AP PHOTOS: A family in Argentina scavenges for survival

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Elias Fernandez, accompanied by his son Juan, pulls the cart he uses to collect recyclables to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Morena Vallejo watches over her stepbrother Juan napping on a pile of cardboard in their father’s cart that he rents for collecting recyclables to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Pedestrians walk past as Elias Fernandez, right, makes his rounds in search of recyclable items to sell, accompanied by his children Morena and Juan, outside a grocery store in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez leans on a table as he begins his day in a friend’s apartment where he and his family are staying, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Feb. 2, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez pulls the cart he rents to collect recyclables to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez and his stepdaughter Morena break down cardboard boxes they have collected to sell to a local recycling facility, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez, a construction worker who lost his job last year, sleeps with his family in the living room of a friend’s house, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thursday, Feb. 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Juan Fernandez reaches up to touch a bouquet of flowers given by a vendor to his stepsister Morena Vallejo as a birthday gift, while accompanying their father to search for recyclable items to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez, center, and his son Juan hold onto to their containers as they wait in line to receive free food from a soup kitchen in the Carlos Mugica neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez loads a bathtub onto his recycling cart while his son Juan sits in a car seat, both items they found on the side of the road while on their recycling rounds, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Jan. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez, right, celebrates his 28th birthday at a friend’s house where he and his family are staying, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Saturday, March 2, 2025.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez and his son Juan look out a train window as they commute home after a day of begging and collecting recyclables items to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Morena Vallejo, who has not learned to read and write, stops to browse through a book after begging for spare change inside a bookstore, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Juan Fernandez, sitting on top of a pile of cardboards collected by his father to sell to a recycling facility, holds onto a 1000 pesos banknote, given to him by a woman walking past who complimented him and told him he should be in school, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, March 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Morena Vallejo holds bouquets of flowers given to her by a vendor as a birthday gift, as she commutes home with her father and brother after a day of begging and collecting recyclables items to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Morena Vallejo presents her mother Soledad with flowers that a vendor gave her as a birthday gift while begging with her father and brother, and collecting recyclables items to sell, upon returning to the home of a family friend where they are staying, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Elias Fernandez, a construction worker who lost his job last year, dumpster-dives for recyclable items to sell, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

By RODRIGO ABD

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Deep inside the dumpsters of Buenos Aires, Elías Fernández, 27, sifts through for a living. A construction worker who lost his job in November and now sleeps with his children on the floor of a friend’s apartment, Fernández – often accompanied by his teenage daughters, Morena and Valentina, and his wide-eyed toddler son Juan — is a full-time scavenger.

The Fernández family is part of a vast underground economy that has swelled as libertarian President Javier Milei plows ahead with Argentina’s most intense austerity scheme in recent history.

Although the nation’s official statistics agency reported Monday a decline in poverty in the second half of 2024, many Argentines have yet to feel the promised benefits of the economic reforms.

Like legions of other families, Fernández and his children beg for food and spend their days collecting scraps of cardboard, pieces of metal or strands of wire — hauling them on a rented cart to sell to a local recycler.

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