Argentina’s Central Bank has confirmed that new 10,000- and 20,000-peso notes will enter into circulation in June.
The bills will be the highest denomination to date and comes after years of demand from businesses and banks. Following repeated surges of inflation, now running at more than 276 percent per annum, transactions in cash have become more complex and time-consuming.
Argentina’s current highest denomination banknote is currently 2,000 pesos (around US2.30 at the current exchange rate), with the most common being the 1,000-peso bill.
The new “denominations will make transactions between users easier, will make the logistics of the financial system more efficient and will help significantly reduce the purchase costs of finished notes,” the Central Bank specified in a press-release.
The monetary authority decided to use pre-existing designs from the “Heroínas y Héroes de la Patria” (“Heroines and Heroes of the Homeland”) series in order to “save costs and shorten production deadlines.”
The 10,000-peso note will bear the images of war heroes Manuel Belgrano and María Remedios del Valle, a renowned heroine from the War of Independence.
The reverse’s main image will be an artistic recreation of the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag which took place on February 27, 1812.
The star of the 20,000-peso note will be Juan Bautista Alberdi, the man who inspired the 1853 Constitution, whose portrait will be in the front. The main illustration on the reverse will be a recreation of his childhood home.
The new bills will have the same size as notes in circulation and will be printed in cotton paper, with its traditional protections such as the watermark and the security thread.
Cover stars
Manuel Belgrano, a distinguished lawyer, politician and military strategist will be immortalised on the 10,000-peso note. He was one of the protagonists of the crucial historical process in 1810, which marked the start of Argentine independence.
Actively involved in the First Junta, Belgrano not only took on the leadership of the Northern Army, but also bravely headed the epic Jujuy Exodus, as well as significant triumphs in the battles of Tucumán and Salta.
His commitment transcended military frontiers, him being a strong defender of the enlightened philosophical ideas of his time.
The search for a solid identity unifying history and strengthening the troops in order to unite all the inhabitants of the Argentine soil was one of Belgrano’s chief concerns.
The visionary creator of Argentina’s current light-blue-and-white flag, he hoisted it as the emblem accompanying independentist soldiers in their fierce fight against the Spanish Army.
His legacy is not only a part of the independence quest, but also the construction of an endurable national identity.
The image of Belgrano to be used will be a portrait attributed to French artist François Casimir Carbonnier.
Acknowledged as the “Mother of the Homeland”, María Remedios del Valle will also be featured on the 10,000-peso note, sharing the limelight with Belgrano. The depiction of the heroine to be used is a part of “La Capitana,” a painting by Argentine artist Gisela Banzer.
Afro-Argentine Del Valle rose up the ranks as one of the women valiantly joining the Wars of Independence from Argentina’s very first government on May 25, 1810.
Her foray started in the Upper Peru Expedition where, accompanied by her husband and two children, she defied the conventions of the time. As did many other women, she joined the troops and played crucial roles, from feeding soldiers to caring for the wounded, and even combatting alongside them.
The only face on the 20,000-peso note will be one of the current president’s main influences: Juan Bautista Alberdi.
The architect of the 1853 Constitution will be featured on one side, with the reverse featuring a vivid depiction of the family home of this multifaceted diplomat, economist, writer, philosopher, journalist and politician.
Milei’s discourse has been influenced strongly by the illustrious jurist from Tucumán. He aped the title of Alberdi’s “Bases and starting points for the political organisation of the Argentine Republic” for his own ‘Omnibus law.’
In said work, Alberdi advocated “overcoming” the guidelines which had governed the constitutional texts of the early South American nations, proposing essential pillars such as the “defence of private property” and the promotion of “free trade.”
– TIMES/PERFIL
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