NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA Eight weeks that will settle the next four years 01-02-2020 08:50 Argentina’s leadership finds common ground when it seems to be too late, arguably without noticing that crisis arrives after an earlier lack of accord, guided by automatic bickering. by Marcelo J. Garcia
NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA Back to the (Western) World 25-01-2020 11:34 At policy level the administration is seeking to cultivate ties with the US on the issues that Trump White House most cares about. by Marcelo J. Garcia
NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA Will Alberto bring Francis back home? 18-01-2020 12:40 The Pope wields considerable influence over many local leaders, most notably on social movements who represent the unemployed and are connected with grassroots Catholic priests. by Marcelo J. Garcia
NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA Alberto’s ‘Robin Hood’ approach offers clues for the future 11-01-2020 10:16 On debt, the government hopes to get a grace period of four years in an ideal scenario, but given the ambiguous willingness that IMF staffers and creditors seem to be showing, it is likely to get closer to two – if things go relatively well. by Marcelo J. Garcia
NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA Building a centre by sheer force of word 04-01-2020 09:23 A president should craft his words carefully and use them with conscious moderation, knowing that any word that comes out of a head of state’s mouth is virtually seen as policy. by Marcelo J. Garcia
2020: THE YEAR AHEAD Alberto’s New Year’s resolutions 28-12-2019 09:56 What exactly is on Alberto Fernández’s New Year’s resolution list for 2020? by Marcelo J. Garcia
NEW ERA IN ARGENTINA Around the crisis in 180 days 21-12-2019 10:49 With extra powers and an economic Cabinet that politically responds to his directives, the president would be able to claim the credit of success – but he would also have to pay the full price of failure. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ARGENTINA'S NEW ERA A permanent state of emergency 14-12-2019 10:40 Guzmán’s unexpected appointment at the helm of the hot-potato ministry strikes a delicate balance between the economic views of the president and those of the vicepresident, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. by Marcelo J. Garcia
TRANSITION 2019 What will Alberto Fernandez do in his first 100 days? 07-12-2019 10:21 Three days out from his inauguration and following the announcement of his Cabinet yesterday, Alberto Fernández can now look ahead to his first 100 days in office, which will have one main driver: averting a debt default. by Marcelo J. Garcia
TRANSITION 2019 Alberto’s dilemma: Is this 2001 or 2003? 30-11-2019 09:37 The line is classic 2003. Néstor would tell anybody who would listen back then that “dead debtors don’t pay,” in what was a neat strategy to negotiate better terms for the country’s defaulted situation. by Marcelo J. Garcia
TRANSITION 2019 The risks of fragmented polarisation 16-11-2019 09:33 Depending on how the economy features in the coming months and how the coalitions manage to sustain complex internal balances, polarisation could soon crack into fragmentation, with unpredictable political consequences. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTION 2019 Welcome back, ‘la grieta.’ We didn’t miss you. 09-11-2019 10:49 The blame game will only deepen the crack that divides the political aisles. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH Can Alberto’s tightrope act work? 02-11-2019 11:27 The president-elect will be walking a tightrope between convincing suspicious markets and making good on at least some of his promises to voters. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH The day after tomorrow 26-10-2019 11:42 A storm is brewing again in Argentina and the leadership are not getting the public ready for it. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH Do Argentina’s candidates care about the wider world around them? 19-10-2019 12:27 A navel-gazing campaign and the overwhelmingly local political discussion has prevented the main candidates and their teams from following the larger world picture around them. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH A non-debate for a non-campaign 12-10-2019 09:43 With that strategy in mind, Macri is unlikely to be on the offensive too much when he faces Fernández in the city of Santa Fe tomorrow evening. Faced with the choice of taking a risk and trying to win a few extra votes or consolidating his support base more safely, the president will probably go for the latter. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH Yes, we can. But can we? 05-10-2019 10:59 The political world upside down: an incumbent promises the impossible, the challenger urges caution. by Marcelo J. Garcia
Campaign watch The IMF jumps ship – Argentina is officially on its own 28-09-2019 03:59 Timing is everything in diplomacy and business... Lipton’s carefully chosen words sounded like a bureaucratic version of revenge on a silver platter. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH A campaign without much to promise 21-09-2019 09:51 Although Macri is anticipating some of the tough calls in order to save his own government (such as the capital and exchange control rules), the incumbent is also laying some ticking time-bombs along the way, like tax deductions and the freeze on fuels and utility rates. by Marcelo J. Garcia
CAMPAIGN WATCH Macri and Fernández have good reason to cooperate 13-09-2019 23:48 If he wants to have a future in politics, namely lead the opposition or even dream of a comeback à la Chile’s Sebastián Piñera, Macri needs to deliver an orderly end to his traumatic first administration. by Marcelo J. Garcia
Campaign watch Argentina becomes a bundle of nerves 07-09-2019 00:55 At the end of the line the country has always faced the same trauma: more inflation, devaluation, recession and, eventually, default. by Marcelo J. Garcia
Elections 2019: Campaign watch Macri should drop out of the presidential campaign 31-08-2019 00:42 More people might actually vote for Macri if they see he has made a political sacrifice for the common good. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Transition in recession: it’s all about cash 24-08-2019 09:55 After the PASO results, Macri has been left with virtually no power at all, to the extent that there are now doubts he can even steer a fragile economy beyond the October elections and into a civilised transition of command on December 10. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Argentina – and Alberto – need Macri to survive 17-08-2019 10:22 Macri’s shift of tone in the days after the PASO primary was a sign of a survival political instinct kicking in. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ANALYSIS: PASOs 2019 Three lessons from the PASOs 12-08-2019 13:06 The breakdown of the vote in the PASOs was surprisingly steady when compared to the past – it’s the electoral offer that made the difference. