The Ministry of Human Capital of the Nation opened the possibility for the provinces to participate in the distribution of the more than five million tons of food it has stored. In this context, the Ministry of Social Development of Córdoba announced that it accepted this proposal to deliver part of these products to the most needy sectors of the province.
The Minister of Social Development and Employment Promotion of Córdoba, Laura Jure, confirmed that her portfolio informed the national ministry led by Sandra Pettovello, that it is in a position to distribute food provided by the Nation.
“Given the communication made by the Ministry of Human Capital of the Nation that there was a possibility for the provinces to receive part of the food they have stored, we express that the Government of Córdoba is available to distribute that food,” Jure expressed to The voice.
For the moment, Minister Jure clarified that there was only one communication from the national government, but that until now there was no information from Human Capital on the amount of food that will be delivered to Córdoba, nor the distribution mechanism.
“At the moment, what happened is that we communicated that Córdoba is in a position to distribute the food they deliver to us. But all the information is still missing to see the mechanism and the amount of food that they will deliver to us. From what was reported in the media, before the federal justice system, the Ministry of Human Capital announced that food would be delivered through vulnerable schools, according to data from the ICSE (Index of Social Context of Education),” said the provincial official.
Last Monday, after a summons made to her by federal judge Sebastián Casanello, Minister Pettovello announced that this week she was opening the possibility for provinces that requested it to be able to participate in the distribution of the 5,825,946 kilos of food that is still stored in the warehouses of Villa Martelli (province of Buenos Aires) and Tafí Viejo, in Tucumán.
From Human Capital there was contact with the social portfolios of the 23 provinces and the Head of the Buenos Aires Government to inform them to register who were in a position to receive food to distribute in their districts.
It must be remembered that after the complaint made last February by the social leader Juan Grabois about the food that was stored, some of which had an expiration date of July 30, Pettovello’s ministry decided to distribute 465 thousand kilos of powdered milk, through the Conin Foundation.
In Córdoba, the five delegations or NGOs associated with Conin have already distributed 34,400 kilos of powdered milk.
Although to distribute the almost six thousand tons of food that it still has to deliver, this time, the Nation decided to turn to the provinces.
The controversy over undelivered food, and the departure of Pettovello’s second, Pablo de la Torre, accused of irregular salary payments outside the national public administration, generated a crisis in Human Capital.
Pettovello received strong political support from President Javier Milie, of whom she is a personal friend. “She is the best minister in history, who is attacked because she ended all the jobs in the social area,” the head of state defended her, when two weeks ago it seemed that the official’s days were numbered at the head of the mega- ministry.
Vulnerable schools
In the court case being instructed by Judge Casanello, the Ministry of Human Capital promised to deliver the stored food through “vulnerable schools,” which are rated through the aforementioned index of social context and education.
Human Capital had to act quickly and turned to Conin, a private foundation that was born three decades ago in Mendoza, because there were almost 500 thousand tons of powdered milk that expired at the end of July.
The rest of the food in storage will not expire until November, so there is not much pressure to distribute it immediately.
From the Ministry of Social Development of Córdoba they expect more information from the Nation in the coming days, to see what quantity and what the food delivery mechanism will be.
Although there was no official communication yet, in the presentation made in Court, the Ministry of Human Capital said that the provinces had to take charge of the logistics of removing the food from the two warehouses and then distributing it to the schools.
Minister Jure said that she was not aware of this situation, but the provincial government would be willing to bear that cost.
The amount of food that will be delivered to Córdoba is also unknown. The national government usually used the co-participation index to allocate 8% of social programs to this province.
In this case, there is no certainty that this is the rate for food delivery.
What is stated in the judicial case, based on the information provided by the Ministry of Human Capital, in the two warehouses of Villa Martelli and Tafí Viejo, there are still one million liters of sunflower oil stored (900 thousand in Buenos Aires, and 100 thousand in Tucumán).
More than three million kilos of yerba mate (1.7 million kilos in Buenos Aires, and 1.3 million in Tucumán). Also almost 500 thousand kilos of powdered milk that are in the Tafí Viejo warehouse.
In addition, 450 thousand liters of soybean oil, which are stored in the Villa Martelli warehouse.
