Latest news of Buenos Aires Times

Coronavirus pandemic

First anti-lockdown protest takes place in Buenos Aires

Today 15:41 Around 150 demonstrators rallied at the Plaza de Mayo on the 25 de Mayo holiday, protesting the lockdown introduced to tackle the coronavirus pandemic and the halt in economic activity.

BLOOMBERG

Argentine bonds rise after default as investors await deal

Today 15:04 Bonds due in 2036 climb 2.3 cents to 33.2 cents on the dollar. Famed century bond follows suit, jumping 3.3 cents to also trade at 33 cents.

Bloomberg

Latam Air files Chapter 11 bankruptcy, stymied by lockdowns

Today 09:15 Latam has already eliminated more than 1,850 jobs in Chile, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru in recent weeks from its global workforce of about 40,000 people, after cutting 95% of its passenger operations.

Coronavirus pandemic

Officials confirm details of new permit to circulate during lockdown

Yesterdat 09:55 Officials have confirmed details of how citizens and residents can re-apply for permission to circulate via the Certificado Único Habilitante de Circulación (CUHC).

ISRAEL

Israel PM Netanyahu arrives at court for 'unprecendented' corruption trial

24-05-2020 08:52 Fresh from forming a new government after more than 500 days of electoral deadlock, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu is beginning a new battle in a court Jerusalem – to stay out of prison.

Coronavirus pandemic

Government extends quarantine for 15 more days amid rise in infections

23-05-2020 22:30 President Fernández announces Argentina will extend government's mandatory social isolation until June 7, amid an acceleration in the spread of the new Covid-19 coronavirus.

AGRICULTURE

Soy farmers bet against peso just as government needs cash

23-05-2020 09:55 Farmer sales have slowed to a crawl because growers think the currency is overvalued. That’s unnerving buyers and the government, which will have to wait for crucial export money.

DOMINIQUE STRAUSS-KAHN INTERVIEW

Dominique Strauss-Kahn: ‘Argentina has the cards to renegotiate its debt’

23-05-2020 09:45 French politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn, a former managing director of the International Monetary Fund, gives his view on Argentina’s debt restructuring talks, the Fund’s leadership and wealth taxes.

by Eugenia Iglesias

ARGENTINA CORONAVIRUS

Fears over Covid-19 in villas come to fruition with community leader's death

23-05-2020 09:13 Ramona Medina's death shines a light on the problems facing Argentina’s poorest amid the coronavirus pandemic, which is spreading more rapidly in low-income neighbourhoods.

LATIN AMERICA

South America is the ‘new epicentre’ of Covid-19 pandemic, says WHO

23-05-2020 09:08 Mexico and Brazil reported record counts of new cases and deaths almost daily this week, reigniting criticism of their presidents, who have slow-walked shutdowns in attempts to limit economic damage.

ARGENTINA IN DEFAULT

One step at a time

23-05-2020 07:56 Whatever blueprint Argentina and its creditors leave for the rest of the world’s increasingly troubled debtors, the nation will have to face “the day after” sooner or later, where some 89 percent of the population has directly or indirectly received a public subsidy during this crisis, while the state is absolutely broke.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

DEBT RESTRUCTURING TALKS

Government defaults on bond payments, deadline dance continues

23-05-2020 07:47 Four years after returning to the capital markets, Argentina’s defaults for the ninth time in history. Government and creditors continue negotiating, as Economy Ministry extends deadline for talks until June 2.

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Government to rework debt offer after missing interest payment

22-05-2020 23:05 Counter-offers submitted by bondholder groups are better than their original proposals, yet still far from what the country considers sustainable, says Martín Guzmán.

Global pandemic

As virus swamps Peru, Venezuelan migrants collect the dead

22-05-2020 13:30 Despite strict measures to control the coronavirus, Peru has become one of the countries worst hit by the Covid-19 disease. With more than 104,000 cases and 3,000 deaths, Peru was 12th in the world in numbers of confirmed diagnoses Wednesday, more than reported by China and just behind India.

DEBT TALKS

Economy Ministry extends deadline for debt talks to June 2

22-05-2020 03:12 Government will miss US$500-million payment due today; Economy Ministry extends deadline for negotiations with creditors for 10 days.

Coronavirus pandemic

New high as officials confirm 648 infections; 12 deaths, including 19-year-old

22-05-2020 02:54 More than 9,000 cases of Covid-19 have been confirmed in Argentina. The deaths of nine men and three women were confirmed Thursday, with all but two from Buenos Aires City and Province.

BLOOMBERG

BlackRock, Ashmore form Ecuador creditor group as swaps pay out

21-05-2020 14:02 Ecuador is slashing spending and negotiating a new loan package with the IMF, while money managers line up together to present a united front for restructuring talks.

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

'Any kind of default could be cured in short order,’ says creditor group

21-05-2020 13:39 While some kind of default in Argentina is likely, investors said a default wouldn’t be immediately followed by litigation because taking legal action amid the talks solves nothing.

BLOOMBERG

Inflation expectations soar amid Central Bank stimulus

21-05-2020 01:41 Plans to greatly expand the amount of money in circulation, while the demand for pesos is low and inflation is already at 45%, have increased concerns about rising prices.

