Stories that caught our eye: May 1 to 8

ADORNI SCANDAL OVERFLOW

The scandal over Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni’s extravagant departures from his message of austerity took a new twist last Monday when contractor Matías Tabar confirmed in court that he had received US$245,000 in cash from the embattled official for the renovation of his gated community house in Exaltación de la Cruz, a sum far in excess of the US$120,000 Adorni allegedly paid for the property. Handing over his mobile telephone as evidence, Tabar listed the reforms as refurbishing floors and walls while installing a barbecue area, a swimming-pool and waterfalls in the garden, work carried out between September, 2024 and July, 2025. In midweek Senator Patricia Bullrich (La Libertad Avanza-City) called on Adorni to submit his sworn statement “immediately.” 

COMPETITION FOR ADORNI

The accounts of the state company Nucleoeléctrica when under presidential advisor Demian Reidel show a list of spending with state credit cards which have little to do with the energy sector: trips abroad, duty-free shops, discotheques, hairdressers, European bars, Mediterranean beach services, sports clothes, etc. as well as bank withdrawals in cash of over 50 million pesos – all contained in a 58-page annex included in Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni’s report to Congress at the request of deputy Florencia Carignano (Unión por la Patria-Santa Fe). Company officials flew by American Airlines, United and Air Europa, staying at dozens of expensive hotels in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Singapore, Rio de Janeiro and Madrid. Nucleoeléctrica told Clarín newspaper that all this spending had been submitted to audit, justifying the trips abroad as technical consultation and training. Following the reactions to the report, Nucleoeléctrica also announced that they would be discontinuing the use of corporate credit cards for trips abroad. Reidel defended himself by pointing out that the annex covered the credit cards of all company executives, denying anything but official expenses on his own account.

BACK IN THE USA

President Javier Milei gave the closing speech for the 29th Annual Conference of the Milken Institute in Los Angeles on Wednesday afternoon, in which he defended the economic policies of his administration and highlighted Argentina’s alignment with the United States, including the free- trade agreement early this year. In a 20-minute speech, Milei said: “The American dream is not dead but being reborn in two countries: the United States and Argentina” before appealing to his largely business audience to “bet on Argentina” by investing although a US$10 billion Chevron oil project was the only immediate response. Arriving in California in the last minutes of Tuesday, Milei returned home on Thursday afternoon. While on the flight back from Los Angeles, Milei announced via his X social network account: “We’ll be sending to Congress a bill for a SUPER RIGI improving on the original RIGI (incentive scheme for major investments) and applying to sectors which have never existed in Argentina” without going into further details. Previously, Milei had a May Day telephone chat with Canadian Liberal Prime Minister Mark Carney, recommending an agreement with Mercosur to him, also praising Canada as Argentina’s leading mining investor and a World Cup co-host before inviting the Canadian to visit Argentina later this year. On Tuesday Milei received Robert Spitzer, president of the B’nai B’rith International Jewish organisation, with controversial Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni at his side.

ROCCA BACKS OFF

Paolo Rocca will be stepping down as the CEO de Tenaris, the company within the Techint Group dedicated to the manufacture of steel tubing for the oil industry in a context marked by tensions with the national government. The company confirmed that Rocca will be replaced by Gabriel Podskubka, currently director of operations. Rocca will, however, continue to occupy key roles within the Techint group, staying on as its president as a whole while chairing Tenaris and maintaining influence in its strategic decisions. Rocca’s exit comes three months after he clashed with President Javier Milei when undercut by an Indian company in a Vaca Muerta tender.

EU-FTA UP AND RUNNING

The free-trade agreement between Mercosur and the European Union, sealed last January after over 25 years of negotiations, provisionally entered into force on May Day amid complex global market conditions. The ambitious pact reduces tariffs for over 90 percent of trade, boosting exports and expanding investment opportunities for Argentina, but has also triggered political and sectorial tensions in both Europe and South America. The treaty covers a joint market representing almost 30 percent of the world economy and over 700 million consumers. Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared himself on board, commenting: “In a time of protectionism we are reinforcing multilateralism,” but French European deputy Manon Aubry complained of “unfair competition from hundreds of thousands of tons of farm produce which will flood the European market with substandard health and environmental norms.”

