How a broke Argentine province is countering Milei's deep austerity cuts
After entering office last year, far-right President Milei swiftly imposed his fiscal shock therapy, slashing federal budget transfers to provinces
LA RIOJA, Argentina (AP) — They look like cash, fit into wallets like cash and the governor promises they’ll be treated like cash.
But these brightly colored banknotes aren’t pesos, the depreciating national currency of Argentina, or U.S. dollars, everyone’s money of choice here.
They are chachos, a new emergency tender invented by the left-wing populist governor of La Rioja, a province in the country's northwest that went broke when far-right President Javier Milei slashed federal budget transfers to provinces as part of an unprecedented austerity program.
“Who would have imagined that one day I’d find myself wishing I’d gotten pesos?” said Lucia Vera, a music teacher emerging from a gymnasium packed with state workers waiting to get their monthly bonus of chachos worth 50,000 pesos (about $40).
