Argentina: scenes of collective madness after the discovery of tens of thousands of dollars in a dump

This story is so crazy that you wonder if it’s really real. We are in Las Parejas, 500 km north of Buenos Aires, a small town of 17,000 inhabitants. A few days ago, like every day, the employees of the waste disposal center moved the rubbish with a backhoe and lifted a cupboard. Surprise: they then see dozens of dollar bills falling from the sky. They start picking up the notes that were visibly hidden in this old cabinet. And the treasure hunt lasts a while and the loot is fantastic: 50,000 dollars! In any case, at first, because the employees then announced that they only found $10,000.

The lucky employees post photos and videos of themselves, hands full of banknotes, in the middle of mountains of rubbish.

A día de suerte: municipal trabajadores shed miles of dollars in a basural of Las Parejas. pic.twitter.com/Ktx4AjV9AM

—Pablo Soria (@soria_pablo) July 19, 2022

With this photo on social networks, the news of a cupboard full of aces is spreading. And the next day, other inhabitants come in turn to try their luck. Despite the smell and dirt, a young man searches, throws away the debris, searches and finds a new magic bag containing 25,000 dollars.

Who owns this money? Is the owner of the cabinet still alive? More and more people are flocking to the dump. Juan, an employee puts his hand on, not money, but a letter that might help clear up the mystery. Written in 2009, the missive evokes a woman who would have sold two properties to make a donation to the WHO (the world health organization). And on this letter, a figure: one million dollars.

⭕Prohibieron el ingreso al basural “Las Parejas” donde vecinos encontraron más de 50 mil dólares esta semana.
⭕Ahora hallaron una carta escrita en 2009 donde se menciona que puede haber “un billón de dólares”.
⭕ “Estamos todos sorprendidos”, dijo el intendant. pic.twitter.com/2gUY12Uhfd

— Mauro Albornoz (@Mau_Albornoz) July 22, 2022

Does that mean there’s a million dollars still hidden in the dump? No one knows. But this mystery fascinates Argentina. All the media, even the biggest ones, like Clarin, threw themselves on this treasure hunt. The mayor of Las Parejas, Horacio Compagnucci, is on all the channels. In order not to create chaos, and to calm this “green fever” he also had the access to the site closed and hired security guards to watch over the site. It must be said that Argentina has been suffering from a serious economic crisis for years. Over the last twelve months, inflation has exploded by 60%. Poverty affects more than a third of Argentines.

People who continue to search the Las Pajeras dumpsite ask themselves hundreds of questions, including this one: who finds the banknotes? do they have the right to keep them? There is debate among the experts. According to Argentine law, a lost item must be returned to its owner or to the local police. But in Las Parejas, the inhabitants are not near a miracle. This story is so implausible that it is either a fairy tale or a fake.