 This was to be the last mass demonstration in Argentina's capital for a long time. Hundreds of thousands of feminists took the streets for this year's women's strike. But last week became clear that life would change in Buenos Aires too. Foreigners rushed to Esesa airport to take the last planes out of Argentina. The day before the quarantine. Desperate streets vendors, empty bookshops, closed cafes and hotels. This is iconic Hotel Bowen, a self-managed cooperative meeting point of left groups. At 9 o'clock in the evening President Alberto Fernandez announced a total quarantine starting at midnight. Before and during the corona crisis the center-left Argentine government has been by far the most responsible in America. Since he assumed office last December, Fernandez, a moderate patternist, has talked of strengthening the public health service, which had suffered considerably under his neoliberal predecessor Mauricio Macri. Along with urging the population to stay at home, Fernandez took a series of measures to protect salaries and to boost the national economy. And with the support of Pope Francis, he has managed to buy time with the International Monetary Fund. In the middle of a deep recession Argentina must cope with an enormous foreign debt left by Macri and the IMF, with a staggering 40% of the population, some 16 million people, below the poverty line. Recently the President said, between the economy and life, I choose life. In fact he has to work on both. On day two of the quarantine the streets of Buenos Aires were pretty empty. Basically people were just going to the local fruit shop or to the Chinese grocers. The best news came from one of our allies, the Union of Land Workers, UTT. One of their leaders was chosen by the government to direct the Buenos Aires central market. This is a strong sign in favor of a family-based ecological agriculture. It is Norita Cortini's 90th birthday. Norita, a founding member of the Plaza de Mayo Mothers and probably the country's most famous human rights activist, had called for today's demonstration for the right to water. And she wanted to march along with hundreds of thousands on the 24th of March to keep alive the memory of the dictatorship who murdered her son in crippled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. Now those dark years were remembered on the country's balconies and at home. My new stand is still open, but nobody knows for how long. The daily Pachinadosse describes the situation in the capital's vast poor areas where social isolation is more difficult. Here the health infrastructure is very precarious. Concrete solidarity is the big challenge and Argentina is willing to face it. From Buenos Aires, Gerhard Delger for the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung.