News of Michael Soltys

Michael Soltys

Michael Soltys, who first entered the Buenos Aires Herald in 1983, held various editorial posts at the newspaper from 1990 and was the lead writer of the publication’s editorials from 1987 until 2017.

A police officer listening to her cell phone.

THE WEEK

What we learned this week: September 5 to 12

12-09-2020 09:33 Key stories that caught our eye during the last seven days in Argentina.

by Michael Soltys

Argentina has decided to continue under strict quarantine.

100 DAYS OF QUARANTINE

100 days of quarantine

27-06-2020 07:48 On March 20, President Alberto Fernández told the nation in a televised address that all citizens would enter a mandatory quarantine period in an effort to prevent the spread of Covid-19. Though restrictions in some regions have now been loosened, many Argentines are today waking up this morning to their 100th day of lockdown. Here’s a look back at how the pandemic has changed our lives.

by Michael Soltys

Only one of the 31 ministerial and other appointments announced by the president still remains – Mercedes Marcó del Pont, 60, the chief of AFIP tax bureau.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Taxation the only certainty beyond the end of life (and this column)

20-06-2020 11:11 Taxation dates from this country’s earliest days even if customs dominated revenue in colonial and 19th century Argentina, the root cause of the incredible centralisation persisting today.

by Michael Soltys

Malena Galmarini, Victoria Donda, Luana Volnovich, Victoria Tolosa Paz.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Four ambitious females for Fernández’s Cabinet

13-06-2020 10:21 PAMI is huge, serving some 4.5 million pensioners and accounting for 70 percent of all public hospital payments since the elderly obviously have more health problems. Its total budget is some US$7.7 billion.

by Michael Soltys

Vitobello, Ibarra, Beliz and Zannini, the political quartet.

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

Interior Minister, Eduardo Enrique “Wado” de Pedro.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Interior now rhymes with inferior

30-05-2020 10:49 Congress was Eduardo Enrique “Wado” de Pedro main training-ground, where he developed an image as the least abrasive of the La Cámpora leaders. He has mellowed considerably since his extreme youth when in 1997.

by Michael Soltys

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Agricultural food for thought

23-05-2020 10:03 A protectionist model in an increasingly protectionist world conspires against the success of agricultural exports, even though more vital than ever.

by Michael Soltys

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Culture suffering a vulture

16-05-2020 08:47 Few ministers are more clearly identified than Tristán Bauer with the vice-presidential rather than the presidential wing of the ruling coalition.

by Michael Soltys

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Environment more sustainable than development in pandemic

09-05-2020 10:28 The problem of climate change has been overtaken by the pandemic but when we can finally forget about coronavirus, we should not forget climate change.

by Michael Soltys

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

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Economy as the other pandemic

25-04-2020 12:15 Martín Guzmán only entered the running for the economy minister post just six weeks before the Cabinet was named, when paying one of his quarterly visits to Argentina in the penultimate week before the October elections.

by Michael Soltys

Estimating job losses in the last month at 45,000, Moroni is optimistic that the final total will be under a million but even this should not be seen as a mere five percent of the workforce but as 15 percent of all real jobs.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Labour’s love not lost, but whither jobs?

18-04-2020 10:41 The mission impossible of defending employment against the pandemic will make the Labour, Employment and Social Security Ministry a hot seat in the months and years to come.

by Michael Soltys

Daniel Arroyo has made social policy his exclusive focus since starting his university studies more than three decades ago. Post-graduate studies, university teaching and NGO work preceded his entry into public life in 2003.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Social policy collides with scandal

11-04-2020 10:42 Born in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Morón, Social Development Minister Daniel Fernando Arroyo has made social policy his exclusive focus since starting his university studies (UBA) more than three decades ago.

by Michael Soltys

With the possible exception of Cabinet Chief Santiago Cafiero , she has a more interesting family background than any minister, especially her two remarkable brothers Rafael and Marcelo.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Housing too close for comfort

04-04-2020 10:28 A decade of work in housing and urban planning in Rosario municipal politics, prior to becoming Peronist lieutenant-governor of Santa Fe Province, gives María Eugenia Bielsa the credentials for her new portfolio.

by Michael Soltys

Argentine science – with its glorious history of three Nobel Prizes – has been singled out as one of the 10 countries participating in the Solidarity global group organised by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to fine-tune the most effective treatment against coronavirus, representing Latin America.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Science joins global hunt for vaccine

28-03-2020 10:48 The Science, Technology and Productive Innovation Ministry was created on the very first day of the Cristina Fernández de Kirchner presidency in 2007. In the ensuing eight years of that controversial regime, it is difficult to find any initiative of hers which commanded approval across so wide a spectrum.

by Michael Soltys

Ginés González García, 74, is a rare example of a health minister who is actually a member of the medical profession as a Córdoba-trained surgeon (although a native of the delta town of San Nicolás, the venue of Expoagro).

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Covid-19 pandemic brings Health Ministry to the fore

14-03-2020 10:23 The problems in healthcare are basically organisational – Argentine medicine as such is world-class and the envy of many more developed countries.

by Michael Soltys

Instead of abortion, the core challenge facing the new ministry is femicide, a considerably less divisive issue without the need to debate whether one or two lives are at stake.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

A new portfolio for the female majority

07-03-2020 14:24 Elizabeth Victoria Gómez Alcorta has defined her two policy priorities as the campaign against gender violence and the defence of equality and diversity, creating three departments to cover them – all headed by women.

by Michael Soltys

Why do lowly pay levels so belie the middleclass social status of teachers? Many reasons but a key one is hardly ever mentioned – their sheer number, some 1.2 million (or one for every 37 Argentines of all ages).

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Education, pay talks and class struggle

29-02-2020 11:28 The prospect of classes starting almost everywhere this Monday and last Wednesday’s return of national collective bargaining to the chronic problem of teacher pay for the first time since 2017 are ample reason to make education the choice for today’s “Ministry Positions” column.

by Michael Soltys

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Veteran moved back to Defence

23-02-2020 15:38 Agustín Rossi has returned to the Defence Ministry he previously headed between 2013 and 2015. This familiarity with the post might seem reason enough for the appointment within a Cabinet where such experience is in relatively short supply – but the real aim of this move might well have been to ease him out of a position where he has far more years under his belt...

by Michael Soltys

Within his limitations Meoni has two hard acts to follow – Florencio Randazzo and Dietrich.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Transport taken off the fast track

15-02-2020 11:29 As a Radical backed by one of the last entries into the Frente de Todos coalition, Mario Meoni seems to lack the political momentum to make any footprint, while the fiscal pressures from the debt crisis dominating the agenda are already making themselves felt.

by Michael Soltys

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Will justice be blinder than ever?

08-02-2020 12:38 At a time when the government is trying to minimise the sovereign debt falling under foreign jurisdiction, it would not be a smart move to go monkeying around with the Argentine legal system and undermine its credibility yet further.

by Michael Soltys

BARNEY MILLER OBITUARY

Anglo-Argentine community mourns passing of Barney Miller

08-02-2020 09:50 Keen sportsman and born actor was a sharp mind, which he devoted to tireless work for Anglo-Argentine community life, beyond a successful business career.

by Michael Soltys

Public works never went away as a department and in 2003 Néstor Kirchner removed them from the aegis of the Economy Ministry to make them the nucleus of a Federal Planning Ministry under Julio De Vido (the only minister to go the distance of the 12 Kirchnerite years, apart from his Labour colleague Carlos Tomada).

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Public works, private pockets...

01-02-2020 09:23 The revival of a Public Works Ministry after almost three decades suggest a direct defiance of the accumulation of court corruption cases during the Macri years.

by Michael Soltys

Frederic is the choice for today’s third column in this ministerial series because despite the overwhelming urgency of economic issues she has triggered news buzz recently.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

The politics of security

25-01-2020 11:28 Curiously enough, ever since the ministry’s birth in late 2010, Argentina’s “top cop” has always been a woman apart from six months.

by Michael Soltys

For Santiago Cafiero, life now begins at 40. Despite which he is not the youngest Cabinet chief ever, since his predecessor Marcos Peña was 38 when named.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Alberto installs a double-hinged Cabinet

18-01-2020 10:57 A political science graduate, politics has been his entire life apart from brief stints in legal and banking work plus an unsuccessful book-shop venture. For Santiago Cafiero, life now begins at 40.

by Michael Soltys

A trained agronomist, Solá began his political career in 1987 when he became the Buenos Aires provincial Agriculture Minister under Governor Antonio Cafiero.

