AND THAT REMINDS ME... Grain means pain, corn meets scorn 16-01-2021 09:13 Maize in a maze would be as good a way as any of describing the government’s slapdash suspension of corn exports early in this new year. by Michael Soltys
NEW SERIES And that reminds me… 09-01-2021 07:28 Yours truly has been a columnist in this newspaper since its very first edition in four different incarnations. A new year, a new column. by Michael Soltys
2020: THE YEAR IN REVIEW 2020: The year that was 02-01-2021 09:27 Economic crisis, rising poverty and unemployment, debt talks, creditors, the IMF, wealth tax, squatters, a police mutiny, the failed appropriation of Vicentin, alleged AFI espionage, ‘lawfare,’ corruption, legalised abortion, diplomacy, disappearances, the death of Diego Maradona… a lot happened in Argentina over the past 12 months, but it was all overshadowed by Covid-19. by Michael Soltys
THE WEEK What we learned this week: December 19 to 26 26-12-2020 10:49 A collection of the stories that caught our eye this week in Argentina. by Michael Soltys
BRITISH CEMETERY British Cemetery marks 200 years of resting in peace 19-12-2020 09:11 Despite this week’s pandemic upturn, the open-air ceremony was well attended, in contrast to last month’s discreet Poppy Day at the same venue. by Michael Soltys
THE WEEK What we learned this week: November 28 to December 5 05-12-2020 09:27 Stories that caught our eye over the last seven days in Argentina. by Michael Soltys
THE WEEK IN ARGENTINA What we learned this week: November 21 to 28 28-11-2020 09:04 Our pick of the stories from the last seven days (with the exception of just a mention of Maradona). by Michael Soltys
US ELECTION 2020 Ties that bind or blind: a brief history of US-Argentine relations 31-10-2020 10:31 Formal bilateral ties date back to January 27, 1823 – predating the Monroe Doctrine by over 10 months and long before Argentina was called Argentina. by Michael Soltys
THE WEEK What we learned this week: September 5 to 12 12-09-2020 09:33 Key stories that caught our eye during the last seven days in Argentina. by Michael Soltys
100 DAYS OF QUARANTINE 100 days of quarantine 27-06-2020 07:48 On March 20, President Alberto Fernández told the nation in a televised address that all citizens would enter a mandatory quarantine period in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Though restrictions in some regions have now been loosened, many Argentines are today waking up this morning to their 100th day of lockdown. Here’s a look back at how the pandemic has changed our lives. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Taxation the only certainty beyond the end of life (and this column) 20-06-2020 11:11 Taxation dates from this country’s earliest days even if customs dominated revenue in colonial and 19th century Argentina, the root cause of the incredible centralisation persisting today. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Four ambitious females for Fernández’s Cabinet 13-06-2020 10:21 PAMI is huge, serving some 4.5 million pensioners and accounting for 70 percent of all public hospital payments since the elderly obviously have more health problems. Its total budget is some US$7.7 billion. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Non-ministerial positions – yet still key additions 06-06-2020 10:19 The non-ministerial officials named by President Alberto Fernández exactly half a year ago will focus on the trident working directly under him – presidential Chief-of-Staff Julio Vitobello, Legal and Technical Secretary Vilma Ibarra and Strategic Affairs Secretary Gustavo Beliz – plus the new Treasury Attorney Carlos Zannini. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Interior now rhymes with inferior 30-05-2020 10:49 Congress was Eduardo Enrique “Wado” de Pedro main training-ground, where he developed an image as the least abrasive of the La Cámpora leaders. He has mellowed considerably since his extreme youth when in 1997. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Agricultural food for thought 23-05-2020 10:03 A protectionist model in an increasingly protectionist world conspires against the success of agricultural exports, even though more vital than ever. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Culture suffering a vulture 16-05-2020 08:47 Few ministers are more clearly identified than Tristán Bauer with the vice-presidential rather than the presidential wing of the ruling coalition. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Environment more sustainable than development in pandemic 09-05-2020 10:28 The problem of climate change has been overtaken by the pandemic but when we can finally forget about coronavirus, we should not forget climate change. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Production in a context of reduction 02-05-2020 10:58 Although always working with centre-left administrations, Kulfas has no political militancy or factional loyalty with his presence in the Cabinet entirely due to his personal links to President Fernández, as a leading member of his Grupo Callao think tank. