News of government

BLOOMBERG

Government wants Buenos Aires Province to be first to seal debt deal

10-08-2020 16:39 Casa Rosada wants Buenos Aires Province to be the first to resolve debt restructuring talks, according to sources, denying creditors chance to demand better conditions.

AS I SEE IT

Culture matters more than computers

08-08-2020 09:51 The technology that provides people with the equivalent of dozens of huge libraries is certainly marvellous, but only those who have already been fairly well educated are able to benefit from having the accumulated wisdom of humankind there at their fingertips.

by James Neilson

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

More than 235,000 Covid-19 cases since start of pandemic

08-08-2020 09:46 Government bans social gatherings as virus toll continues to mount and new daily records for both cases and fatalities. Death toll now stands at 4,411.

LAST SEVEN DAYS

What we learned this week: August 1 to August 8

08-08-2020 09:31 Stories that caught our eye over the last seven days in Argentina

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Ecuador wins bondholders’ approval for debt restructuring

03-08-2020 15:26 Creditors vote in favour of a restructuring plan for US$17.4 billion of debt that will see the South American country's capital and interest payments reduced.

JUDICIAL REFORM

Protesters rally against government's judicial reform

02-08-2020 19:23 Demonstrators reject proposed reform bill, accuse government of seeking to deliver "impunity" for ex-Kirchnerite officials.

JUDICIAL REFORM

Amid opposition criticism, Fernández unveils judicial reform

30-07-2020 01:55 President announces he will send a bill to Congress to reform federal justice system. Proposes merging federal courts for criminal and corporate law while increasing their number, thus diluting the power of the current 12 benches in Comodoro Py.

UNITED STATES

Portland: Trump administration agrees to withdraw federal forces

29-07-2020 23:53 US government agrees conditional withdrawal of federal forces to defuse weeks of clashes in the city of Portland.

JUDICIAL REFORM

Fernández to unveil judicial reform bill as opposition cries foul

28-07-2020 23:29 President Alberto Fernández will present his long-trailed judicial reform bill on Wednesday from the Casa Rosada. Opposition rejects proposed changes and potential expansion of Supreme Court.

TRAVEL & TOURISM

Pandemic deals brutal blow to Argentina’s tourism industry

25-07-2020 07:51 Tourism chambers and agencies call for emergency legislation to protect businesses, with slump in activity expected to shave between one and four percent off Argentina’s GDP this year. More than 80,000 job losses anticipated across sector.

by Fermin Koop

Causa peajes

Judge sends two ex-Macri administration officials to trial

21-07-2020 21:50 Charges against former National Highways director Javier Iguacel and ex-Treasury prosecutor Bernardo Saravia Frías relate to presumed irregularities in the awarding of highway toll concessions.

expropriation of Vicentin

Vicentin, Santa Fe government agrees to find ‘consensual solution’ to crisis

18-07-2020 09:45 Officials mulling over a mixed state-private model for soy giant, according to reports, as provincial government proposes triumvirate of leaders to manage firm through bankruptcy proceedings.

FOREIGN POLICY

Government calls for 'inclusive, transparent and credible' elections in Venezuela

16-07-2020 02:24 Argentina shifts stance on Venezuela, expressing "deep concern" over alleged human rights violations in troubled nation and calling for "inclusive, transparent and credible" elections.

TECHNOLOGY

Argentina holds talks with Huawei over adoption of 5G technology

08-07-2020 15:29 Government holds talks with Chinese telecommunications giant Huawei as it explores options for the adoption of advanced 5G technology.

ILLEGAL ESPIONAGE CLAIMS

22 arrests in illegal espionage probe, including ex-Macri official

02-07-2020 02:47 Susana Martinengo, co-ordinator of presidential documentation during the 2015-2019 Macri presidency, and 21 others detained on charges of illegal espionage against various political leaders.

OVER THE WATER

Ernesto Talvi, Uruguay's foreign minister, resigns post

01-07-2020 23:54 Talvi's move had been expected after he announced his intention last month to devote more time to his Ciudadanos political party.

BRAZIL UNDER BOLSONARO

Brazil's new education minister resigns over CV 'lies'

01-07-2020 09:15 Carlos Alberto Decotelli, the first black person to be appointed to the government of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, resigns only five days after he was appointed amid accusations that he lied over his academic record.

Secessionist threat?

Mexit? Cornejo says Mendoza could thrive as ‘an independent country’

30-06-2020 21:28 Amid a row over a hydroelectric dam project, Alfred Cornejo lets rip at national government, accusing it of "harming" Mendoza and declaring that the province would thrive as an independent nation.