BLOOMBERG

Hedge funds build war chests to target dislocated debt in Europe

21-05-2020 01:27 About a dozen funds are in race to gather more than US$11 billion, which would more than double the unspent capital available in European distressed debt money pools, according to data compiled by Preqin.

Is cash still King?

Cash, long a refuge in uncertain times, now under suspicion

20-05-2020 08:23 In troubled times, people have been known to hoard currency. But in the coronavirus crisis, things are different. Cash, so often a source of reassurance, is now a source of suspicion.

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Creditors, government still far apart on debt offers as deadline looms

19-05-2020 18:02 In a webinar, Economy Minister Martín Guzmán says he expected negotiations to extend past May 22. Two sides remain some way apart, just days before default deadline arrives.

Coronavirus pandemic

City of Córdoba resumes lockdown after virus cases spike

19-05-2020 15:20 Officials in provincial capital roll back easing of lockdown measures following a sharp spike in coronavirus infections, authorities confirm.

Global pandemic

Brazil jumps to third highest tally of Covid-19 cases worldwide

19-05-2020 14:24 Brazil has also registered 16,792 Covid-19 deaths, the sixth-highest toll in the world. Experts say under-testing means the real figure could be 15 times higher or more.

Coronavirus pandemic

Trump reveals he is taking anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine

19-05-2020 00:39 Trump's latest remarks came out of the blue, immediately grabbing headlines on a day when US deaths from Covid-19 topped 90,000 people – almost a third of the total world toll.

Global pandemic

The Argentine priest on the Covid-19 front line in New York

18-05-2020 23:20 Reverend Fabian Arias, from Buenos Aires, is a Lutheran pastor at Saint Peter’s Church in Manhattan. He has has performed funeral services 14 times in the last two months.

Global pandemic

Lockdown easing in Europe, but virus hits hard in South America, Africa

18-05-2020 12:29 Rising death tolls in Brazil, South Africa and other parts of the world show the worst is still to come for many countries.

Coronavirus pandemic

'Express burials' hide true Covid-19 picture in Nicaragua

18-05-2020 09:14 To date, President Daniel Ortega's government has confirmed just 25 cases of the coronavirus and eight deaths – but rights groups and experts believe the numbers are far higher.

environment

Uruguay renegotiates US$3-billion pulp plant deal with Finland's UPM

17-05-2020 08:27 Environmentalists have raised concerns over the plant's impact on Uruguay River, while Argentina lost a challenge in the International Court of Justice.

Coronavirus pandemic

Rise in Covid-19 death toll, infections sparks concern among officials

16-05-2020 12:44 Both national and provincial officials worried by spike in fatalities as conditions for lockdown are slowly lifted; President Alberto Fernández hails local researchers for developing new faster, more efficient Covid-19 testing kits.

ARGENTINA

State to pay half of private-sector wages in June

16-05-2020 09:43 Government to pay half the wages of almost two million private-sector workers, as it did in April.

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC

Health minister quits as Brazil’s coronavirus crisis deepens

16-05-2020 09:35 Nelson Teich’s resignation comes one day President Bolsonaro said he would ease rules for use of an anti-malaria drug to treat people infected with the coronavirus. Outgoing minister has frequently called the use of chloroquine “an uncertainty.”

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.

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

THE PANDEMIC: A GLOBAL VIEW

Bryan In-ho Kim: ‘People need to get used to social distancing in daily life’

16-05-2020 07:49 Dr Bryan In-ho Kim, senior researcher at Korea Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (KCDC), discusses the methods that helped South Korea achieve remarkable results in the fight against Covid-19.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

The virus

Coronavirus exhaustion

16-05-2020 07:37 The pesos being injected into the system – an emergency tool that few have questioned domestically and abroad – haven’t purely been used to finance direct consumption of basic goods and services such as food, or absorbed into peso-denominated assets. As is the norm in Argentina, they have found their way into US dollars.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

BLOOMBERG

Bank of America says Latin America’s economy to crash 6.8% this year

15-05-2020 15:55 Bank of America Corp expects Latin America’s economy to slump by 6.8 percent this year and warned that plans to reopen businesses are unlikely to go smoothly as new cases continue to soar.

DEBT RESTRUCTURING

Argentine bonds climb as creditors, government narrow the gulf

15-05-2020 15:51 Argentine bonds rose Friday on optimism that the government and its creditors will seal an agreement to restructure US$65 billion in foreign bonds.

FOOTBALL & CORONAVIRUS

CONMEBOL: No more 'kissing the ball' when Libertadores returns

14-05-2020 16:12 There will be no more kissing the ball for good luck in South American football. Also, forget about exchanging jerseys — and even spitting or blowing noses on the field.

Coronavirus pandemic

Infections spike in poverty-stricken Villa 31, worrying authorities

14-05-2020 15:55 Villa 31, one of Buenos Aires' poorest and most densely populated barrios, has shown a spike in the number of Covid-19 infections, worrying authorities hoping to ease the capital's two-month lockdown later this month.