PAPAL VISIT IN THE AIR
Pope Leo XIV was recovering normally in the Vatican at press time, following a Tuesday operation to extirpate a lung tumour which turned out to be malignant, but his South American tour (due to begin in Uruguay in less than three weeks) was plunged into doubt with his entourage giving priority to his health. The Pope himself seemed to have other ideas because meeting up with San Juan Archbishop Jorge Lozano on the eve of his operation, he told him: “See you soon in Argentina,” reportedly confirming his visit.
CONGRESS INSIDE AND OUTSIDE
The special lower house session sought by the opposition to overturn the omnibus deregulatory mega-decree 70/2023 as well as debate bills on the disabled and household debt relief fell through last Thursday due to several inland defections, only mustering 121 deputies when quorum is 129. Meanwhile parallel protest demonstrations unfolded outside Congress, centred not only on the disabled but also university funding and land legislation. Following the collapse of the session, several deputies joined the fifth Federal University March outside, which was mostly peaceful. Police and hooded demonstrators later clashed on the streets outside Congress, with one injured officer at press time as a result of the violence and tear gas and water cannons deployed.
INFLATION CREEPS UP
Last month’s inflation was 1.9 percent, slightly up from August’s 1.7 percent, producing an annual rate of 33.4 percent and 23.6 percent so far this year, the INDEC national statistics bureau reported last Tuesday. The figure was in line with most forecasts and identical to the Central Bank’s REM survey averaging out the estimates of private consultants. The five main culprits were housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (3.1 percent), education (three percent), communications (2.5 percent), health (2.4 percent) and the key ítems of food and beverages (two percent). Earlier, City Hall statisticians had measured the local uptick as half the national level with September inflation weighing in at 1.8 percent at an annual rate of 32.9 percent.
UK PUSHBACK TO MALVINAS PRESSURE
The United Kingdom last Tuesday asked Interpol to ignore the Argentine requests to issue red notices for the arrests of businessmen involved in the Sea Lion project of the British company Rockhopper Exploration and Israel’s Navitas Petroleum to tap offshore oil north of the Malvinas, describing these requests as politically motivated attempts to intimidate and urgently asking for guarantees. The project could potentially treble the archipelago’s economy. According to British officials, the tension over the islands is at a peak not seen since the 1982 war. Argentina continues to claim territorial sovereignty over the islands, disregarding the 2013 referendum in which only three islanders voted against remaining British. President Javier Milei has already sued and issued sanctions against both Navitas and Rockhopper while submitting the case to arbitration under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
GOLD HEIST CHARGES
Lawyer Gregorio Dalbón on Monday demanded the arrests of Economy Minister Luis Caputo, Central Bank (BCRA) governor Santiago Bausili and BCRA director Juan Curutchet, due to the movements of the bank’s gold reserves last year on charges of fraud, abuse of authority and malfeasance resulting in a loss of US$1.023 billion (as estimated by the Auditor-General’s office, headed by Buenos Aires City Peronist leader Juan Manuel Olmos). On August 10 maverick libertarian deputy Marcela Pagano had denounced Caputo and Bausili on the grounds of "almost four trillion pesos of public funds gone without trace," presumably into a slush fund. The Central Bank clashed with the Auditor-General’s results, claiming that those operations had netted a gain of over US$2.5 billion last year, thanks largely to a favourable evolution of world gold prices, an interpretation echoed on Tuesday by presidential spokesman Adrián Ravier. Deputy Economy Minister José Luis Daza scathingly criticised the Auditor-General’s estimate as “brutally stupid.”
ALBERTO VERSUS CRISTINA
Reflecting on his 2019-2023 presidency, Alberto Fernández said: "If I had given way to Cristina [Fernández de Kirchner, his then-veep], Argentina would have been blown sky-high." Responding to YouTuber Joaco Santos, Fernández continued: “When a president is asked to obey his vice-president, something is wrong, isn’t it?" He then went on to insist: "If I had taken heed of what she was proposing with the International Monetary Fund, the economy and Argentina would have exploded into 1,000 pieces," going on to detail her proposal as defaulting on US$19 billion owed the IMF.
