Natalia Zaracho

Natalia Beatriz Zaracho (born 5 July 1989) is an Argentine scrap collector, activist and politician, currently serving as a National Deputy of the Argentine Congress. She is a member of the Patria Grande Front.

Early life and career Zaracho was born on 5 July 1989. She grew up in Villa Fiorito, a working-class neighbourhood in the Greater Buenos Aires conurbation. She lives with her two sons.

In the midst of the 1998–2002 Argentine great depression, Zaracho began working as a cartonera, a street scrap collector. When she was 25, she joined the Movimiento de Trabajadores Excluidos ("Rejected Workers' Movement", MTE), which sought to group and fight for the demands of informal sector workers.

In 2021, FDT deputy Daniela Vilar resigned from her seat in order to take office as a government minister in Buenos Aires Province. Zaracho was called in to fill in Vilar's vacancy for the remainder of the 2019–2023 term. She took office as deputy on 16 December 2021. Nationwide media highlighted her as "the first cartonera congresswoman".

As deputy, Zaracho has stated she wants to push for the implementation of a universal basic income in Argentina, citing the shortcomings of the universal allocation per child (AUH) and other similar social assistance programmes introduced during the progressive governments of Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The incident elicited condemnation from the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Cecilia Moreau, who demanded for her release upon learning of the situation. Néstor Grindetti, mayor of Lanús, and a member of the opposition party, alleged that Zaracho tried to directly assault and aggravate police officers at the scene who were apprehending a driver with a stolen motorcycle.

Union for the Homeland 8 Buenos Aires Province 4,094,665 43.71% 1st