Stories that caught our eye: May 2 to 9

EMBASSY HOSTAGES RELEASED

Argentina’s government confirmed last Tuesday the successful exit of five Venezuelan opposition politicians (all linked to María Corina Machado) from the Argentine Embassy in Caracas, where they had been trapped since March 2024, thanks to the good offices of the United States where the dissidents headed. President Javier Milei especially thanked US Secretary of State Marco Rubio for his “personal commitment to this operation, which has made it possible for these true heroes to finally regain their liberty.” The Milei administration also used this occasion to press for the release of the Border Guard Nahuel Gallo, in the hands of the Venezuelan government, “as a priority for this government which will not rest until securing” his freedom.

CLEAN SLATE BITES DUST

The “ficha limpia” (“clean slate”) bill barring those with upheld convictions for corruption from electoral candidacies won approval by a 36-35 vote in the Senate on Wednesday but came to grief by falling short of the absolute majority of the 72 senators required for passage. Two independent Misiones senators previously committed to the bill unexpectedly tilted the balance with all but two of the 34 Peronist senators voting against. The same session also saw the Senate approve the nominations of Alejandro ‘Alec’ Oxenford and Wenceslao Bunge Saravia to head the Argentine Embassies in Washington and Madrid with 53 and 55 votes respectively. Meanwhile the lower house of Congress was also in the news with the Criminal Legislation Committee approving the government bill to lower the age of criminal responsibility from 16 to 14 against the opposition of Unión por la Patria and the left on Tuesday while the next day the weekly pension protest saw the police come to blows with the marchers, firing tear gas and making three arrests including a Malvinas veteran and Father Francisco ‘Paco’ Olveira.

BULLRICH CHANGES PARTIES (AGAIN)

Security Minister Patricia Bullrich, the 2023 presidential candidate for the Juntos por el Cambio coalition and the centre-right PRO party which she chaired at the time, finally made the long-awaited leap last Tuesday to become a card-carrying member of La Libertad Avanza – the sixth time she has changed her party label in her extensive career. Her move was seen as strategically timed for next weekend’s City midterms with her supporters among PRO’s national and provincial deputies expected to follow her example but the full impact was still not clear at press time. 

CRISTINA VERSUS LORENZETTI

Ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner last Monday demand the recusal of Supreme Court justice Ricardo Lorenzetti, interpreting his remarks during an interview with América 24 television channel as pressing the top tribunal to uphold her conviction for corruption in the allocation of Santa Cruz highway contracts before the upcoming midterms, thus disqualifying her. Had Lorenzetti recused himself, the Supreme Court would have been unable to decide on her case with only two justices without bringing in a surrogate member. But the unexpected collapse of the “ficha limpia” (“clean slate”) bill, aimed precisely at barring the candidacies of those with upheld corruption convictions, only two days later made her complaints about exclusion from political activity something of a dead letter.

NEW UK ENVOY

The Foreign Office officially confirmed last Tuesday that David Seldon Cairns, 56, will be replacing Kirsty Hayes as the next British Ambassador, beginning his mission in September. His diplomatic career started in 1993 with two postings in Tokyo (as deputy trade attaché between 1995 and 1998 and as Director of Trade and Investments between 2006 and 2010) and as First Secretary to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) in Geneva from 2002 to 2006 before rising to be British Ambassador to Stockholm (2015-2019) with various important Foreign Office postings and considerable corporate experience in the energy sector in between.

MERCOSUR CET RELAXED

Just before last weekend a meeting of Mercosur foreign ministers at the local Foreign Ministry reached agreement on exempting 50 more products from the trade bloc’s Common External Tariff in the shadow of the “tariff war” being waged by United States President Donald Trump. The ministers also celebrated the conclusion of the agreement with the European Union and the progress of the negotiations with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) and the United Arab Emirates.

ROSARIO COPS IN SCAM

The Santa Fe provincial government last Tuesday placed the Rosario city police under trusteeship for the misallocation of 45 million pesos in petrol coupons (whose monthly quota totals 380 million pesos). The accompanying investigation resulted in 17 arrests, of whom 13 were policemen (mostly senior officers). The local police force will be under the trusteeship of Claudio Romano for the next three months at least, replacing the police chief who did not figure among the suspects.

PEDDLERS EVICTED

On the eve of last weekend City Hall dislodged 5,000 street peddlers illegally occupying Parque Los Andes in Chacarita in an operation involving 200 Metropolitan Police officers and 110 City inspectors following months of complaints by local residents and shopkeepers. So far this year the peddlers had been moving in every weekend for the illegal sale of garments, technology, food, antiques, books, jewellery and toys among other items, thus competing unfairly with local tax-paying shopkeepers according to City Mayor Jorge Macri. Over 6,700 bundles of merchandise were seized in the raid. Similar raids have previously been made in the neighbourhoods of Once, Flores, Retiro, the Florida pedestrian precinct, Plaza Constitución, Parque Centenario and Parque Patricios, as well as Plaza de Mayo, Plaza Lavalle and outside Congress.

TRANSPORT SHUFFLE

Last May Day the government fired Transport Secretary Franco Mogetta, replacing him with Luis Pierrini, a Mendoza insurance businessman closely linked to Economy Minister Luis ‘Toto’ Caputo. His exit came on the same day bus fares went up by almost six percent, well above recent monthly inflation figures, while failing to head off last Tuesday’s disruptive 24-hour strike by bus-drivers but the government gave its reason as wishing to release the official to run as a libertarian candidate in the Córdoba midterms while Caputo tweeted that the departing secretary “had done a GREAT job.” Yet other sources said that Mogetta had been doomed by his links to former Córdoba governor Juan Schiaretti, whose deputies had recently approved the creation of an investigative committee to probe the ‘$LIBRA’ cryptocurrency scandal. Mogetta’s exit brings the total of senior officials dumped by the Javier Milei government to 139, from Cabinet Chief Nicolás Posse last May and former foreign minister Diana Mondino downwards. In other transport news, the first line of a dozen electric buses began running on Wednesday between Retiro and Plaza Lezama. 

MAY DAY QUAKE

May Day also included an earthquake around noon with its epicentre in La Rioja but also felt in Córdoba, San Juan and Catamarca. It measured 5.9 degrees on the Richter scale. Nobody was reported hurt and nor was there material damage of any significance.

OESTERHELD MISSING SOUGHT

The craze over the successful Netflix series El Eternauta has led to a revival of the search for the grandchildren of Héctor Germán Oesterheld, whose comic strips were the origin of the series. All four of Oesterheld’s daughters were snatched during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship along with their parents when Diana and Marina were both pregnant with none of the three generations of Oesterhelds ever seen again.

UNSUNG FOOTBALL HERO DIES

Luis Galván, the Talleres de Córdoba player who marshalled the defence to give Argentina its first World Cup in 1978 when he won the Fair Play award, died last Monday at the age of 77. Born in the heart of Santiago del Estero in 1948 where he briefly worked as a primary school teacher before beginning his football career, he ended his days in Córdoba city. After retiring as a player, he dedicated himself to coaching football.

RIQUELME BAD-MOUTHED

Journalist Gabriel Anello landed himself in trouble on Radio Mitre last Wednesday with a violent outburst of racist spleen against Boca Juniors president Juan Román Riquelme. “Black is black, brown is brown and the ignorant are called ignorant,” said Anello, who further insulted Riquelme as a “donkey” and “greengrocer.” He further affirmed:”I have culture whereas those who did not go to school like Riquelme are negros ignorantes.” His remarks were widely repudiated on social media.