CRISTINA & ALBERTO

Is she winning?

27-06-2020 08:23 The major shock to the president’s credibility, though, was the failed expropriation of agro-giant Vicentín. Not only are a lot more people against the measure, but also the sensation that it’s of Cristina’s making, not Alberto’s.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Coronavirus pandemic

Argentina surpasses 50,000 Covid-19 cases, new restrictions on way

26-06-2020 02:58 President Alberto Fernández set to announce return to strict lockdown in Buenos Aires metropolitan area, running from July 1 to 17.

Global pandemic

Stranded surfer says government should repatriate his dogs too

25-06-2020 00:53 33-year-old surfer Michael Graef is stranded in Peru because of the coronavirus lockdown. He says he wants to go home, but not without the dogs which he has adopted on his travels.

FOOTBALL

Gallardo unafraid to go against AFA on virus crisis

20-06-2020 11:48 River Plate coach Marcelo Gallardo voices his discontent at the Covid-19 lockdown. He might be wrong on this occasion, but at least he’s willing to stray from AFA’s party line.

by Dan Edwards

AS I SEE IT

The year of the scientists

20-06-2020 11:20 Throughout the world, complaints about the tyranny of “Science” are becoming more frequent. We are not laboratory rats, people say, and demand that other factors be taken into account.

by James Neilson

EXPROPRIATION OF VICENTIN

Setback for government as Vicentin executives reinstated by judge

20-06-2020 10:37 Judge in Santa Fe Province reinstates ousted executives and says government officials should only perform a supervisory role in bid to leave bankruptcy behind.

Coronavirus pandemic

CIPPEC: Central Bank main source of Treasury financing during pandemic

20-06-2020 10:27 The Central Bank has become the main source of Treasury funding during the pandemic crisis, passing from 3% to 40% of the total in the past year, the CIPPEC think-tank has revealed.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

LATAM’s exit – and Aerolíneas’ monopoly

20-06-2020 10:09 Markets and carriers fear low-cost airlines will face impediments from flying, with the aim of leaving Aerolíneas Argentinas with a monopoly on all domestic routes.

by Mario Rodríguez Muñoz

AIRLINES & TOURISM

LATAM airline departs Argentina as virus crisis hits home

20-06-2020 10:03 Chilean-Brazilian airline LATAM – which filed for bankruptcy in the US last month – announces its subsidiary in Argentina will cease operations for an indefinite period. More than 1,700 jobs now at risk.

EXPROPRIATION OF VICENTIN

Vicentin’s expropriation and how to break bad news

20-06-2020 09:26 A Peronist expropriation, and maybe even nationalisation, sounds like the best way to burn a lot of money straight into inefficient bureaucracy and corruption.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Coronavirus Pandemic

Officials in Concordia asked to resign after breaking rules to attend birthday party

16-06-2020 14:06 Concordia's Mayor Alfredo Francolini asks for resignation of two government officials after images emerge of them attending a birthday party. They may face criminal action for breaking quarantine restrictions.

BLOOMBERG

Resistance grows to government's plan to nationalise Vicentin

12-06-2020 02:05 President Alberto Fernández announced on June 8 that the state would nationalise soy giant Vicentin, which was the country's largest grain exporter until it hit a crisis at the end of last year.

ILLEGAL ESPIONAGE CLAIMS

AFI conducted illegal espionage on more than 400 journalists during Macri era

08-06-2020 00:12 Cristina Caamaño, government-appointed trustee of AFI federal intelligence agency, files complaint alleging officials conducted illegal espionage on 500 journalists, academics and business leaders, including two Buenos Aires Times staffers, during the Mauricio Macri administration's time in office.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Non-ministerial positions – yet still key additions

06-06-2020 10:19 The non-ministerial officials named by President Alberto Fernández exactly half a year ago will focus on the trident working directly under him – presidential Chief-of-Staff Julio Vitobello, Legal and Technical Secretary Vilma Ibarra and Strategic Affairs Secretary Gustavo Beliz – plus the new Treasury Attorney Carlos Zannini.

by Michael Soltys

CRISIS IN VENEZUELA

Virus forges rare accord among Venezuela's bitter rivals, Maduro and Guaidó

03-06-2020 16:04 One-page agreement, signed June 1 by Maduro's health minister and National Assembly representative, says both sides will work in coordination to find funds for fighting the coronavirus.

