The word is a neologism in Argentine Spanish, coming from piquete (in English, "picket"), that is, its specific meaning as a standing or walking demonstration of protest in a significant spot.

The practice began in Argentina in the mid-1990s during the administration of President Carlos Menem, soon becoming a frequent form of protest that still prevails on the South American socio-political scene.

194 of the Penal Code, provides that: The piqueteros appeared first in June 1996 in the Patagonian town of Cutral Có, province of Neuquén, when workers laid off by then state-owned oil company YPF blocked National Route 22.

The piquetero form of protest soon spread to the impoverished neighbourhoods and de-industrialized towns of Greater Buenos Aires, starting in Florencio Varela and La Matanza, as well as other provinces.

Eventually, piqueteros began assembling in a more organized fashion, forming "Unemployed Workers Movements" (Movimientos de Trabajadores Desempleados, abbreviated as MTDs).

The MTDs also began involving themselves in co-operatives for a myriad of purposes, such as barter markets for goods and services, small-scale food production, sewing workshops, food-ration distributing facilities, etc.

In 2002, two piqueteros, Darío Santillán and Maximiliano Kosteki, were killed during protests at the Avellaneda train station, few blocks from the New Pueyrredón Bridge of Buenos Aires.

During the late 1990s, piqueteros in Greater Buenos Aires came to overlap with the manzaneras, agents of the anti-Menem Peronist machine of provincial governor Eduardo Duhalde.