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Street Vendor Whose Alfajores Were Seized Challenges City’s Account of Aid

The dispute over help offered highlights a gap between regulation versus survival in Buenos Aires.

Overview

  • City inspectors at Costanera Sur confiscated the young seller’s alfajores on Monday for lacking permits and food-safety checks required for public food sales.
  • A bystander’s video spread widely on X, prompting broad discussion and online efforts to locate the vendor for donations.
  • Buenos Aires Chief Jorge Macri defended the operation as enforcing the law and said Human Development officials offered technical guidance and a spot at a city fair.
  • Speaking Friday, the vendor identified himself as David Querol and said officials only mentioned a food-handling course and did not follow through on a scheduled meeting.
  • Querol, who works a full-time security shift to support his retired mother, says inspectors took 35 alfajores and 15 small cakes, showing how clampdowns hit informal workers’ income.