MINISTRY POSITIONS

Local over global for Felipe’s foreign affairs

11-01-2020 10:38 Felipe Solá has no known background in the diplomatic field – which did not stop him from being the frontrunner to head the Foreign Ministry from the moment Frente de Todos loomed as Argentina’s next government.

by Michael Soltys

Economic turmoil, regional unrest and two people named Fernández dominated the headlines over the last 12 months, but there’s no doubt that all eyes were on the election.

YEAR IN REVIEW

2019: The year that was

28-12-2019 08:10 Economic turmoil, poverty soars, the peso plunges. The IMF, inflation, post-PASO meltdown. A presidential campaign decided by its trial run. Protests, Peronism unites and Massa returns to the fold. Alberto wins, but does Cristina call the shots? And what about Mauricio? Here's a round-up of the biggest stories in Argentina over the last 12 months.

by Michael Soltys

The 175th anniversary of Hospital Britanico.

HOSPITAL BRITÁNICO: 175 YEARS

Hospital Británico celebrates 175th anniversary at Teatro Colón

14-12-2019 11:20 The British Hospital’s 175th anniversary celebrations reached their climax in style at the Teatro Colón on Monday evening.

by Michael Soltys

Of the 11 new governors, only four represent a change of government.

ELECTION 2019: PROVINCES & GOVERNORS

The other inaugurations: Argentina’s (not always) new governors

07-12-2019 12:38 No less than 14 governors sought re-election but two were frustrated by the Supreme Court while the other two were at the wrong end of a change of government.

by Michael Soltys

Could Lacalle Pou be another Batlle, some might have wondered, especially since the Blancos have been historically to the right of the Colorados (less so in recent years)?

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Uruguay goes back for the future

30-11-2019 12:21 Why Lacalle as the only alternative to the Frente Amplio in two consecutive elections? The answer has some bearing on Argentina’s by immediate future.

by Michael Soltys

HOSPITAL BRITÁNICO: 175 YEARS

British Hospital’s first female president looks to the future

30-11-2019 09:08 Felicity Jane Bagnall Kirkwood, who became the first woman president of the Hospital Británico just over 13 months ago., talks to the Times.

by Michael Soltys

In the 30 months of his presidency Moreno has clashed with the Correa heritage from the start, confronting first the policies and then the man himself.

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Ecuador’s unrest fuelled by infighting

23-11-2019 13:13 In the 30 months of his presidency Moreno has clashed with the Correa heritage from the start, confronting first the policies and then by the man himself.

by Michael Soltys

More space would be required to describe his Presidency in full but at least two achievements stand out: the inclusive empowerment of the Amerindian majority and creating a public sector in a nation lacking any real state.

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Putting Bolivia’s power vacuum in context

16-11-2019 12:32 It is this column’s contention that Evo Morales was the greatest president in Bolivian history, but yet he crossed the line long before the forces toppling him.

by Michael Soltys

Thus even if the current President Sebastián Piñera responds to the right, today’s Chile would be more accurately described as a centre-left creation – for pro-market structural reforms to take root they perhaps need to start from the left.

GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES

Putting Chile’s protest crisis in context

09-11-2019 11:50 In Chile a pro-market approach has never hinged on the electoral result – when the right loses an election, the country is assured of a broadly similar set of fiscal, monetary, trade and other economic policies.

by Michael Soltys

The size of the Kirchnerite majority of the 24 Senate seats at stake last Sunday depends on whether their unconditional allies of the Santiago del Estero Civic Front are included (15) or not (13).

ELECTION 2019

Two party dominance in Congress – but not enough to help Fernández

02-11-2019 11:00 Senate under new government’s control but Macri’s comeback leaves Lower House hanging in the balance.

by Michael Soltys

Rather than only one province beyond the capital, Macri won five – three with Peronist governors and/or governors-elect (Santa Fe, Entre Ríos and, most surprisingly San Luis) – while laying claim to absolute majorities in two (Córdoba and Mendoza) even if Fernández repeated his 14 absolute majorities from August.

