by comparison.