Buenos Aires, Argentina –
When Luana Salva got her first formal job after years of prostitution, she was ecstatic.
A quota law in Argentina that promoted the inclusion of transgender people in the work force — unprecedented in Latin America expect in neighboring Uruguay — pulled her from the capital’s street corners into the Foreign Ministry last year.
Yet just months after Salva got her first paycheck, right-wing President Javier Milei entered office and began slashing public spending as part of his state overhaul to solve Argentina’s worst economic crisis in two decades. Abruptly fired in a wave of government layoffs, Salva said her world began to unravel.
“The only option we have left is prostitution … and I don’t see myself standing on a corner, getting cold, enduring violence,” Salva, 43, said. “This government is unaware of all that has been built to make us feel included.”
Salva’s sudden reversal of fortunes reflects …