Congress

Fernández confirms government will impose one-off wealth tax

03-06-2020 15:09 President says the introduction of a capital levy would be a one-off “extraordinary measure." Lawmakers say bill would boost government coffers by between US$2.5 million and US$4 billion.

THE ‘BARRIL CRIOLLO’

What is Argentina's US$45 'barril criollo' and how will affect local producers?

23-05-2020 09:31 Artificially fixed reference price for barril criollo imposed in move to defend jobs and output levels, with an eye keenly trained on Vaca Muerta shale.

Coronavirus pandemic

Villa 31 community leader's death from Covid-19 sparks anger

19-05-2020 02:22 Ramona Medina, key Villa 31 community leader and resident, dies just days after denouncing 12 days without drinking water in her barrio. 'La Garganta Poderosa' accuses authorities of failing to protect residents in vulnerable neighbourhoods.

EDITORIAL

Throwing stones from a glass house?

16-05-2020 08:57 The institutional monstrosity of allowing governments to choose anti-corruption officials entirely in the presidential (or vice-presidential) pocket puts both sides on the same sordid level.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Covid-19 death toll rises to 356, surge in infections sparks concern

16-05-2020 08:12 President Alberto Fernández hails local researchers for developing new ‘faster, more efficient’ Covid-19 testing kits.

PATRICIA BULLRICH INTERVIEW

Patricia Bullrich: ‘We can’t remain silent over abuses of power’

16-05-2020 07:21 Ex-security minister and PRO party leader, Patricia Bullrich, discusses the role of the opposition, her relationship with Macri and Peña and why she thinks Alberto Fernández is mishandling the coronavirus pandemic.

by Julian D'Imperio

Coronavirus pandemic

Education minister says schools in Argentina may re-open in August

12-05-2020 13:17 Education minister speculates over August return for classes, but says students would go to school only two or three times a week, with a "dual system" of face-to-face teaching and online learning.

Coronavirus pandemic

Pandemic politics costing lives in Brazil

12-05-2020 13:09 Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro keeps saying coronavirus fears are overblown. Other officials at the federal, state and local levels insist the danger is all too real. Meanwhile, the politicisation of the crisis is taking a heavy human toll.

Coronavirus pandemic

Argentina secures US$4-billion loan from Development Bank of Latin America

06-05-2020 17:58 The government has confirmed that it has secured a US$4-million loan from the Development Bank of Latin America (CAF) to assist its efforts to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Automobile sales slump to historic low amid Covid-19 pandemic

03-05-2020 10:05 Automobile sales in Argentina slumped to a historic low in April amid the economic crisis prompted by the coronavirus pandemic.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Production in a context of reduction

02-05-2020 10:58 Although always working with centre-left administrations, Kulfas has no political militancy or factional loyalty with his presence in the Cabinet entirely due to his personal links to President Fernández, as a leading member of his Grupo Callao think tank.

by Michael Soltys

Politics in the pandemic

Quarantine quarrels

02-05-2020 09:19 The president has reflexes but he often pauses before making a decision, creating a momentary vacuum that leaves room for misinformation to viralise.

by Martín Gambarotta

Coronavirus pandemic

As cases rise, City officials analyse new dates for 'peak of the curve'

01-05-2020 12:42 City government now forecasts that the "peak of the curve" could occur between the last week of May and the first week of June, after a rise in the number of people infected in the last few days.

by Ezequiel Spillman

UNITED STATES

I'm a small business owner in the US – will I get a coronavirus bailout too?

01-05-2020 12:16 The US government’s US$350-billion loan fund has run dry – yet many big businesses have been awarded millions.

by * Reprinted with kind permission from the author.

ANSES

President Fernández fires ANSES chief Alejandro Vanoli

30-04-2020 15:19 Buenos Aires Province Community Development Minister Fernanda Raverta, a La Cámpora militant and former Unidad Ciudadana national deputy

Fight against virus

Government likely to issue second 10,000-peso allowance to families in May

29-04-2020 13:14 Government considering a new round of the ‘Ingreso Familiar de Emergencia’ payment in May, the 10,000-peso subsidy that some eight million single-income earners, people on social benefits and informal workers have signed up for.

Coronavirus pandemic

UK government confirms 2 charter flights for Brits stranded in Argentina

29-04-2020 01:19 Around 320 British travellers currently stranded in Argentina will be able to return home on two flights, scheduled for May 7 and 12, departing Buenos Aires Ezeiza International Airport.