In December 2001, Argentina limited cash withdrawals to 250 pesos a week in an attempt to stop a bank run. In Buenos Aires, depositors queued before dawn to recover savings trapped by the restrictions; a Reuters photograph from 31 December records people waiting to enter a bank.
An account balance no longer determined how much cash a customer could receive. The line combined physical scarcity with a legal barrier to deposits. Waiting one's turn for one's own money made the collapse of trust in the banking system visible on the street.