MILEI BERATES UN
President Javier Milei on Wednesday presented the “national cause” of Malvinas sovereignty as a “formal protest” during a fiery speech to the General Assembly of the United Nations, whom he blasted as a “useless organisation which only serves to feed a caste of fatally arrogant parasites, disguised as well-meaning bureaucrats” with the Malvinas impasse one proof of its inability to defend the territorial integrity of its members. Milei used the occasion to invite businesses to come and invest in Vaca Muerta shale while warning: “This invitation has its limits because we will not be indifferent towards those who exploit resources under illegal external occupation” while the new British Prime Minister Andy Burnham used his speech to defend British possession of the islands (a statement also contested by Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, while the Falkland Islands Government accepted the challenge by extending its South Atlantic offshore oil licences by a further five years). Mismanagement of the Covid-19 pandemic was a further black mark for UN institutions, Milei said later in his speech. Milei also reaffirmed Argentina’s alignment with the United States and Israel (he would later meet Benjamin Netanyahu) – the country would remain within multilateralism because it has learned the costs of isolation but “cooperation should not be confused with subordination.” The latter part of his 20-minute speech was an uncompromising defence of Artificial Intelligence. Milei also used his time in New York to analyse with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio a common agenda covering energy, critical minerals, farm produce and “Shield of the Americas” security following negotiation of a US$7-billion credit to fund infrastructural projects in Argentina next year – a loan whose scope has yet to be fully defined. Finally, Buenos Aires Province Peronist Governor Axel Kicillof paid a shadow visit to New York at the same time to give the other side of Milei’s story, fiercely criticising his “economic miracle” while meeting up with two high-profile leftist leaders, local Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Spanish socialist premier Pedro Sánchez.
POVERTY BACK UP
Poverty rose 4.1 percentage points to reach 32.3 percent in the first half of this year compared to the second half of 2025, the INDEC national statistics bureau announced Thursday afternoon, although the rise drops to 0.7 percent when measured against the same period last year. Some 1.2 million more people are now below the poverty line for a projected total of over 15 million, of whom 2.2 million are destitute (7.5 percent, up 1.2 percentage points). Poverty peaked in the first half of 2024 at 52.9 percent before dropping until now. Children are the hardest-hit age-group with 44.5 percent of under-14s below the poverty line as against 14.8 percent of those in retirement age (over 65) while by far the most impoverished region is the Northeast (41.5 percent).
JULY SLUMP
July registered the worst slump since the Covid-19 pandemic with economic activity down 2.9 percent from the previous month, INDEC revealed Thursday, despite seven of the 15 sectors posting growth – worse than expected by market analysts. Plunges of 5.1 percent for Wholesale and retail trade and repairs and 4.6 percent for Manufacturing industry dragged the average down. Exports, a growth sector in recent years, fell off 4.9 percent, more than imports (down 4.5 percent).
SENATE APPROVES BCRA REFORM
The Senate approved last Thursday by an overwhelming 66-2 majority the changes in the Central Bank statutes, way ahead of the requisite two-thirds majority.The reforms had already been approved by the Chamber of Deputies but now return to them due to amendments (of which the most important is that an absolute majority now suffices to appoint and remove the Central Bank governor and board of 10 directors, not two-thirds).
AMIA TRIAL IN ABSENTIA
Federal judge Daniel Rafecas has placed on trial eight Iranian and Lebanese citizens accused of a role in organising and carrying out the 1994 terrorist attack on the AMIA Jewish community centre, slapping liens of half a billion dollars on each of the accused. The resolution, over 600 pages long, was drafted under the régime for trials in absentia, as established by Law 27,784. According to the ruling, the attack was decided at the highest levels of the Iranian régime almost a year beforehand and entrusted to Hezbollah.
