Stories that caught our eye: August 7 to 14

JORGE MESSI DEAD, LIONEL HINTS AT THE END

Jorge Messi, the father and long manager of football superstar Lionel Messi, died at the age of 68 last Saturday after resisting his severe health problems long enough to permit his world-famous son to complete the World Cup all the way through to the final. Lionel Messi immediately flew home from Miami for the funeral, which took place under heavy security. Jorge Messi received tributes from players and fans both at home and abroad and from multiple sectors of Argentine society too numerous for this limited space. Lionel, in an emotional tribute published on social media on Wednesday, expressed his admiration and love for his father, before hinting that he may not continue playing for much longer. Despite the claim, he was back in the US that evening, appearing for his club Inter Miami in a defeat to round off an awful week for the superstar.

INFLATION TICKS UP

Inflation in July stood at 2.1 percent, the INDEC national statistics bureau reported Thursday, a rise of 0.2 points from the previous month and in line with the expectations of most analysts. Argentina’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) has risen by 33.8 per cent over the last 12 months, said the institute, which stressed the impact of seasonal factors. Prices have risen by 19.3 percent so far in 2026. In related news, Economy Minister Luis Caputo unveiled a series of measures to boost foreign-currency loans to businesses, with the aim of reviving demand and making these loans more dynamic. Specifically, Caputo explained that there will be a “partial relaxation” of the rules on dollar-denominated loans for companies, under which banks will be able to lend up to 15 percent of their dollar deposits. “This is in response to a request from industry. They had been asking us for greater flexibility,” said the minister.

MANZANO’S METROGAS MERGER

YPF state oil company on Monday sold its 70 percent shareholding in Metrogas to the Vila-Manzano group for US$780 million, a bid made via their previous acquisition, Edenor (which supplies 3.4 million clients in the northern half of this metropolis with their electricity). José Luis Manzano (a minister in the Carlos Menem administration four decades ago) had earlier picked up a 9.2 percent share in Metrogas, which has 2.5 million users and distributes around 28 percent of the country’s gas. For its part YPF posted record profits of US$2.8 billion before tax for the first half of this year.  

CFK FACING EVICTION?

Tribunal Oral Federal Court 2 (TOF2), which previously convicted Cristina Fernández de Kirchner for corruption in the ‘Vialidad’ case probing fraudulent Santa Cruz highway contracts, on Wednesday slapped a lien on the assets of the ex-president and her children Máximo and Florencia Kirchner with the aim of proceeding with their confiscation, The ruling extends to her San José 1111 flat, the apartment where she is currently serving her jail term under house arrest, as well as properties in Puerto Madero, her Santa Cruz hotel chain and numerous other properties in the Patagonian province, as well as assets belonging to other defendants (including those of the Kank y Costilla SA company of Kirchnerite tycoon Lázaro Báez, among others in his name), numbering 111 in total. The judges considered the ruling necessary in order to prevent the sale of the assets prior to their confiscation, which Fernández de Kirchner has appealed to the Supreme Court. Apart from six years in prison and a lifelong ban from public office, the sentence orders the ex-president to pay almost 685 billion pesos in compensation for the damages resulting from her fraudulent manoeuvres, a sum to be raised from the auction of her properties.

VIP VACCINES 

Federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiana has summoned ex-president Eduardo Duhalde, his wife Hilda ‘Chiche’ Duhalde, journalist Horacio Verbitsky and 31 other persons for queue-jumping access to Sputnik V vaccines against Covid-19 during the pandemic five years ago. The list also includes two two daughters of the Duhaldes, two Peronist deputies (Jorge Taiana and Eduardo Valdés) and several officials of ex-president Alberto Fernández’s 2019-2023 government, including Carlos Zannini. Taina maintains that the beneficiaries could be considered necessary participants fully aware of the crime, contemplating prison sentences of between two and 10 years. The case must now be resolved by Federal Judge María Eugenia Capuchetti. Former national health minister Ginés González García, responsible for the irregular vaccinations (who had to resign in consequence), and four of the beneficiaries have since died – González García at the age of 79 just before being placed on trial in 2024.

POLITICAL MANEUVERINGS

The ruling La Libertad Avanza party has held out an olive branch of Mauricio Macri's PRO, and representatives from the two forces met at the Casa Rosada last Thursday. The talks came after a reported call between Macri and Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, who have agreed to try and rebuild their political relationship ahead of the 2027 elections. The tentative meeting was apparently "a good first step towards working together" and both sides agreed to improve efforts to pass legislation through Congress together, with further meetings to come every 15 days. The meeting came after a reported three-hour “Peronist conclave” between the leaders of the main opposition coalition, with ex-presidential candidate Sergio Massa said to be going on manoeuvres. Meanwhile, there is reported tension among Argentina’s minority left-wing forces. The Partido Obrero, one of the four parties that makes up the FIT-U leftist workers’ front, is said to be unhappy with high-profile lawmaker Myriam Bregman and her PTS force. After accusing the deputy of flirting with Peronism, the Partido Obrero says it has been left out in the cold and rumours of a split are growing. 

DRUG CONTROL SUMMIT

Argentina and the United States, as respectively represented by the National Security Ministry and the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), will be co-hosting the 40th International Drug Enforcement Conference (IDEC) in this city between next Tuesday and Thursday in order to combat not only drug-trafficking rings and narcoterrorists but also transnational organised crime and money-laundering at regional and international levels in general. The conference will attract between 400 and 600 law enforcement agents and diplomatic representatives from over 100 nations and will be inaugurated by Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei.

LOCAL FOOTBALLER ICED

Argentine footballer Matías Pourrain, 34, ran afoul of an immigration control dragnet in the United States and at press time continued to be held at the Krome Detention Center in Florida. He was about to board a domestic flight bound for Los Angeles together with his Club Lyon FC teammates when he was approached by three ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents, who placed him under arrest on the grounds of incomplete immigration paperwork in what was described as a routine control. Despite having no criminal record, Pourrain was taken to a maximum security prison for immigrants pending payment of a bail of up to US$5,000, which will require the approval of a judge and the guarantee of a US citizen. Pourrain entered the United States in 2019 on a tourist visa and although he requested residence, he never received an official reply. His lawyer Regina de Moraes pleaded a “grey area in immigration law.” There was brighter news on this front last Tuesday when Argentine nanny Iliana Noeli Lick, aged 30, was released in Philadelphia after a month behind bars. She had been flying to Kansas City to see the World Cup quarter-final between Argentina and Switzerland when ICE agents found her papers not to be in order.

MALVINAS BANNER

Less than a week after his record transfer to River Plate for US$20 million, midfielder Thiago Almada last Wednesday shed light on the origins of the Malvinas banner unfolded on the pitch by the Argentine team following their 2-1 victory over England in the World Cup semi-finals in Atlanta last month. Almada confessed that the banner reading ‘Las Malvinas son argentinas,’ first unfolded by midfielder Giovani Lo Celso was thrown onto the pitch by friends of his from Fuerte Apache, just outside the capital, as it was about to be confiscated by private security.

ANTI-IMMIGRANT CLAMPDOWN

The National Directorate of Migration, backed by the Argentine Federal Police, carried out an operation targeting foreigners in the Santa Fe city of Rosario midweek, checking 420 people at shops in the city centre and at the Mariano Moreno bus terminal. The operations were carried out on Tuesday over several hours, with authorities confirming that 86 were foreign nationals with valid documentation, eight of whom were found to have irregularities in their immigration status. During the checks, officers identified a sole Chinese national who was subject to a valid deportation order.