ELECTION 2019: A PROVINCIAL MINDSET

How ‘the other half’ voted in Election 2019

02-11-2019 10:54 Last Sunday saw a much closer and more complex result with Greater Buenos Aires playing a far more decisive role than in August, supplying almost 80 percent of the winning margin of two million votes.

by Michael Soltys

PROFILE

Alberto Fernández: Veteran operator takes centre-stage

26-10-2019 10:19 Fernández developed a close relationship with Menem’s economic czar Domingo Cavallo (a champion of privatisation and deregulation, ideas fully shared by Fernández at that time), resigning with him in 1995.

by Michael Soltys

PROFILE

Mauricio Macri: High hopes now looking grounded

26-10-2019 10:15 At the start of the century opportunity knocked in the form of Argentina’s 2001-2002 economic meltdown leading to a total “begone with them all” disenchantment with politicians and a political vacuum, into which Macri stepped.

by Michael Soltys

MEMORIAL SERVICE

British Embassy pays tribute to late journalist Andrew Graham-Yooll

24-10-2019 18:40 Ambassador Mark Kent leads tributes to late journalist, editor and author, with remembrance from former Buenos Aires Herald editor Robert Cox and cousin John Hunter, and a musical tribute.

by Michael Soltys

The US said Argentine accession was first in line. One can only wonder how long would that latter backing survive the return of a populist regime in Argentina.

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

High-flying club up in the air? The OECD and Argentina

19-10-2019 13:27 Should a populist government emerge next weekend, it might well find itself quoting Groucho Marx in saying: “I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member.”

by Michael Soltys

Argentina has never been a top priority for the ILO, whose attention has been drawn far more by the historymaking struggles of workers in Polish shipyards and South African mines.

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

More spinal than umbilical cord: the ILO and Argentina

12-10-2019 11:52 Argentina’s current relationship with the ILO needs to be viewed through the prism of over seven decades of Peronist trade unionism.

by Michael Soltys

Greater interaction with the WTO than hosting a Ministerial Conference would be good news because it would mean that Argentina is finally raising its head as a trading country.

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Knocking at a closed door: the WTO and Argentina

05-10-2019 11:27 Before 2017 very little has been written about Argentina in the WTO. A prime reason why Argentina’s footprint there has been so small is, quite simply, that this country is not much of a trader as one of the most closed economies in the world.

by Michael Soltys

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

New dawns and tightropes: The IAEA and Argentina

28-09-2019 04:05 The vastly experienced Rafael Mariano Grossi, 58, Argentina’s ambassador to the IAEA who has held senior disarmament posts since 1997, is backed by the Americas from top to bottom. Respected by China, he also enjoys support from the Commonwealth countries and even some Europeans.

by Michael Soltys

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

United begins with ‘You’: the UN and Argentina

21-09-2019 11:01 For Carlos Menem in the last decade of the century the UN was central to integrating Argentina into the world. The Kirchners regularly attended the General Assembly but coverage was dominated by their mixed messages on Iran.

by Michael Soltys

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Low-profile flow of funds: Inter-American Development Bank and Argentina

14-09-2019 00:41 The world’s biggest regional development bank, the BID is unusually homogenous for an international organisation with only four official languages and four presidents over its six decades.

by Michael Soltys

Former Central Bank chief Federico Sturzenegger.

EX-CENTRAL BANK CHIEF

Sturzenegger re-emerges with criticism of government’s fiscal policy

14-09-2019 00:35 Former Central Bank governor publishes analysis of fiscal policy under Macri administration.

by Michael Soltys

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Steady as it goes: The World Bank and Argentina

07-09-2019 01:44 The World Bank lent some US$8 billion in over 50 credits to both the tail end of the 1976-1983 military dictatorship and the elected Raúl Alfonsín Radical government.

by Michael Soltys

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Braxit, as well as Brexit? Mercosur and Argentina

31-08-2019 01:00 It might be an exaggeration to talk of “Braxit” but Brazil has been conveying the impression that it has outgrown Mercosur throughout this century and not just now.

by Michael Soltys

FROM A GLOBAL PERSPECTIVE

Incessant Monetary Frustration: the IMF and Argentina

24-08-2019 12:21 The first president in hock to the IMF was Arturo Frondizi, who signed the first standby arrangement (for a now paltry US$75 million) in late 1958.

by Michael Soltys

ELECTION 2019: PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN (EPILOGUE)

Under the volcano

17-08-2019 11:45 Far from deciding the election, Buenos Aires Province was just one of the 14 provinces giving Fernández an absolute majority, even if obviously the most important.

by Michael Soltys