COLUMBUS DAY RENAMED
What was and now is again known as ‘Columbus Day’ in the United States has also reverted here to ‘Día de la Raza’ after being rebranded as the ‘Day of Respect for Cultural Diversity’ in the bicentennial year of 2010. This year’s holiday was marked in contrasting ways last Monday by an upbeat government video and protests. According to the government, the anniversary of the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas celebrates "a milestone marking the start of Western expansion into the New World, transforming world history and leaving a deep footprint of civilisation, progress and liberty in the roots of our culture and identity." Thanks to the leadership of Columbus, "the first social and political structures grounded in law, the Christian faith and Western values were established" so that "civilisation prevailed over savagery." But the CGT trade union umbrella repudiated the return to ‘Día de la Raza’ as a “crude provocation,” explaining that if democratic governments had respected that designation in the past, it was not out of any racism but as an assertion of Hispanic roots and Latin American unity against "the Anglo-Saxon imperialistic threat" which had since given way to a broader outlook vindicating the original races of the continent. For their part organisations of the indigenous peoples called a demonstration outside the Constitución flat where ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is serving house arrest to protest the return of ‘Día de la Raza’ but it was something of a flop with only a handful of people showing up while the demonstration was suspended due to heavy rainfall.
FARMING CLIMATE FEARS
The agricultural sector is becoming increasingly edgy over the next harvest as floodwaters gather in the Upper Paraná and Uruguay while recent rainfall presages a Super Niño which could lead to December rains being double the normal average. In Corrientes, many ranchers are already being obliged to shift their cattle to higher ground.
LULA FAN DEPORTED
Brazilian Partido Trabalhista (PT) militant José Rogério Carvalho Tomaz Junior was denied entry into the country upon arrival at Jorge Newbery Aeroparque last Monday on the grounds that he had no fixed abode. The purpose of his trip here was to interview various people for a hostile book he is writing about libertarian President Javier Milei, referring to presidential spin doctor Santiago Caputo as "an advisor of narcos and cryptocurrency thieves." Immigration authorities cancelled his permanent resident status granted early in 2022, detailing that he had only spent five months in this country since then and had no steady job and informing him that he may not return in the next five years. Their decision may be appealed.
SANTILLI FINED
Federal Administrative Litigation judge Martín Cormick on Wednesday fined the office of Cabinet Chief Diego Santilli 100,000 pesos for every day he fails to enforce the University Financing Law to update the salaries of university lecturers and non-academic staff – one of the focal points of Thursday’s protest outside Congress.
CANINE PSYCHIC TALKS
Animal psychic Celia Melamed talked to the press on Wednesday about her two years with the dogs of Javier Milei prior to his arrival in the Casa Rosada in an interview published last Wednesday in The New York Times, saying that “few people have such an intense connection to their animals.” She also assured that she had trained the President’s sister, Karina Milei, in telepathy with pets, assuming that she had replaced her in her work with the dogs. Milei contracted her services around 10 years ago when his English mastiff Conan was dying in order to read the dog’s mind, revealed Melamed. After the death of Conan in 2017, Milei continued to contract her services at an hourly rate of US$35 in order to communicate with the five DNA clones: Conan, Milton, Murray, Robert and Lucas with the former considered the reincarnation of the original pet - “very probably,” according to Melamed, who said that there were dozens and perhaps hundreds of people in this city who shared her skills in communicating with animals. Not a word was given to Noticias journalist Juan Luis González, however, who initially uncovered those links via his reporting.
BOXING EX-CHAMP DIES
Former middleweight world champion Jorge ‘Locomotora’ Castro died in a Morón bingo hall last Wednesday at the age of 59, apparently of an heart attack although medical sources suggested that it could have been the result of a delay in his insulin injection given that ‘Roña’ Castro was known to be diabetic. Born in Caleta Olivia, Santa Cruz Province, the Patagonian pugilist boxed 144 fights in a career extending until 2007, winning 130 of them (90 by knockout). He was world middleweight boxing champion for 16 months until just before the Christsmas of 1995.