ANDIS BACK IN SPOTLIGHT
On Wednesday Bolivian lawyer Nadia Beller, a former partner of libertarian political advisor Fernando Cerimedo, now in jail on charges of hiring hitmen to shoot her in Santa Cruz de la Sierra last month, testified for over an hour via videoconference in the graft case of the dissolved ANDIS (Agencia Nacional de Discapacidad) national disability agency. The testimony was “reserved” but allegedly pinpointed Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei. Beller, who wore a bulletproof vest throughout the testimony, said that she had surrendered the contents of her mobile telephone to Argentine prosecutors headed by Franco Picardi. Cerimedo is not indicted in the case but has borne witness to the corruption. On Tuesday a court placed former ANDIS chief Diego Spagnuolo on trial in the case investigating presumed bribery in medical purchases, along with 18 other defendants. The decision was adopted by judges Roberto Boico and Eduardo Farah with the case now in the hands of federal judge Ariel Lijo, The court decision came after an audit had found a discrepancy of 158.717 billion pesos in the internal records of ANDIS and a day after the exit of its chief until then, Alejandro Vilches.
ADORNI BACK IN SPOTLIGHT
Manuel Adorni, who ceased to be Cabinet chief earlier this year when the legitimacy of his assets became an issue, presented what he considered to be a “reasonable and verifiable” justification in a 78-page writ last Monday, attributing much of his wealth to bitcoin investments between 2014 and 2018. His defence must now be analysed by federal judge Ariel Lijo.
PAPAL HOLIDAYS
The government confirmed last Tuesday that Monday, November 9 would be a national holiday due to the visit of Pope Leo XIV to Argentina while the following two days would also be public holidays but only in the cities with a papal presence, namely Córdoba and Luján. The decision was taken at a meeting headed by Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei and Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva. Meanwhile at the Argentine Synod, Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva made it clear that not all would be sweetness and light with the visit, saying: “There are many differences.”
GROWTH ‘FOR EVERYBODY’
JPMorgan CEO for Argentina Facundo Gómez Minujín (son of the famous artist) warned in a Bloomberg Línea interview last Wednesday that economic planning needs to arrive at “a country for everybody” since “mining and oil doing very well is not good enough.” Growth needed to be accompanied by formal employment while taxation should be more evenly spread and lower, the banker said, noting that many companies are ailing due to their financial costs, falling demand and imported competition apart from taxation. Financial markets also need to become more open with more reasonable interest rates. Gómez Minujín was the host for Economy Minister Luis Caputo’s meeting with bankers in New York last Monday, which was followed by a rise in country risk. But despite not ruling out fresh aid from the United States Treasury next year, Gómez Minujín also considered that Argentina would become investment grade if President Javier Milei is re-elected.
MASSIVE BLACKOUT
A monster power cut hit this city and much of Greater Buenos Aires last Saturday night, leaving as many as two million in the dark for well over an hour. Several people trapped in lifts had to be rescued by the Fire Brigade. The City neighbourhoods hit by the power cut included Palermo, Belgrano, Villa Urquiza, Recoleta, Flores, La Paternal, Floresta, Villa Devoto, Villa Santa Rita and Villa General Mitre while the Greater Buenos Aires districts reporting inconveniences were Lomas de Zamora, Presidente Perón, Almirante Brown and Esteban Echeverría.
CARLOS ALONSO, 1929-2026
Mendoza-born (Humberto) Carlos Alonso, regarded as one of the most important Argentine artists of the past century, died at his home in the Córdoba town of Unquillo last Monday at the age of 97 after a career spanning over seven decades and marked by political violence and exile. The expressionist artist deployed a critical outlook on the poverty, violence and inequality marring Argentine society. In his early years he illustrated such literary classics as Martín Fierro, Don Quijote de la Mancha and Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy but his life changed dramatically after the military coup of 1976 when the disappearance of his 21-year-old daughter Paloma Alonso in the following year forced him into exile in Italy and Spain until 1981 when he moved to Unquillo. He was still exhibiting his work at an advanced age last year. Perhaps his most famous work is the Manos anónimas series challenging state terrorism and political violence and winning him numerous awards, including the Editorial Perfil Prize for art awarded in 2011.
KENYA WINS MARATHON
Kenyan athlete Bethwel Kibet Chumba won the International Buenos Aires City Marathon last Sunday, completing its 42 kilometres in two hours, eight minutes and 23 seconds. Starting at 7am and affecting local traffic, the race drew a total of 16,384 runners (of whom 5,769 came from abroad, representing 64 countries in five continents, while 5,246 were female). The best Argentine performance was Mendoza’s Ignacio Erario (two hours, 16 minutes and 42 seconds) while the fastest local woman was Chiara Mainetti of Misiones (two hours, 38 minutes and 25 seconds).
