UNITY v AUSTERITY
Thousands of protesters, including scientists, doctors, disabled people, LGBT+ and minority rights activists joined pensioners last Wednesday, boosting their long-running weekly demonstration against the government’s austerity measures. Parallel to the march, Argentine lawmakers were debating proposals submitted by the opposition to increase pensions and issue emergency funds for the disabled. The government rejects the measures due to their cost.
PENSION VETO ON HORIZON
Lawmakers in the Chamber of Deputies passed a set of opposition-backed bills to hike pensions by 7.2 percent, increase a supplementary bonus from 70,000 to 110,000 pesos and extend the pension moratorium by two years. Despite broad support, the government rejects the initiatives and has pre-announced a presidential veto, arguing the steps would undermine fiscal stability. The pension hike was approved by a wide margin (142 votes to 67) while the moratorium passed by a narrower vote (111-100) with some centre-right PRO deputies abstaining for the first time on this issue. The package also includes measures to finance the increases, such as scrapping certain tax exemptions and reallocating funds from intelligence services and vehicle registry revenues. In posts on social media, President Javier Milei described the bills as “populist demagoguery.”
GARRAHAN DISPUTE
Resident doctors at the Garrahan Children’s Hospital lifted their stoppage Wednesday for the rest of the week although their pay dispute is far from over with the ATE state workers union calling for a nationwide strike in the health sector the next day (dismissed by the Health Ministry as "political extortion disguised as a wage grievance … holding the right to health hostage"). The residents had previously been threatened with sanctions by hospital authorities, including docking their pay for days not worked, reducing their shifts and even dismissals. Two libertarian deputies made unfortunate attempts to defend government intransigence over the Garrahan issue with Juliana Santillán claiming that the almost 800,000 pesos paid monthly to the residents more than doubled the 360,000 pesos needed for the basic family shopping basket of a four-person household, according to the INDEC national statistics bureau, when the actual INDEC figure is 1.11 million pesos. Her libertarian colleague Lilia Lemoine then callously suggested that if paediatricians were not happy with their pay, they should have studied something else and should now go looking for a “more convenient” job, also pointing out that the residents were earning more than pensioners. Coalición Cívica founder Elisa ‘Lilita’ Carrió took a far more critical view of Health Minister Mario Lugones, blasting the government for its “cruel austerity at the cost of the most vulnerable” and proposing a fact-finding inspection of the Garrahan Hospital. The government has offered to bump up the pay of paediatricians to 1.3 million pesos but without incorporating the increase into their basic salary. Other workers at the hospital remain on strike at press time, leading a protest to the Plaza de Mayo.
MATTRESS DOLLAR BILL
Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos says the government’s ‘mattress dollar’ bill, designed to support its plan to encourage use of undeclared cash and savings, has been sent to Congress – a fact confirmed at a Casa Rosada press conference featuring José Luis Espert and ARCA tax bureau chief Juan Pazo on Thursday evening. It contains amendments to laws that will ensure those who spend their money held outside the system are not later exposed to legal proceedings. The legislation would reduce the statute of limitations for certain crimes as a tool to provide guarantees to the compliant. It also modifies the amounts for the initiation of tax requirements and possible legal action.
RIGHT TO STRIKE
Judge Moira Fullana last Monday accepted the injunction presented by the CGT trade union umbrella against DNU emergency decree 340/25 by the Javier Milei government to limit the right to strike in services considered "essential" or "of strategic interest," provisionally suspending the decree’s effects. The CGT had argued that the right to strike, as guaranteed by Article 14 of the Constitution, can only be amended by parliamentary debate, thus making the decree "unconstitutional."
CFK SAYS SHE’LL RUN
In her first interview in a year with C5N television news channel, ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner confirmed her candidacy in the September 7 midterms in Buenos Aires Province and blasted President Javier Milei, calling him: "More marginal than an outsider" with “much for the rich and nothing for the poor.” Apart from criticising the La Libertad Avanza economic model as unsustainable, she also took aim at two of her pet targets: the International Monetary Fund and the Supreme Court. The current chair of the Partido Justicialista described City Mayor Jorge Macri’s decision to advance local elections as "a huge error," implying that it would also be a mistake in Buenos Aires Province as sought by its Governor Axel Kicillof. Towards the end of the interview she said that she "missed" Pope Francis as well as her late husband and presidential predecessor Néstor Kirchner. The next day posters of her candidacy began to appear in the Third Electoral Section (Southern Greater Buenos Aires), along with videos online.
CRISTINA & THE COURTS
The Supreme Court rejected a motion from Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s legal team seeking to have Justice Ricardo Lorenzetti removed from the ‘Vialidad’ corruption case investigating the fraudulent allocation of highway contracts in Santa Cruz Province, for which she was sentenced to six years in prison and given a lifetime ban from holding public office. The Court found that her challenge lacked concrete, verifiable grounds and was filed too late in the process. Fernández de Kirchner had argued that Lorenzetti’s public comments – suggesting the Court would resolve the matter swiftly, possibly before the elections – violated judicial impartiality. The ruling shortens the timeline for a final Supreme Court decision, which could trigger the enforcement of her sentence if upheld.
