Stories that caught our eye: October 10 to 17

BITTERSWEET WHITE HOUSE VISIT

President Javier Milei finally clinched last Tuesday the White House meeting with United States President Donald Trump sought throughout his 22 months in office in his 13th stateside visit but not all was sweetness and light. While warmly praising his strategic Latin American ally with “my complete and total endorsement,” Trump also conditioned US financial assistance (centred on a currency swap of US$20 billion) on electoral success in the midterms later this month. “If you don’t win, don’t count on us; if you lose, we won’t be generous with Argentina,” Milei’s host told him bluntly, also saying: “Anything can fail but we’ll give it a chance” when asked about the salvage plan’s prospects. National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich tried to argue that Trump was talking about the 2027 general elections, not the midterms, but was promptly corrected. Following a stock market slump almost immediately, US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled the promised assistance the next day by adding a credit of US$20 billion to the swap while continuing to buy pesos, further commenting: “President Milei has given Argentina the chance to end decades of decadence under Peronism.” Milei preceded his flight to Washington on Monday (spending the night in Blair House) by praising Trump’s feat in freeing the Gaza Strip hostages (including three of Argentine nationality) as “an example of leadership.” At no point during a White House visit centred on a working lunch including the visiting delegation were the two presidents face to face alone and the topic of a free trade agreement was not broached.

INFLATION CREEPING UP

Last month’s inflation was 2.1 percent, the INDEC national statistics bureau reported last Tuesday, with prices rising 22 percent so far this year at an annual rate of 31.8 percent. The main culprits were housing, water, electricity and fuels and education (both on 3.1 percent) and transport (three percent) while the key item of food and beverages was below average at 1.9 percent, the same percentage as core inflation (excluding seasonal and regulated prices). The figure hardly came as a surprise since it coincided with the percentage in the Central Bank’s REM survey of market expectations while City Hall statisticians had posted 2.2 percent for September inflation in the previous week.

FEMICIDE FLARING UP

Pablo Rodríguez Laurta was formally indicted in the Entre Ríos town of Concordia Wednesday for the murder of Uber driver Martín Palacio (who was missing for six days until some of his dismembered remains were found last Monday), to add to the femicides of his former partner Luna Giardina and her mother Mariel Zamudio in Córdoba last Saturday and the abduction of his son (who turned six this week). Interrogated prior to his indictment, Laurta refused to answer questions and on Thursday he was ordered to be remanded in custody for the next 120 days. The suspected author of a triple murder first made the news in 2016 when he founded the anti-feminist movement Varones Unidos in Uruguay, a group in touch with President Javier Milei’s official biographer Nicolás Márquez, among others. The two Córdoba women were not the only recent femicides – last Monday in Chaco the body of 20-year-old Gabriela Barrios was retrieved from a cesspit which had been cemented over with an arrest quickly following.

BALLOTS STAY PUT

The National Electoral Appeals Court last Monday declared that time was lacking to reprint the single paper ballots for Buenos Aires Province, meaning that the photo of disgraced economist José Luis Espert will remain at the helm of the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) list in the province. According to the Post Office, last Thursday was the deadline to commence the distribution of electoral material in Buenos Aires Province whereas it would take at least five days to reprint the ballots. Despite this refusal, the court last Thursday authorised the reprinting of 40,000 LLA campaign posters to replace Espert’s name and photo with those of PRO’s Diego Santilli.

BUDGET COMMITTEE SWITCH

Libertarian deputy Alberto ‘Bertie’ Benegas Lynch Junior has replaced his party colleague José Luis Espert in the chair of the strategic Congress Budget Committee after the latter was forced to resign when denounced for receiving campaign contributions from the businessman Fred Machado, accused of drug-trafficking in the United States, while also taking leave from his seat for the rest of his term. The committee has 49 members of whom six are libertarian, 20 from Union por la Patria (the main opposition party) and the other 23 from 10 different parties. Six sessions are scheduled to process the 2026 Budget between now and December 10 when the new members are sworn in. The 2026 Budget posits five percent growth, 10.1 percent inflation and an exchange rate of 1,423 pesos per dollar by the end of next year.

