Piqueteros

The decade 1996–2006 in Argentina was marked by numerous social responses to the socioeconomic, political, and cultural model that the administration of Carlos Menem had implemented in the country. Massive unemployment that resulted largely from neoliberal policies spawned a series of roadblocks that began in the interior of the country and spread to Buenos Aires. The roadblocks become known as piquetes (pickets), and those who participated were piqueteros (picketers). The main purpose of the mobilizations was to obtain subsidies and food, but ultimately genuine employment. As time went on, piqueteros began assembling in a more organized manner, forming unemployed worker movements.

The picket movements shaped themselves into various organizations, which later appeared as a mosaic of groups with distinctive characteristics. Some joined political parties, others branched out from trade-union organizations, and still others organized themselves independently. Their collective undertakings solidly intertwined the political, the economic, and the communal in a complex network. About 65% of the piqueteros were women.