ROSADITA QUINTET BEHIND BARS
Fabián Rossi, the ex-husband of actress Iliana Calabró, was among five of six people convicted for money-laundering for Kirchnerite tycoon Lázaro Báez to turn themselves in at the federal courthouses in Retiro last Monday, to begin serving a 54-month prison sentence in his case following Supreme Court confirmation. Julio Mendoza, sentenced to five years and currently in hospital, was the only exception. The group gained notoriety for the thousands of dollars counted by Martín Báez at the ‘La Rosadita’ financial company in Puerto Madero – scenes which were famously caught on CCTV cameras.
CITY HALL SHUFFLE
PRO’s crushing defeat in last month’s midterms, forecast by all opinion polls but surprising for its magnitude in leaving the ruling party trailing a distant third, took some time to digest but a fortnight later City Mayor Jorge Macri started last week by announcing a Cabinet shuffle, starting with the dismissal of Catalan spin doctor Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí (described by President Javier Milei as “human trash”). City Hall spokesperson Laura Alonso detailed the strategic areas undergoing changes as security, the HEW (health, education and welfare) triad, transport, culture, sports and tourism and state reform and simplification, the latter hinting at creating a municipal “chainsaw” along the lines of the national Deregulation & State Transformation Ministry.
MILEI TARGETS AUTISTIC CHILD
Peronist Senator Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro (Unión por la Patria-Buenos Aires Province) rapped President Javier Milei for posting last weekend on his social networks a mocking image of 12-year-old autistic child Ian Moche next to ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, concluding his message to repudiate the attack with the words: “Milei, con los chicos no!” (“Don’t mess with the children!”).
JOURNALIST COMPLAINTS NIXED
Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas has dismissed a criminal complaint filed by President Javier Milei against journalists Carlos Pagni and Ari Lijalad, ruling that separate articles they penned fell within the bounds of free expression and press freedom. The case stemmed from pieces in which the journalists criticise Milei's political rhetoric, drawing historical parallels and warning of authoritarian tendencies. Rafecas said that using criminal law to silence journalistic opinion would endanger democratic debate and contravene constitutional and international human rights standards.
ESMA DIRECTOR SACKED
President Javier Milei’s government has removed the executive director of the ESMA Memory Site Museum, triggering strong condemnation from human rights groups and survivors of the former clandestine detention centre. Mayki Gorosito’s dismissal comes just days after the museum’s 10th anniversary and months after it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site under her stewardship. Critics say the move is part of a broader attempt by Milei’s administration to dismantle Argentina’s long-standing policies of memory, truth and justice.
WERTHEIN MEETS ‘PRESIDENT-ELECT’
Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein hosted Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González Urrutia, whom he described as "the president-elect of Venezuela," at Argentina’s Embassy in Madrid. The meeting took place after the safe arrival in Argentina of María Alexandra Gómez García, wife of Nahuel Gallo, the gendarme detained in Venezuela, and her son. González Urrutia, who fled Venezuela last September after Nicolás Maduro’s disputed re-election, visited Buenos Aires earlier this year to meet President Javier Milei.
SOUTHERN LIGHTS
Stunning images of aurora australis (also known as southern lights) began to appear over the Antarctic last Tuesday and were widely circulated on social media. The incredible sight was the result of a geo-magnetic solar storm of great intensity, resulting in the explosion of solar particles accompanied by magnetic fields. A similar phenomenon occurred in May 2024, when Patagonian skies were tinted pink, red and orange over cities like Ushuaia, El Calafate and El Chaltén.
FOSSIL FLOWER
Scientists of the CONICET (Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas) have found the oldest fossil flower registered until now in San Luis – scientifically termed Stellula meridionalis (little southern star) from the Mesozoic Era around 113 million years ago. Similar specimens have been found in Brazil. The tiny flower is only three centimetres long.
CHAMPION SQUIDS
Platense defeated Huracán 1-0 in the final of the Torneo Apertura 2025 tournament in Santiago del Estero last Sunday afternoon thanks to a goal scored in the 63rd minute by winger Guido Mainero. Meanwhile, Boca Juniors look to the future by grasping to the past: veteran coach Miguel Ángel Russo has returned to the club for a third spell in charge.
NEWELL’S AGAINST NINE-YEAR-OLDS
Newell's Old Boys have sparked outrage by suspending six nine-year-olds from training and stripping them of scholarships after they posed for a photograph with a professional player from arch-rivals Rosario Central. The kids had posed with Central winger Ignacio Malcorra when he came to watch his son play in a tournament in March. Newell's denied the kids were being punished, saying in a statement the measure was taken to protect them against "potential harassment." Newell's president Ignacio Astore said some parents had asked for their children not to play after receiving threats from other parents. Carlos Panciroli, coordinator of Newell's football academy, who had earlier defended the boys' suspension out of "respect" for the Newell's jersey, later conceded to the La Capital newspaper that "maybe we made a mistake."
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