March 12^th, 2025.

Chaos. Glass shattering. Tear gas being sprayed. Guns with rubber bullets being fired. Garbage cans blazing on fire across streets. Music blasting.

Cheers transitioning to wailing and screams of anger.

Bystanders passing as if this fight has nothing to do with them.

The elderly were shot at and shoved for wanting sufficient retirement funds.

It was the people versus the government… no, it was Argentinians versus Argentinians.

I know I needed to capture this moment.

Adrenaline rushed through my veins rather than fear.

My body proceeded to move instinctively on its own towards the chaos.

I held my camera up and captured scenes from this violent protest.

This was the snapshot into my dream as a journalist… well what I consider my purpose to be.

As I’ve immersed myself into journalism, this desire and calling to capture chaos and the reality of people has grown immensely whether it’s through photo or writing.

International reporting, specifically, has become my biggest desire in life. Being in Buenos Aires, Argentina only amplified this dream of mine.

Not only was this week in BA impactful, but it also reminded me of what I am working towards.

“Los jubilados” which translates to “the retirees” have been protesting every Wednesday in front of the Congress of Argentina and the Presidential Palace against his policies that have affected roughly 7.2 million people receiving pension and retirement funding.

Upon entering leadership, President Milei has made cuts in pensions and medicine provision in a context of fierce economic adjustment. He also ended the social security moratorium. His economic adjustment has affected the elderly immensely.

March 12^th was different.

Elders were joined with soccer team fans. Opposing teams that usually are against one another, joined forces to support their elders. Violence was not expected, but within a few seconds chaos broke out.

In the end, no one was spared from the police motorcyclist with rubber bullets. Man, woman, elderly and journalists were all potential targets.

At one point, I grabbed Emily (my photo-partner) and a random woman, and slammed us against a metal stand to protect us from danger.

Without realizing, a police motorcyclist shooting rubber bullets was right behind us. We froze and put our hands up to let them know we weren’t a threat.

They continued on and shot passed us.

The scenes we saw were surreal and tragic. People were being cornered, tackled, arrested, and shot at. There were flames coming from multiple garbage dumps.

That day 120 protesters were arrested, hundreds were injured, and one photographer was left in a coma.

President Milei attempted to blame the violence on the protesters, but they weren’t having it. Pushing back against his statement, the protesters were upset with the police response given.

The moment that was surprising to me was the care the community was giving to other protesters and even to international people present there. A man who was shot multiple times, few times in the arm and one in the head was given water by an elderly woman. We were approached by multiple people blessing for our safety and telling us to stick together. This was especially surprising because before when reporting on my own story there has been a lot of reluctance to speak to journalists in Buenos Aires. Now, people would see us with our cameras and come up to us to take their picture.

“Look. This is what the government does to us,” said a protester as he signaled to take a picture of his injuries.

A week later and we are no longer in Buenos Aires, but the marches continue.

People want justice, and being in this protest demonstrated how powerful journalism really is. We are the storytellers, we are the ones who broadcast the world, we are the ones who shine light to the truth with integrity.

This profession we journalist dedicate ourselves to is heavy… but it is powerful.

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