ANDIS SCANDAL BOILS ON
The scandal beginning on August 19, a day before the government fired Diego Spagnuolo, the head of ANDIS agency for the disabled, which was placed under trusteeship, continued to dominate the last week. The cause of his dismissal was a series of voice messages pointing to the collection of kickbacks from the purchase of medicine by a network including Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei and two members of the Menem dynasty (her right-hand man Eduardo ‘Lule’ and Congress Speaker Martín). Court raids the next day found US$266,000 in the house of Emmanuel Kovalivker, co-owner of the Suizo Argentina pharmaceutical chain that supplies 85 percent of the medicine for the disabled, while his brother Jonathan went on the run until last Monday. Suizo Argentina was ascertained to have increased its business with the state from almost four billion pesos to over 108 billion in the past year. Federal Judge Sebastián Casanello also seized the mobile telephones and blocked the safety deposit boxes of those involved. Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos, grilled in Congress in midweek, consistently claimed that the audio leaks were a “political operation” electorally timed to harm the government, saying that they dated back over a year and informing Congress that there would be audits within ANDIS. But in general the government opted for silence until Wednesday, a silence broken by Lule Menem on Monday when he insisted on the “absolute falsity” of the audios and dismissed the charges as a “blatant political operation” by the opposition. Karina Milei told 8,000 militants when campaigning in La Matanza last weekend that she had come so that “they [Kirchnerism] do not rob any more” without a word on the accusations closer to home while President Milei said: “I don’t care what damage they [the opposition] do to me up to the elections” with no direct mention of the scandal while inaugurating the new offices of Corporación América (his old workplace) last Monday. But just prior to a rock-throwing attack in Lomas de Zamora attack last Wednesday, Milei added: “It’s all lies. We’ll take him [Spagnuolo] to court and prove he was lying.” Further Spagnuolo videos and audios leaked this week found him accusing Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello of leaving him facing the music, also accusing Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger of dismantling controls and audits. Meanwhile, Argentina’s country risk rating rose to 850 points in midweek as against 706 points before the scandal broke.
MILEI STONED IN GBA
While campaigning in Lomas de Zamora in midweek, the van conveying President Javier Milei was attacked with stones, disrupting the rally with the entire presidential entourage urgently evacuated, while deputy José Luis Espert (who heads the La Libertad Avanza of legislative candidates in next weekend’s Buenos Aires Province elections) made his getaway on a motorcycle without a crash helmet (he could face a fine). The uproar over the voice messages about the ANDIS agency from the disabled ex-director Diego Spagnuolo denouncing presumed government corruption is thought to have heated the political scenario. Presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni repudiated the violent aggression against Milei, describing it as “the purest Kirchnerism … cavemen of the past” but Buenos Aires Province Security Minister Javier Alonso argued that the La Libertad Avanza rally was a “provocation” in the first place. Two opposition militants were arrested for the attack, which left at least one person injured. A convoy carrying Karina Milei, herself at a Corrientes rally the following day, was also briefly heckled and put under pressure by a hostile crowd.
TRANSPARENCY INTERNATIONAL UNIMPRESSED
Whatever the changes in other areas, the arrival of Javier Milei in the presidency has done little to change Argentina’s image of corruption elsewhere – Transparency International’s 2024 Index of the Perception of Corruption report gave this country a mark of 37 percent and ranks it 99th of the 180 nations surveyed (and 18th out of 32 within Latin America), one position below the 2023 report when the Frente de Todos administration of Alberto Fernández governed. Argentina’s worst performance was in 2015 with 32 percent in the last year of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
ROLLOVER MISSION ACCOMPLISHED
Economy Minister Luis Caputo managed to roll over the totality of government debt requiring renewal in midweek with the offers exceeding the debt falling due by almost 15 percent – 8.3 trillion pesos as against the 7.7 trillion renewed in bonds. But the price was higher statutory reserve requirements and annual interest rates of up to 86 percent. The success contrasts with the rollover earlier in the month when only 61 percent of debt could be renewed.
AIRPORTS CRIPPLED
The ATEPSA air controllers’ union continued their nationwide stoppages commencing last weekend last week with over 60,000 passengers affected before midweek when the dispute was settled late on Wednesday night with a 15 percent pay hike. Last Tuesday, out of a total of 295 flights programmed, 82 (all domestic) had to be cancelled while 96 were rescheduled. ATEPSA union had been offered a one percent monthly increase on salaries ranging between 800,000 and 1.5 million pesos but rejected the offer as insufficient, maintaining their pay dispute and halting work for six hours every other day. The government managed to avert airport disruption during the winter vacations via compulsory conciliation. Only humanitarian flights such as search and rescue missions were exempted.
NAZI ART THEFT HUNT – IN MAR DEL PLATA?!?
Federal Police officers last Tuesday raided the Mar del Plata home once occupied by Nazi financier and former SS officer Friedrich Kadgien looking for a famous painting stolen from a Dutch Jewish art collector but ended up empty-handed. The painting in question was Portrait of a Lady by the 17th-century Italian artist Giuseppe Ghislandi while the court raid was in response to an Interpol alert relayed by Customs. Instead of the painting, the police found firearms but Kadgien’s daughter Patricia, 59, the owner of the house, and her husband were not indicted. The couple were uncooperative, according to the local daily La Capital. The painting formed part of a collection of 1,100 works belonging to the Jewish merchant Jacques Goudstikker (who died in 1940 while fleeing the Nazis) and falling prey to Hermann Göring, who passed the Italian painting onto Kadgien. The latter fled to Argentina via Switzerland after the Second World War, dying here in 1978. Dutch correspondent Peter Schouten spottted the painting in an inventory of the house for sale.
CHILE SAYS NO TO CHICKEN
Chile suspended poultry imports from Argentina on Monday after detecting an outbreak of avian influenza while resuming imports from Brazil, its main supplier, which had faced similar restrictions since May (hailed as “good news” by Chilean Agriculture Minister Ignacia Fernández). Argentina is Chile’s third-largest supplier of poultry meat, accounting for eight percent of the total. The Chilean market is led by Brazil, which provides 57 percent of annual shipments, according to official data.
FOOTBALL NEWS
It was reported midweek that the government will not be buying the rights to the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada on the grounds it entails an outlay of US$7 million, in what would be the first time in over half a century that Televisión Pública will not be transmitting a football World Cup. However, officials are now denying those claims. Last Monday prosecutor Miguel Ángel Osorio sought prison sentences against former Cabinet chiefs Aníbal Fernández and Jorge Capitanich for irregularities in the Fútbol para Todos television programme between 2009 and 2015, requesting three years and a lifelong ban from public office for the former and 32 months and a ban of 64 months from public office for the latter. Both ex-officials are accused of malfeasance and the deviation of public funds for political campaign purposes.
CHAMAME SUPREMO DIES
Accordion-player Raúl Barboza, considered the king of chamamé music in Argentina, died last Tuesday in Paris (where he has lived since 1987) at the age of 87, the Argentine Embassy informed from the French capital.
SOME LIKE IT HOT
Romina Uhrig, 37, an ex-participant of the reality show Gran Hermano, and a former Peronist deputy for Buenos Aires Province in the national Congress (2019-21) has released hot photos of herself up for sale via erotic social network Only Fans. In the past Uhrig has posed for rather less steamy photos alongside then President Alberto Fernández and Máximo Kirchner.
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