Project

Argentina: The "Ghost Train"

Argentina's economic crisis in the early 2000s threw tens of thousands out of work. For many, working for themselves as cartoneros, people who collect trash to sell to recycling centers, became the only option to put food on the table. But now the deteriorating trains used by cartoneros to sustain their livelihood may no longer run. While some say the shut-down is necessitated by safety concerns, many cartoneros maintain the inability to travel by train places a more immediate burden on their economic struggle to survive.

The "Ghost Train"

Argentina's economic crisis in the early 2000s threw tens of thousands out of work. For many, working for themselves as a cartonero, someone who collects trash to sell to recycling centers, became the only option to put food on the table.

As featured on Foreign Exchange with Fareed Zakaria.

This film was produced in association with The Virginia Quarterly Review (VQR) and J. Malcolm Garcia, who authored the "The White Train" for the Fall 2007 issue.

South America: Untold Stories

South America Discussion Series

October/November 2007

Presented by: Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting / Virginia Quarterly Review

South America : Untold Stories

Journalists Bring their Stories Home

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November 5 : Washington University in St. Louis

In partnership with Sigma Iota Rho, Washington University's International Studies Honorary Society, International & Area Studies and Latin American Studies