MILEI’S UNCONDITIONAL SUPPORT
Last weekend President Javier Milei threw his unqualified support behind his United States colleague Donald Trump over the US bombing of Iranian nuclear installations, also reaffirming his alignment with his “dearest friend” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by defining himself as an ally of Israel (which he visited earlier this month). Milei quoted his Defence Minister Luis Petri as being on “the right side of history,” calling Iran an “enemy of Argentina.” The next day Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar raised eyebrows when he incorporated Milei’s standard war-cry “Viva la libertad carajo!” (in the original Spanish) into his X message celebrating the Israeli attack on Evin prison in the Iranian capital of Tehran administered by the Revolutionary Guard. The prison was regarded as one of the more dubious targets of the Israeli attacks since it also houses Westerners rounded up as virtual hostages, as well as Iranian opponents of the regime. During last week the government began the repatriation of Argentine citizens stranded in an Israel under attack with 50 landing in Rome last Tuesday even if a ceasefire as from Monday was still holding good at press time.
IRANIANS ON TRIAL
Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas decided last Thursday to place on trial in absentia 10 of the 12 former Iranian officials and members of Hezbollah suspected of planning the 1994 bomb attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre causing 85 deaths (the other two have since died), taking advantage of a recent Congress law permitting such trials. Ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, among others, faces a future trial for the 2013 memorandum of understanding with Iran.
SCREWED TO SEATS
The Buenos Aires Province Senate on Tuesday approved indefinite re-election for provincial legislators and municipal councillors. Lieutenant-Governor Verónica Magario had to break the deadlock after 22 of the 46 senators voted in favour and 22 against. The positive votes came from the ruling Peronists with the exception of Patria Grande legislator Federico Fagioli responding to social activist Juan Grabois and a Renewal Peronist (the caucus of 2023 presidential candidate Sergio Massa) while the opposition parties voted against. The indefinite re-election of provincial legislators now passes to the Buenos Aires Province Chamber of Deputies for final approval. A bill to extend similar benefits to mayors still awaits debate. President Milei’s government condemned the move.
ITEMS MISSING FULFILMENT
A technical team from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) headed by Bikas Joshi (the mission chief for Argentina) arrived in town last Tuesday to audit the ongoing programme. While the IMF is generally satisfied with the government’s performance, especially its sustained fiscal surplus, there is a major shortfall in the accumulation of Central Bank reserves. Whereas the government had pledged to reduce negative net reserves from almost US$5 billion to US$500 million by mid-June, they are currently estimated to run in the region of US$7 billion. Upon approval of the mission team’s report by the IMF board of directors hinges the remittance of a further US$2 billion to fortify the reserves.
BONDHOLDERS ON MOVE AGAIN
Four investment funds last Monday presented a new lawsuit against Argentina to reclaim a debt topping US$1.7 billion, basing themselves on a favourable ruling by the British Supreme Court in London regarding the growth-linked bonds issued by Kirchnerite governments between 2005 and 2010. Argentina was accused in 2019 of having fudged the data of the INDEC national statistics bureau to show lower growth rates and pay less. The Javier Milei government put up a guarantee of almost US$360 million to appeal the sentence of London courts but the Supreme Court ruling went against them. But the 2019 lawsuit totalled some 1.5 billion euros when in the latest agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Argentina recognises owing holdout bondholders some US$4 billion. That agreement also reclassifies legal contingencies as debt for the first time.
PROTESTS GALORE
As from midweek there were various protests downtown. There was the weekly pension protest outside Congress while the multi-sectoral front “Struggle for Sovereignty, Decent Jobs and Fair Wages” consisting of trade unionists and social activists marched on the Deregulation & State Transformation Ministry at noon to denounce “the brutal austerity, the deregulation of the productive system and the destruction of the state machinery driven by the national government … while limiting collective bargaining and cutting back in strategic areas like education, science, health and infrastructure.” As from 7am there was a new 24-hour strike at the Garrahan Children’s Hospital. Meanwhile the CONADU federation of university lecturers called a 48-hour strike for Wednesday and Thursday culminating in a new Federal University March outside Congress to press for the approval next week of the University Financing bill seeking to guarantee the sustainability of higher education.
ECONOMIC ROUGH AND SMOOTH
The economy grew 5.8 percent between the first quarters of this year and last (and 0.8 percent from the previous quarter), the INDEC national statistics bureau announced last Monday but in midweek IPA (Industriales Pymes Argentinos) denounced that 12,259 Pyme small and medium-sized companies had closed their doors in that same period due to recession, the tax burden and having to face indiscriminate imports, taking the number of such firms below the half-million mark to 499,371 from 511,630 in 2023 and clearly leading to “a social catastrophe generated by unemployment.” The IPA report also commented that the economic rebound of 5.8 percent posted by INDEC had been “uneven between sectors with financial intermediation leading the way (+27.2 percent) while labour-intensive sectors persistently lagged behind.” A total of 74,811 jobs had been lost, the report noted, with public administration (-31,792), industry (-18,172) and construction (-14,413) the leading casualties.
BAHÍA BLANCA VETO
The government has vetoed, via Decree 424/2025 published last Tuesday in the Official Gazette, emergency Law 27,790 to create a special fund of 200 billion pesos to reconstruct Bahía Blanca after the floods last March on the grounds that it was considered unnecessary overlap with its own programme for that purpose with 85 percent of flood victims already compensated. Following Senate approval in May, the law was passed early this month by a 153-32 vote in the Chamber of Deputies. The veto was signed by President Javier Milei, Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich.
MARADONA JUDGE RESIGNS
San Isidro judge Julieta Makintach, 47, held responsible for the collapse of the trial investigating the death of football superstar Diego Maradona by simultaneously seeking to shoot a documentary and suspended for 90 days, resigned last Tuesday ahead of an impeachment jury against her shortly after its formation was confirmed. “I consider that at this moment, my greatest contribution to the reconstruction of the institutional prestige (of the judiciary) and to the reparation of the errors committed would be to voluntarily relinquish my post.” she wrote in a letter addressed to Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, adding that she resigned “serenely.”
CRISTINA STAYS IN THE NEWS
Last weekend Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva revealed in a podcast interview that his ex-colleague Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had burst into tears during his solidarity telephone call to her at the start of her house arrest serving a six-year sentence for corruption. Lula is due in town next week for the transfer of the Mercosur presidency from Argentina to Brazil. Later in the week TOF (Tribunal Oral Federal) Court No. 2 knocked back the claim of Unión por la Patria deputies and senators to visit her without prior notice or judicial authorisation, saying that the requests would have to be channelled through the ex-president’s defence lawyers.
ETERNAUT WEATHER?
While not penetrating into this city, much of Buenos Aires Province woke to a blanket of snow last Monday morning, including such districts within or around Greater Buenos Aires as Pilar, José C. Paz, Derqui, Tigre, Del Viso, Escobar and General Rodríguez. Further south such localities as Puán, Tornquist, Saavedra and Sierra de la Ventana already had landscapes worthy of a Christmas card last Sunday, as did various zones of Córdoba. In this city the temperatures dropped to within a few degrees of freezing while both BA City and Province were subject to winds of up to 80 kilometres per hour. The polar wave had already started hitting this country on the last day of autumn and was forecast to persist throughout the week.
CLUB WORLD CUP FAILURE
Neither of Argentina’s two most storied clubs, Boca Juniors or River Plate, made it through to the knockouts of the new FIFA Club World Cup after disappointing performances. The Brazilian teams, on the other hand, have done quite well...
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