FIRST WORKER

President Javier Milei used May Day to celebrate himself along the “first worker” lines of Juan Domingo Perón, posting a video with LEGO blocks in the national colours listing his “achievements” such as “fiscal surplus,” “more freedom,” “lower inflation,” “less ministries,” “labour reform,” “opening up the economy,” and “end of the pickets,” and concluding: “Happy day to the man who worked to reconstruct this country, one block at a time, Happy Worker’s Day, President Milei” – a message heartily endorsed by Milei himself with a “Happy Worker’s Day, MAGA (Make Argentina Great Again)! V(iva) L(a) L(ibertad) C(arajo)!”

BAD POLL NUMBERS

President Javier Milei’s government has started this month with negative opinion poll ratings of 64.5 percent with barely a third (34.3 percent) expressing approval and 71.2 percent of Argentines hoping for a change of government next year, according to a survey published last Monday by the consultants Zuban-Córdoba y Asociados. The disapproval is not arising now but consolidating a growing trend in recent months, the pollsters noted. The survey also found almost 70 percent of women to be rejecting the libertarian administration, almost 10 percentage points more than males. President Milei is not even the most popular member of his own government since his negative image of 60.6 percent exceeds the 55.5 percent of Senator Patricia Bullrich, while Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei and Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni were rejected by around two-thirds of respondents. Nevertheless, the pollsters were reluctant to write off the Milei administration, speaking of a “complex” scenario where a majority wanted change without trusting in any concrete alternative and seeing both the government and the opposition as “lost.”

HANTAVIRUS DEATHS AT SEA

Three cruiser passengers died on the Atlantic between Ushuaia and Cape Verde last weekend from a suspected outbreak of hantavirus with at least one case immediately confirmed. The tragedy occurred aboard the polar expedition vessel MV Hondius transporting around 170 passengers with a crew of 70. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and other sanitary authorities are continuing to monitor the situation. As investigators begin to focus on Argentina as the potential source of the outbreak, the National Health Ministry sent specialists south to begin testing rats.

MORE JUNTA VICTIMS FOUND

The Juzgado Federal No. 3 courtroom under federal judge Miguel Vaca Narvaja confirmed last Thursday that Equipo Argentino de Antropología Forense (EAAP) scientists have identified the remains of 11 more people who went missing during the 1976-83 military dictatorship in the vicinity of the La Perla clandestine detention centre in Córdoba Province. Their identity will be divulged at a press conference next Tuesday. A further dozen Córdoba desaparecidos buried in Loma del Torito were identified last March.

TIERRA DEL FUEGO ON FIRE

Just before last weekend the Tierra del Fuego legislature repealed the provincial government decree summoning the population to vote on amendments to the local Constitution on August 9. Governor Gustavo Melella immediately anticipated that he would veto the legislative decision, insisting on the referendum. The amendments limit indefinite re-elections, eliminate posts for life and cap all salaries below the gubernatorial, among other points. The reform of over 70 articles of the provincial Constitution had been approved in late 2023 while the provincial supreme court had upheld the referendum last year. The opposition argue that the amendments contain a hidden agenda of a possible re-election of Melella for which he would be ineligible without a reform, which lost much of its previous support as a result of Peronist infighting.

WALTER KERR HONOURED

Last Monday the government honoured Walter Kerr, the Casa Rosada interpreter and translator since the Carlos Menem presidency, with the rank of ambassador on a strictly protocol basis beyond the diplomatic service. In the current administration Kerr’s role has grown from being a mere interpreter to an aide and confidant of both the Milei siblings, helping to design the presidential image abroad.

RAPE SENTENCE CONFIRMED

A Brazilian court last Tuesday confirmed the six-year prison sentence of actor Juan Darthes for raping his colleague Thelma Fardin in Nicaragua in 2009 when she was only 16 years old. However, Darthes (62) will only have to sleep in his cell every night, being allowed out during the day, the court ruled. “We’ve won again,” celebrated Fardin in her social networks, thanking her lawyers, mother, partner and friends. She had first denounced Darthes in late 2018.