« Change, change, change! » These cries are those of private dealers who offer the purchase and resale of dollars and pesos, at the parallel market rate, which echo frantically along Florida Street, in the center of Buenos Aires. This Wednesday, December 4, at the end of the afternoon, the pedestrian street is full of passers-by, in the middle of cafes, souvenir or clothing stores and numerous shopping malls.
Quiet flat Florida street
In the heart of the historic center of the capital, Florida Street is gradually losing its status as an obligatory place to change your money. The shouting dealers, nicknamed the little trees (small trees), often “planted” in the shade of potted trees, seem to speak for themselves. There are maybe a hundred of them. One every 10 meters on average. And, due to a lack of turned away customers, caves (caves), informal exchange offices often located in the backrooms of businesses or in kiosks, operate slowly.
No one pays them any attention anymore. Even street vendors are more successful. To the great despair of Belén, 24 years old. It’s 5 p.m. and the young seller has been sitting on her chair since 9 a.m. She seems ready to give up, not knowing what else to do. «Today, I didn’t manage to get a single client, that’s almost never happened to me even though I’ve been doing this for three years.” she blurted, disillusioned.
Javier Milei’s bet about to be won?
She offers 106,000 pesos for 100 dollars. The exchange is done at a nearby kiosk, that of a florist with whom she has an agreement to share the commissions. But a quick glance on the Internet shows that the official rate allows these 100 dollars to be sold for 101,000 pesos. That’s a potential gain of only 5,000 pesos for the customer. The price of a café, like the admittedly rather popular one, located 30 meters away. A trifle.
A year after coming to power, Javier Milei is succeeding in his challenge to converge the official exchange rate and the parallel rate, says blue dollarwhich until now had always been much more attractive. Today, the gap is minimal, far from the 250% a year ago.
Resume studies to change career
Argentina team jersey on his back, Fernando, 37, seems to keep smiling in all circumstances. He sips the glass of wine that a passerby brought him. It’s 5:30 p.m. “I have just arrived, I only stay in the evening, otherwise you have to pay the police to be able to stay there and people don’t know that,” he laughs. At his side, his friend, Agustina, 26 years old, little pink top and tattoos on her arms and bust, “dream of going back to school” or from «work in gastronomy», disillusioned with waiting for commissions on the purchase and resale of currency which has become too rare.
Three young tourists pass by, she blows at them « change, change » without really believing in it. One of them stops and takes out a $20 bill. «It’s not much, but at least it’s the first of the day», Fernando is satisfied. He gestures to the small group to follow him. Head to a shopping mall just a stone’s throw away. In the basement, he enters a small room. Red curtain and pink poufs at the entrance. Opposite, a prefabricated wall to hide what is happening behind.
Several people are waiting to be allowed to pass to the other side of the partition. When it’s Fernando’s turn, a man sitting behind a desk takes the $20 bill and hands a wad to the customer. As he leaves, Fernando counts it up, he has just won 500 pesos. Less than 50 euro cents. He’s only been in the business for a year, but it already seems «long gone are the days when reselling pesos on the black market in the street was profitable”.