ABSTRACT

In cities across Latin America, street vendors are an ever-present part of urban life. At busy intersections, drivers receive competing sales pitches from newspaper vendors, fruit sellers, window washers, and more. In public parks and plazas, boys and men ply their trades as shoe shiners. On buses, young people pitch sad stories of both hardship and resilience in order to secure donations from captive audiences. In popular tourist districts, children sell flowers, arts, candies, and more to travellers who appear to have cash to spare. While street vendors have a long history in Latin American cities, their presence is also connected to high rates of poverty and inequality across the region. In fact, more often than not, those who work on the streets hail from the poorest favelas and urban barrios. Moreover, many are from marginalized and racialized groups, since those on the margins often have limited opportunities to get ahead in the more formalized urban economy.