CFK MADE JAILBIRD
In a historic ruling the Supreme Court last Tuesday afternoon unanimously upheld the corruption conviction against ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (72) sentencing her to six years in prison and a lifelong ban from public office for fraudulent manipulation of Santa Cruz highway contracts costing the state at least 84 billion pesos. On the eve of this ruling the current Partido Justicialista (PJ) chair was already anticipating a hostile verdict at a rally to mark the anniversary of the execution of Peronist rebels in 1956, telling supporters "Going to prison (under this government) is a certificate of dignity," implying that the adverse ruling was compensation for the failure to assassinate her in September, 2022. On Wednesday Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof affirmed that the conviction, which was “unlawful and lacking any evidence” in his opinion, was the work of AmCham while the PJ denounced the ruling as “anti-democratic” for not permitting “the right of our people to elect its representatives”. On the same day former tycoon Lázaro Báez, the chief beneficiary of the Santa Cruz highway contracts, was transferred from house arrest to a common prison. Presidents Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (Brazil) and Gustavo Petro (Colombia) were among the first to express solidarity with their ex-colleague in midweek with the former expressing surprise at her “serenity and determination.”
INFLATION PLUNGES
Last month’s inflation dipped to 1.5 percent, INDEC statistics bureau announced on Thursday afternoon, the lowest figure since five Mays ago in the midst of pandemic lockdown. Inflation so far this year totals 13.3 percent with annual inflation now running at 43.5 percent. The key item of food and beverages was the lowest of all (0.5 percent) with the exception of transport (0.4 percent) with some foodstuffs and ordinary wine even posting deflation. The highest increases were recorded by communications (4.1 percent) and restaurants and hotels (three percent). Core inflation (excluding seasonal and regulated prices) of 2.2 percent suggested that this month’s inflation could be higher. On Monday City Hall statisticians posted a May inflation of 1.6 percent, the lowest in five years.
MILEI ABROAD
President Javier Milei spent much of the week on the other side of the Atlantic in Italy (before last weekend), Spain, France and Israel. Last weekend found him at the Madrid Economic Forum (sponsored by cryptocurrency companies) where he made a bullish speech boasting of his "brutal austerity" and promising that next year "inflation in Argentina will be past history. While in the Spanish capital he also found time for a nostalgic chat with Atlético de Madrid trainer Diego “Cholo” Simeone, also born in 1970. By Monday he was in Paris for the United Nations Ocean Conference in Nice where he also met his French colleague and conference host Emmanuel Macron with the mining of critical minerals (the subject of a strategic agreement), the Mercosur-European Union agreement and French investments in nuclear energy high on the agenda of a cordial one-hour meeting despite their differences of opinion over climate change. On Monday night Milei was already starting a three-day visit to Israel with the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem as his first stop, followed by meetings with Israeli President Isaac Herzog and with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to sign a memorandum of understanding. On Wednesday he was awarded the Genesis Prize (the Israeli equivalent of the Nobel Prize).
MISIONES STAYS PUT
The Misiones provincial elections last Sunday were won less convincingly than usual by the province’s ruling party Frente Renovador de la Concordia with 28.6 percent of the vote in a slow count with a low turnout of 55.42 percent. The La Libertad Avanza (LLA) list, headed by former tennis player Diego Hartfield, made a strong debut, claiming second place with 21.9 percent of the vote. Coming in third was the Por La Vida y los Valores list with 19.1 percent of the vote, headed by ex-cop Ramón Amarilla who ran his campaign from prison as the protagonist of last September’s provincial police mutiny. Then came the Frente Agrario y Social (which downplayed its previous Kirchnerism to appeal to farmers) with 8.8 percent, closely followed by the Partido Libertario of pro-Milei Radical national deputy Martín Arjol with 8.3 percent. The traditional ruling parties at national level were reduced to 6th and 7th places – 5.7 percent for the Frente Unidos por el Futuro combining the parties of the now extinct Juntos por el Cambio coalition and 2.5 percent for the Peronist Confluencia Popular por la Patria. Half the places in the 40-seat provincial legislature were at stake, accompanied by some municipal voting.