VISA REVOKED

Washington’s State Department has revoked the visas of six foreigners accused of celebrating last month’s slaying of far right Republican influencer Charlie Kirk, including Serena Luciano, a student from Córdoba who graduated in art history at the University of Illinois in Chicago and is now doing a masters. “The United States has no obligation to harbour foreigners wishing the death of US citizens,” read the State Department’s official social network account last Wednesday. When learning of Kirk’s death, Luciano had posted: “I’m only entering here to say that Charlie Kirk can rest in peace and, once more, if you feel any empathy for people like that, you can stop being my friend. I couldn’t give a shit for the death of a person who dedicated all his life to spreading racist, xenophobic and misogynistic rhetoric. It’s as hot as hell where he is now and he deserves It.” Among other revoked visas, a South African also said that the attempt to turn Kirk into a martyr “was used to promote a white trash nationalistic movement,” a Mexican had commented: “There are people who deserve to die” and a Brazilian had charged that “Charlie Kirk was the motive for a Nazi demonstration marching in his honour.” President Javier Milei’s visit to the White House last Tuesday included a ceremony in tribute to Charlie Kirk in which the conservative activist was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

ANOTHER MINE FOR RIGI

The government last Tuesday formally approved the adhesion of the Canadian mining company McEwen Cooper into the RIGI (Régimen de Incentivo para Grandes Inversiones) incentive scheme for major investments for ploughing US$2.67 billion into the exploration and exploitation of the Los Azules copper mine in San Juan, just six kilometres east of the frontier with Chile. The project is expected to create over 3,500 direct and indirect jobs while generating annual exports to the tune of US$1.1 billion. Over 60 percent of the total sum is due to have been invested by late 2027. Los Azules is the eighth project to be approved for RIGI with a total investment of US$15.74 billion.

KICILLOF’S BOUNTY

Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof last Monday positioned Cuenta DNI, the virtual wallet of Banco Provincia, as one of the most attractive investments on the market by offering an explosive annual interest rate of 48 percent, also hailed as an advance towards financial inclusion. The scheme has attracted over 318,000 savers since launched last August.

PLAN PARANÁ

National Security Minister and City senatorial candidate Patricia Bullrich announced last Monday morning the Plan Paraná to intensify the control of the key Hidrovía Paraguay-Paraná waterway. She was flanked by Security Secretary Alejandra Monteoliva, tipped to succeed Bullrich in the portfolio if she clinches her Senate seat later this month. Bullrich underlined the strategic importance of the 3,400-kilometre waterway integrating five countries – Brazil, Paraguay, Bolivia, Uruguay and Argentina – and flowing through five Argentine provinces: Misiones, Chaco, Corrientes, Santa Fe and Entre Ríos before reaching the River Plate estuary. This waterway should be used to transport grain, not drugs, she underlined. “We have launched a war without asking quarter against organised crime,” she said, a mission which would integrate the work of five federal security forces with the provincial police in the provinces alongside the waterway, added Monteoliva, patrolling by land, water and air.

AI CONVICTION QUASHED

The Criminal Appeals Court in Esquel (Chubut) last Thursday quashed a conviction sentencing a man to 30 months in prison after detecting that the judge of first instance had used artificial intelligence to help ground his verdict, arguing that this had violated the basic constitutional rights of due process and ordering a new trial. The case accusing the defendant of stealing US$400 and 2,000 pesos from an Esquel flat now goes to the provincial Supreme Court. 

LIAM PAYNE REMEMBERED

The anniversary of former One Direction boy band singer Liam Payne’s tragic death in a Palermo Hollywood hotel was marked last Thursday with fans lighting candles, leaving letters and placing flowers at an improvised altar at the scene of the Wolverhampton lad’s fatal fall at the age of 31.