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Economy as the other pandemic 25-04-2020 12:15 Martín Guzmán only entered the running for the economy minister post just six weeks before the Cabinet was named, when paying one of his quarterly visits to Argentina in the penultimate week before the October elections. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Labour’s love not lost, but whither jobs? 18-04-2020 10:41 The mission impossible of defending employment against the pandemic will make the Labour, Employment and Social Security Ministry a hot seat in the months and years to come. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Social policy collides with scandal 11-04-2020 10:42 Born in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Morón, Social Development Minister Daniel Fernando Arroyo has made social policy his exclusive focus since starting his university studies (UBA) more than three decades ago. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Housing too close for comfort 04-04-2020 10:28 A decade of work in housing and urban planning in Rosario municipal politics, prior to becoming Peronist lieutenant-governor of Santa Fe Province, gives María Eugenia Bielsa the credentials for her new portfolio. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Science joins global hunt for vaccine 28-03-2020 10:48 The Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Ministry was created on the very first day of the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner presidency in 2007. In the ensuing eight years of that controversial regime, it is difficult to find any initiative of hers which commanded approval across so wide a spectrum. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Covid-19 pandemic brings Health Ministry to the fore 14-03-2020 10:23 The problems in healthcare are basically organisational – Argentine medicine as such is world-class and the envy of many more developed countries. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS A new portfolio for the female majority 07-03-2020 14:24 Elizabeth Victoria Gómez Alcorta has defined her two policy priorities as the campaign against gender violence and the defence of equality and diversity, creating three departments to cover them – all headed by women. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Education, pay talks and class struggle 29-02-2020 11:28 The prospect of classes starting almost everywhere this Monday and last Wednesday’s return of national collective bargaining to the chronic problem of teacher pay for the first time since 2017 are ample reason to make education the choice for today’s “Ministry Positions” column. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Veteran moved back to Defence 23-02-2020 15:38 Agustín Rossi has returned to the Defence Ministry he previously headed between 2013 and 2015. This familiarity with the post might seem reason enough for the appointment within a Cabinet where such experience is in relatively short supply – but the real aim of this move might well have been to ease him out of a position where he has far more years under his belt... by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Transport taken off the fast track 15-02-2020 11:29 As a Radical backed by one of the last entries into the Frente de Todos coalition, Mario Meoni seems to lack the political momentum to make any footprint, while the fiscal pressures from the debt crisis dominating the agenda are already making themselves felt. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Will justice be blinder than ever? 08-02-2020 12:38 At a time when the government is trying to minimise the sovereign debt falling under foreign jurisdiction, it would not be a smart move to go monkeying around with the Argentine legal system and undermine its credibility yet further. by Michael Soltys
BARNEY MILLER OBITUARY Anglo-Argentine community mourns passing of Barney Miller 08-02-2020 09:50 Keen sportsman and born actor was a sharp mind, which he devoted to tireless work for Anglo-Argentine community life, beyond a successful business career. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Public works, private pockets... 01-02-2020 09:23 The revival of a Public Works Ministry after almost three decades suggest a direct defiance of the accumulation of court corruption cases during the Macri years. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS The politics of security 25-01-2020 11:28 Curiously enough, ever since the ministry’s birth in late 2010, Argentina’s “top cop” has always been a woman apart from six months. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Alberto installs a double-hinged Cabinet 18-01-2020 10:57 A political science graduate, politics has been his entire life apart from brief stints in legal and banking work plus an unsuccessful book-shop venture. For Santiago Cafiero, life now begins at 40. by Michael Soltys
