Stories that caught our eye: August 1 to 8

CONFLICT OF POWERS

More back and forth between the Javier Milei administration and Congress last week. Over the weekend, President Milei signed a total executive branch veto of the three bills recently passed by the Senate to improve pensions, extend a moratorium for pensioners and grant emergency increases to the handicapped. On Monday the 27-page Decree 534/2025 was published in the Official Gazette In midweek Congress hit back when the opposition caucuses powered through the lower house via a 158-75 vote a bill to increase national university funding, which Milei argues would upset fiscal balance. The deputies also declared a state of emergency for paediatrics, including more financing for Garrahan Children’s Hospital but refrained from imposing a similar state of emergency for the Bahía Blanca floods last March against the presidential veto due to doubts about having the necessary two-thirds majority. While the deputies were debating, security forces fenced off the Congress building and deployed tear gas against the weekly Wednesday pension protest march.

PRO, LLA TEAM UP AGAIN 

Thursday’s closure of the alliances for the October 26 midterms included one important combo not going down to the wire as in some cases but already resolved on Tuesday – in this City locally governing PRO repeated the alliance with nationally ruling La Libertad Avanza already sealed in Buenos Aires Province almost a month ago. Despite previous friction (with President Javier Milei refusing to shake the hand of City Mayor Jorge Macri on at least two institutional occasions), agreement was reached on the basis of centre-right PRO being granted two slots with strong chances of entry in the list of lower house candidates although denied any say in naming the two senatorial candidates. The brand-new alliance has until next weekend to finalise the names of all candidates.        

NO MORE INSULTS

Speaking on Monday night to the libertarian Fundación Faro at the Yacht Club in Puerto Madero, President Javier Milei pledged that he would no longer insult his critics, adding that in future he would debate at the level of ideas and then see if those opposed to him had the intellectual level to have any. But doubts as to the permanence of his promise were quickly expressed even within his entourage and far more widely beyond. Speaking on the same day that his vetoes of Congress legislation in favour of pensioners and the handicapped were decreed, Milei also argued that if people were unable to make it to the end of the month, as often claimed, “the streets would be littered with corpses.”

CITY INFLATION MARKS UPTICK

Last month’s inflation in the city was 2.5 percent, City Hall statisticians announced on Thursday, marking an annual rate of 40.9 percent and 18.1 percent so far this year. In the month of winter vacations, restaurants and hotels (5.3 percent) was the leading culprit, followed by financial services (3.8 percent), transport (3.6 percent) and recreation and culture (3.6 percent). The national figure for July is due to be announced by INDEC statistics bureau next Wednesday with the Central Bank’s REM survey averaging out prívate estimates giving it as 1.8 percent.

INTO MORE FIREPOWER

Four days after the executive board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) gave its blessing to the first review of its extended fund facility with Argentina, the IMF transferred US$2 billion to the Central Bank in special drawing rights last Monday, taking international currency reserves to their highest level in 30 months at just over US$43 billion. Precisely the issue of reserves was the IMF board’s main concern amid general approval when issuing its favourable review at the end of last month with negative net returns estimated by the IMF at almost US$5 billion although down from a peak of US$11 billion earlier this year. IMF board approval included relaxing the timetable for the accumulation of reserves. The 103-page report also congratulated the government on its partial exit from the ‘cepo’ capital and currency controls while pointing out that some restrictions like those blocking the payment of dividend arrears remain in place.

YPF'S TOTAL PURCHASE

YPF state oil company has confirmed the purchase of the assets of TotalEnergies in the Vaca Muerta shale deposits in Neuquén for half a billion dollars, outbidding Vista (founded by former YPF chief Miguel Galuccio) and Techint’s Tecpetrol. YPF president Horacio Marín recently announced the company’s intention of concentrating its efforts on downstream activities. On Tuesday Energy and Mining Secretary Daniel González (YPF CEO during the 2015-2019 Mauricio Macri presidency) announced a slowdown for Vaca Muerta with daily oil production stuck on 750,000 barrels while exports are down US$1 billion so far this year due to a 15 percent fall in international prices. According to Aleph Energy consultants, fracking at Vaca Muerta fell off 24 percent between May and June.

ECONOMY MINISTRY EXITS

Economy Minister Luis Caputo last Wednesday announced the departure of two of his secretaries who interact with the industrial sector – Industry and Trade Secretary Esteban Marzorati and PyME (Pequeña y Mediana Empresa) Secretary Marcos Ayerra covering small and medium-sized companies. Their exit was neither voluntary nor a purge but the result of their two departments being merged into a new Coordination of Production secretariat. Business chambers expressed their misgivings about the imminent closure of the two departments.

SCAVENGERS BEWARE

City Mayor Jorge Macri last Monday announced a new ordinance obliging scavengers to tidy and clean up after combing through a dumpster on pain of paying fines of up to 900,000 pesos, which will be doubled when operating from a motor vehicle or outside churches, schools, hospitals and public buildings. Reactions to the move were mixed with some applauding the bid to clean up littered streets (an issue in last May’s City midterm elections especially highlighted by Macri’s predecessor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta) while others deplored the lack of sensitivity towards the most vulnerable.

SAN CAYETANO MARCH

Last Thursday was the day in which the Catholic Church commemorates the 16th century Neopolitan saint Gaetano de Thiene, or San Cayetano as he is known here, the patron saint of “Paz, pan y trabajo” (“peace, bread and work”) this year expanded to “Paz, pan, tierra, techo y trabajo” (adding land and a roof). The annual ritual of convergence on the Liniers church bearing the saint’s name and a march calling for social justice was repeated this year although the chilly weather seemed to make for a below-average turnout.

MYSTERY RESOLVED

A body found by building workers last May in the house of late rock star Gustavo Cerati was finally identified on Thursday as Diego Fernández Lima, who was reported missing in 1984 when he was a teenager of 16, thanks to DNA studies on the bones found. The forensic experts also confirmed that the lad was murdered. 

DANIEL DIVINSKY 1942-2025

Daniel Divinsky, the publisher of the iconic Mafalda comic strip as well as many contributions to Argentine literature, died at the start of the month at the age of 83.