‘You’re either poor or rich’: the Argentinians struggling under Milei’s chainsaw austerity

Javier Milei’s austerity plan has involved cutting federal spending, freezing wages and pensions, halting public works and slashing subsidies. Photograph: Cristina Sille/Reuters

Francisco Jiménez spends at least eight hours a day, seven days a week, riding through the streets of Buenos Aires as a delivery app rider, yet he still struggles to make ends meet.

Next month, the 32-year-old will have to leave his rented house on the outskirts of Argentina’s capital and move with his wife and three children into his mother-in-law’s flat because he can no longer afford the rent.