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTION 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH The yelling stops as voters provide an X-ray of Argentina 10-08-2019 10:01 The last week of the campaign, marked by China’s devaluation of the yuan, was yet another indication that Argentina is as fragile as it can get and that anything that happens abroad will hit the country head on. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Is it (still) the economy, stupid? 03-08-2019 10:06 It is no surprise that President Mauricio Macri wants to talk about anything but the economy on the campaign trail. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Argentina’s election campaign runs into an economic vacuum 27-07-2019 10:22 The terms of exchange between the two rivalling factions in the presidential race will have to improve if the country is to tackle the economic difficulties it will be facing in the future. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ANDREW GRAHAM-YOOLL The master translator of reality 20-07-2019 10:58 Every word counted, in its exact meaning. And in times of fake messages and fake news, his legacy is more important than ever. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH De la Rúa’s lessons for Macri (and others) 13-07-2019 09:11 De la Rúa’s life provides lessons that the politicians of Argentina today should not turn a deaf ear to. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Government sells the future, opposition stuck in present 06-07-2019 09:24 This is the year that will define whether Macri's centreright, pro-market presidency is an exception to multi-headed Peronist rule, or if it’s the new norm for 21st century Argentina. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Hushed dollar feeds Macri’s optimistic bias 29-06-2019 08:59 There were 204,000 less jobs in April than a year earlier. Salaries lost 10 percent of their purchasing power, also compared with a year ago. Income inequality widened and poverty climbed to 35 percent. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Electoral slates in, time to go to the shrink 22-06-2019 10:29 More broadly, the political establishment would also need to explain why the country has to vote in a primary in August in which none of the presidential candidacies competing in. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Can Pichetto deliver what the establishment believes he can? 15-06-2019 09:08 “Emotions are not an aspect of my personality,” the Senator said in his first press round as vice-presidential candidate. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Can Macri deliver a stable currency through to the elections? 08-06-2019 09:49 In the Casa Rosada they know that economic recessions can be cause for any incumbent to fail to win re-election, anywhere in the world. They are even more certain that currency instability can instantly kill prospects for any politician in Argentina. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Never underestimate a ruling party 01-06-2019 09:02 This principle applies especially to this ruling party too, which has not been capable of sorting out the country’s severe and chronic economic problems but has proved to be a committed group of professionals whose electoral marketing is well above the local political median. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH If the Radicals can make Macri less radical... 25-05-2019 08:48 Fasten your seatbelts, because this is not over yet. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Polarisation bends, but does not break 18-05-2019 10:35 Will moderation ever pay off again in Argentina? Or is it just too boring? by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Consensus will not come in the post 11-05-2019 12:18 Macri has repeatedly rejected the notion that he needed anybody outside his inner circle to run the country. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Is Argentina on the road to a governability crisis? 04-05-2019 10:23 The main poles of Argentina’s political establishment are oceans apart, incapable of reconciling or even compromising on the pettiest item on the agenda. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH No, Vidal cannot cast a magic spell for Macri 27-04-2019 08:40 Argentina’s political system is never very civilised, but the grotesque becomes more visible when the country’s economy begins to spiral down into crisis, as seems to be the case now. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Can the art of the message save Macri? 20-04-2019 08:08 After months of repeating that his way of marketdriven austerity was the only way forward, President Mauricio Macri and his government have now resorted to the short-term, heterodox economic patchwork fixes it has often decried as populist flimflam. Why? by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Will Macri sell his soul for a handful of votes? 13-04-2019 09:22 Macri is saying too frequently these days that he has introduced policies he does not like, in order to tackle the country’s economic emergency. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Cristina Fernández de Kirchner holds the key to a Macri defeat 06-04-2019 08:23 With Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the presidential race, would even the most frustrated Macri voters back him once again? by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH ‘You are going to lose the elections, Mauricio’ 30-03-2019 09:59 The Casa Rosada has outlined a campaign strategy that needs the economy to remain stable until August and improve, at least slightly, by October and November. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Losing trust: How far will Argentina 2020 be from Argentina 2001? 23-03-2019 09:42 How far is today’s Argentina from that meltdown? Obscurantism is beginning to dominate, and the establishment is again unable and/or unwilling to be clear in public about the challenges the country will be facing the day after Argentina’s new president takes office on December 10. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Have Argentina’s political poles started to melt? 16-03-2019 09:17 Last weekend’s vote in Neuquén did not contribute to coalition harmony. Cambiemos finished in way down in, with 16 percent of the vote, almost five percentage points below their performance in 2015 and 12 points below their performance in the 2017 midterm election. by Marcelo J. Garcia
Elections 2019: Campaign watch Come odour and spill: Don’t blame it on D’Alessio and Stiusso 09-03-2019 03:15 Spying and leaking has become standard procedure for politics in Argentina. Politicians alternatively use it against one another, to everybody’s disadvantage. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Is this angry Macri the president Argentines voted for? 02-03-2019 07:18 Macri, who initially marketed himself as a person more inclined to Buddhist harmonisation rather than psychoanalytical conflict, now seems to believe that his wildcard to re-election is passion rather than reason. by Marcelo J. Garcia
ELECTIONS 2019: CAMPAIGN WATCH Radical bravado: a sign that Cambiemos is not a ruling coalition 23-02-2019 09:08 Will Macri be challenged by his Radical allies in a primary? It seems unlikely. by Marcelo J. Garcia