MINISTRY POSITIONS Local over global for Felipe’s foreign affairs 11-01-2020 10:38 Felipe Solá has no known background in the diplomatic field – which did not stop him from being the frontrunner to head the Foreign Ministry from the moment Frente de Todos loomed as Argentina’s next government. by Michael Soltys
YEAR IN REVIEW 2019: The year that was 28-12-2019 08:10 Economic turmoil, poverty soars, the peso plunges. The IMF, inflation, post-PASO meltdown. A presidential campaign decided by its trial run. Protests, Peronism unites and Massa returns to the fold. Alberto wins, but does Cristina call the shots? And what about Mauricio? Here's a round-up of the biggest stories in Argentina over the last 12 months. by Michael Soltys
HOSPITAL BRITÁNICO: 175 YEARS Hospital Británico celebrates 175th anniversary at Teatro Colón 14-12-2019 11:20 The British Hospital’s 175th anniversary celebrations reached their climax in style at the Teatro Colón on Monday evening. by Michael Soltys
ELECTION 2019: PROVINCES & GOVERNORS The other inaugurations: Argentina’s (not always) new governors 07-12-2019 12:38 No less than 14 governors sought re-election but two were frustrated by the Supreme Court while the other two were at the wrong end of a change of government. by Michael Soltys
FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Uruguay goes back for the future 30-11-2019 12:21 Why Lacalle as the only alternative to the Frente Amplio in two consecutive elections? The answer has some bearing on Argentina’s by immediate future. by Michael Soltys
HOSPITAL BRITÁNICO: 175 YEARS British Hospital’s first female president looks to the future 30-11-2019 09:08 Felicity Jane Bagnall Kirkwood, who became the first woman president of the Hospital Británico just over 13 months ago., talks to the Times. by Michael Soltys
FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Ecuador’s unrest fuelled by infighting 23-11-2019 13:13 In the 30 months of his presidency Moreno has clashed with the Correa heritage from the start, confronting first the policies and then by the man himself. by Michael Soltys
FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Putting Bolivia’s power vacuum in context 16-11-2019 12:32 It is this column’s contention that Evo Morales was the greatest president in Bolivian history, but yet he crossed the line long before the forces toppling him. by Michael Soltys
GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES Putting Chile’s protest crisis in context 09-11-2019 11:50 In Chile a pro-market approach has never hinged on the electoral result – when the right loses an election, the country is assured of a broadly similar set of fiscal, monetary, trade and other economic policies. by Michael Soltys
ELECTION 2019 Two party dominance in Congress – but not enough to help Fernández 02-11-2019 11:00 Senate under new government’s control but Macri’s comeback leaves Lower House hanging in the balance. by Michael Soltys
ELECTION 2019: A PROVINCIAL MINDSET How ‘the other half’ voted in Election 2019 02-11-2019 10:54 Last Sunday saw a much closer and more complex result with Greater Buenos Aires playing a far more decisive role than in August, supplying almost 80 percent of the winning margin of two million votes. by Michael Soltys
PROFILE Alberto Fernández: Veteran operator takes centre-stage 26-10-2019 10:19 Fernández developed a close relationship with Menem’s economic czar Domingo Cavallo (a champion of privatisation and deregulation, ideas fully shared by Fernández at that time), resigning with him in 1995. by Michael Soltys
PROFILE Mauricio Macri: High hopes now looking grounded 26-10-2019 10:15 At the start of the century opportunity knocked in the form of Argentina’s 2001-2002 economic meltdown leading to a total “begone with them all” disenchantment with politicians and a political vacuum, into which Macri stepped. by Michael Soltys
MEMORIAL SERVICE British Embassy pays tribute to late journalist Andrew Graham-Yooll 24-10-2019 18:40 Ambassador Mark Kent leads tributes to late journalist, editor and author, with remembrance from former Buenos Aires Herald editor Robert Cox and cousin John Hunter, and a musical tribute. by Michael Soltys
FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE High-flying club up in the air? The OECD and Argentina 19-10-2019 13:27 Should a populist government emerge next weekend, it might well find itself quoting Groucho Marx in saying: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.” by Michael Soltys
FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE More spinal than umbilical cord: the ILO and Argentina 12-10-2019 11:52 Argentina’s current relationship with the ILO needs to be viewed through the prism of over seven decades of Peronist trade unionism. by Michael Soltys
FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE Knocking at a closed door: the WTO and Argentina 05-10-2019 11:27 Before 2017 very little has been written about Argentina in the WTO. A prime reason why Argentina’s footprint there has been so small is, quite simply, that this country is not much of a trader as one of the most closed economies in the world. by Michael Soltys