The Government of La Rioja, led by the ultra-Kirchnerist governor Ricardo Quintela, began on Monday, August 17, the distribution of the first Debt Cancellation Bonds (BOCADE), better known as "Chachos".
The measure, according to the provincial administration, aims to "reinforce" the income of workers and beneficiaries linked to the State and promote consumption within the province.
This is a plan that was already implemented in 2024 and had to be withdrawn due to its resounding failure, especially due to the rejection of the people of La Rioja towards the Chachos.
Ricardo Quintela
The new issuance amounts to around $4.000 million and will reach approximately 80 thousand people, who will receive an extraordinary amount of 50 thousand per person.
The payment schedule will extend until August 24 and will be organized according to the ending of the ID number, both for people in the capital and for those living in the provincial interior.
Among the sectors covered by the measure are the permanent employees of the provincial government, beneficiaries of programs or state contracts, retirees from the Police and the Penitentiary Service, municipal employees, and teachers whose payments depend on the provincial Ministry of Education.
In the case of municipal workers, each municipality, including the Capital municipality, will be responsible for organizing its own payment operation. Thus, the distribution of the bonds will be carried out through different schemes based on the place of residence and the sector to which each beneficiary belongs.
Ricardo Quintela
The Chachos
The instrument chosen by Quintela's Kirchnerist administration is once again a local currency of the province instead of a reinforcement made exclusively in pesos.
The Chachos have a supposed nominal equivalence of one to one with the peso, although in practice this does not occur, and they can be used to pay provincial taxes, municipal fees, and certain services from state-owned companies.
Additionally, the Peronist government claims that there is a commercial network ready to accept the bonds, with more than 500 businesses required to participate in the operation.
The decision to resort to the BOCADE again comes after the experience of 2024, when La Rioja had already put into circulation the so-called Chachos. That first implementation was later withdrawn, although Quintela again defended the mechanism and claimed that it had received a good reception among the people of La Rioja.
“The Chacho is a financial instrument that in La Rioja had total acceptance,” the governor had stated while defending the return of the bonds. In the same vein, Quintela had pointed out: “I do not want workers to lose their purchasing power.”
The bonds were named Chachos in honor of the federal leader Ángel Vicente Peñaloza and were originally conceived as Debt Cancellation Bonds of the province. For the governor, the first experience ended with the recovery of the issued bonds “in the times and under the terms established by law.”
Now, with the new phase already underway, the Chachos return to the economic circuit of La Rioja from August 17 and will remain as part of the payment scheme until the scheduled timeline is completed by the 24th.