HOSPITALS UNDER FIRE
Last Wednesday the Health Ministry announced that 110 employees of the Posadas Hospital had been fired on the grounds that they never went to work while it had asked the Labour Secretariat to lift the compulsory conciliation ruled for the Garrahan children’s hospital. Garrahan staff members marched on the Plaza de Mayo in protest the same day.
CRYPTO CLEARANCE
The Anti-Corruption Office, which depends on the Justice Ministry headed by Mariano Cúneo Libarona, resolved on June 5 that President Javier Milei did not "infringe" the Law of Public Ethics with his "diffusion" of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency last February 14, although their decision did not become public until last weekend. But the issue continues in court with federal prosecutor Eduardo Taiano last May 30 requesting access to the telephone lines of the Milei siblings and three businessmen under investigation.
PROCREAR BITES DUST
The government last Monday dissolved the Procrear housing credit fiduciary fund, transferring its housing loans and mortgages to private banking via a contract between the Economy Ministry and the Banco Hipotecario S.A. mortgage bank. Transfer to provincial or municipal governments is also an option. This move had already been anticipated by Decree 1018/2024 last November, which had argued that the scheme was a "heavy burden" for public finances and hard to monitor while housing properly belonged to the private sector.
KID KILLED IN CROSSFIRE
Seven-year-old Thiago Correa died last Monday after being caught in a crossfire between three criminals and a policeman in the Greater Buenos Aires district of La Matanza. Since the fatal shot to his head came from a police bullet, policeman Facundo Aguilar Fajardo (21) has been indicted. He is pleading self-defence but the prosecutor is charging him with homicide with malice aforethought.
GRABOIS AT LARGE
Social activist Juan Grabois last weekend headed a group of militants occupying the dissolved Instituto Juan Domingo Perón studies centre before being arrested by Federal Police officers. Grabois had pre-announced his plans to rescue the institute from “gorila hatred” on his X social network account. The institute had been dissolved in late May with the Partido Justicialista (PJ) chaired by ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner promptly denouncing the move as unilateral “ideological persecution” while Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger retorted: “Those who wish to worship the General may continue to do so but with their own money.” The PJ took him up on his word, offering to assume all the costs of conserving the institute without requesting state financing. Grabois was released the next day and wasted no time in launching his 2027 presidential candidacy while deploring the “inhuman” working conditions of the Federal Police with no heating, computers dating back to 1984 and rats running loose, things he would remedy if elected President.
ANTI-MEDIA VANDALS
City Police have identified four of the 70 Kirchnerites who attacked Channel 13 and Todo Noticias television news channel studies causing serious damage shortly after the ratification of the conviction of ex-president Cristina Kirchner last Tuesday. One of them was José Lepere (49), who was the Interior secretary of then Interior Minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro during the Alberto Fernández presidency (2019-23)
JONES HUALA ARRESTED (AGAIN)
Mapuche militant activist Facundo Jones Huala was arrested by Federal Police officers on Sunday night in El Bolsón (Río Negro Province), the same place where he had been detained early this year. "This time we’re not letting him go," posted Security Minister Patricia Bullrich on her X social network account, adding: "RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche) is a violent terrorist organisation. With us there is impunity." Taken to Bariloche, Jones Huala now faces charges of public intimidation, incitement to collective violence and criminal association.
SQUID QUIT
Football coaches Favio Orsi and Sergio Gómez evidently believe in quitting while still ahead because last Wednesday they resigned as trainers of Platense just 10 days after taking the club to its maiden First Division title in its 12 decades of history with the triumph over Huracán at the final in Santiago del Estero, The duo had been in charge for just 15 months, transforming the “Squids” into a competitive and solid team
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