LIBERTARIANS CLEAR THE DECKS
The La Libertad Avanza Congress caucuses each dropped a member in both houses last week – Lourdes Arrieta (Mendoza) in the Chamber of Deputies and Francisco Paoltroni (Formosa) in the Senate, the latter expelled on Wednesday night while the former walked out on Tuesday to anticipate eviction, forming her own Fuerzas de Cielo-Espacio Liberal unipersonal bloc. Paoltroni was bounced for “irreconcilable differences” in a petition signed by all six of his party colleagues for repeatedly criticising presidential spin doctor Santiago Caputo for giving President Javier Milei the “bad” idea of nominating federal judge Ariel Lijo for the Supreme Court as an archetypal member of the “caste” which Milei had pledged to remove. However it was not quite clear at press time whether Paoltroni was in fact out since Vice-President Victoria Villarruel said that she would reject the expulsion as “flouting procedure.” Arrieta, already under fire for repenting of and criticising a July 11 prison visit by La Libertad Avanza deputies to ex-officers convicted for crimes against humanity during the 1976-83 military dictatorship while also accusing Congress Speaker Martín Menem of participating in the planning, sealed her fate when she leaked libertarian bills and a draft decree to release such prisoners. On Monday she said that she feared for her life while on the same day Security Minister Patricia Bullrich stated that it was a “total and absolute lie” to say that she had anything to do with the controversial prison visit after Arrieta sought to involve her, explaining that there was nothing she could legally do to prevent deputies from visiting prisoners. Finally, Carlos Pisoni, a member of the H.I.J.O.S. human rights group, insisted in an interview with Radio Splendid that the visit had been planned, also joining several voices demanding that the deputies greeting “genocides” in Ezeiza Prison should all be expelled from Congress.
PAIS TAX SLASHED
Economy Minister Luis Caputo confirmed last Tuesday that the PAÍS tax would be cut 10 points as from next Monday for the import of goods and freight although a wide range of measures will be excluded from the benefit – dollars purchased for saving purposes, credit card spending in dollars affecting tourism abroad, payment of platforms for streaming, other services contracted abroad, the purchase of bonds and dollars for the transfer of dividends, among other purposes. The PAIS tax is scheduled for elimination as from next year, as already inked into the 2023 budget. The revenue shortfalls will be compensated by the recent income tax increases and tax moratoria.
VILLARRUEL AT IT AGAIN
Speaking in the Senate, Vice-President Victoria Villarruel on Tuesday called for all cases involving the victims of “terrorism” before and during the 1976-83 military dictatorship to be reopened with all ex-members of the Montoneros guerrilla grouping “going to jail for leaving Argentina bloodstained.” She further accused the Kirchner presidencies (2003-15) of creating “a nest of impunity” by covering up their crimes, even “boasting of the atrocious crimes of terrorism.” According to Villarruel, it was “frankly dangerous to denounce the crimes of those protected by Néstor [Kircher]and Cristina [Fernández de] Kirchner.” August 27 has been the International Day for the Commemoration of the Victims of Terrorism since established by the United Nations in 2017. The event was held with Villarruel’s La Libertad Avanza under fire after half a dozen of its deputies visited former military officers convicted for crimes against humanity in Ezeiza Prison last month with one of those deputies (Lourdes Arrieta) quitting the caucus over this issue on the same day Villarruel was speaking.
SUPREME COURT CHOICE VETTED
Constitutional lawyer and academic Manuel García-Mansilla appeared before the Senate Appointments Committee last Wednesday to defend his Supreme Court nomination in a seven-hour session where he expressed himself in favour of alternating provincial governors but against dollarisation if it involved confiscation of bank deposits while fudging on his well-known pro-life stance on abortion. Asked who had offered him a Supreme Court bench, García-Mansilla named presidential spin doctor Santiago Caputo. Co-nominee Ariel Lijo had defended his candidacy the previous Wednesday. Neither man has any certainty of Senate approval.
LA RIOJA DEFAULTS
The La Rioja provincial government informed the Stock Exchange in a letter dated August 23 that it would not be making any payments on its debts because it is still negotiating with its creditors. Earlier this year the province headed by hardline Peronist Governor Ricardo Quintela (who aspires to replace ex-president Alberto Fernández in the Justicialist Party chair) created its own “chacho” currency.
MAYOR FIGHTS FOR BUSES
City Mayor Jorge Macri on Wednesday pleaded with the Javier Milei national administration to maintain transport subsidies in the AMBA Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area because otherwise “the companies will collapse or bus fares will go up …causing people immense anguish.” Macri also confirmed that 31 bus lines are in the process of being transferred to City Hall hands within the next month. Without subsidies the mínimum bus fare stands to rise from 371 to 642 pesos, according to City Hall’s calculations. Meanwhile, UTA bus drivers union is on a state of alert.
MERCADO LIBRE ON ATTACK
Mercado Libre last Monday denounced 36 banks for “cartelisation” before the CNDC anti-monopoly watchdog, accusing them of jeopardising the fintech industry and its users via its MODO network in competition with the Mercado Pago created by Marcos Galperín’s company.
MAD MEN (AND WOMEN)
Former Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta last Tuesday formally launched his own political grouping MAD (Movimiento al Desarrollo) with proposals “neither libertarían nor Kirchnerite” working towards a mixed economy. His most prominent recruits are Senator Guadalupe Tagliaferri as the movement’s chair, former City Culture minister Pablo Avelluto as its secretary-general and the businessman Nicolás Caputo.
PAEDOPHILE POLITICIAN NABBED
Germán Kiczka, 44, (a Misiones provincial deputy until expelled from the Legislature last week) was arrested in Corrientes on Wednesday night after being on the run for a week. His computer and personal telephone was found to contain 603 multimedia files of child abuse, zoophilia and incest which he distributed nationwide. His brother Sebastián, also investigated as part of the paedophile ring, is also sought but had not been apprehended at press time.
ANOTHER SEX SCANDAL
Alejandro Wiebe, better known as the television personality “Marley”, was accused last Thursday of sexual abuse back in 2008 by pianist Adrián Molina, who said that he still felt the psychological damage. The celebrity denies the allegations.
LESS PROTECTION AGAINST GENDER VIOLENCE
The government has informed that in future there will be no assistance for women or LGBT persons who are victims of gender violence prior to that situation being confirmed via a denunciation to the courts or to the police, according to Decree 755/2024 signed by Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Liberona and published in the Official Gazette last Monday and amending the access programme created by the now dissolved Women, Gender and Diversity Ministry. The economic assistance will also be cut from six to three mínimum wages with the Justice Ministry complaining that this money was often diverted to political ends.
HASSLES ACROSS THE ANDES
The Chilean Air Force deployed fighters in the skies over Punta Arenas last Tuesday after detecting a presumed violation of its air space by Argentina. Santiago’s Defence Ministry is still investigating the precise nature of the violation while Argentina’s Defence Ministry assured that there were no Air Force aircraft in the zone at the time. Last April there was a frontier incident when a Patagonian military base installed solar panels three metres into Chilean territory.
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