SUPREME COURT JUSTICES DECREED
The government announced on Tuesday that the judges Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla had been appointed Supreme Court justices by decree after the Senate had failed to approve their nominations by the required two-thirds majority in almost a year, claiming presidential prerogative and after “all instances had been exhausted.” These appointments “in commission” run until the end of the next parliamentary year, a period for which Lijo has requested leave as a federal judge. The Casa Rosada justified the move by pointing out that the Supreme Court “cannot function normally with only three justices” but there was a general outcry of criticism from all opposition parties, as well as from Juan Carlos Maqueda (Supreme Court justice until late last year) although some were more vocal than others. On the same day Milei, finding the Senate similarly inactive on the diplomatic front, decreed the appointment of Alejandro “Alec” Oxenford (nominated last November) as the new Argentine ambassador to the United States even if ambassadorial appointments constitutionally require Senate approval. On Thursday Supreme Court Chief Justice swore in García-Mansilla while Lijo will have to wait until next Thursday, pending his leave of absence as federal judge.
STATE OF THE NATION
President Javier Milei will be opening this year’s ordinary sessions of Congress at 8.45pm tonight with a speech carried by nationwide broadcast (only his third). The transmission of his address will be against a backdrop of the Cryptogate scandal and his controversial decision to decree the appointment of Supreme Court justices. On the orders of presidential chief-of-staff Karina Milei, no photographers other than the official will be admitted to the Legislative Assembly for the first time in the history of democracy while the space available to the press will be halved in favour of La Libertad Avanza militants. Last weekend found Milei in the United States to attend a CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) event, which included a speech and a handshake from his US counterpart Donald Trump along with some general praise but nothing more concrete than an invitation to visit the White House in the next few months.
WIN SOME, LOSE SOME
Last weekend President Javier Milei decreed the transformation of the YCRT (Yacimiento Carbonífero de Río Turbio) Patagonian coal mine from a public enterprise to a limited company but a similar move with regard to Banco Nación (announced on February 19) ran into court resistance only two days later. The difference between the two cases is that the YCRT remains on the list of companies to be privatised in the ‘Ley de Bases’ whereas Banco Nación was excluded by Congress. La Plata federal judge Alejo Ramos Padilla used this argument in his Tuesday injunction to suspend the decree transforming Banco Nación, arguing that it could only be privatised by Congress and considering this decree a prior step to privatisation.
TELE-MONOPOLY?
Confirmation that Telefónica Argentina is being bought up by Grupo Clarín via Telecom prompted the government to release an official communiqué last Monday ordering an immediate intervention of the ENACOM (Ente Nacional de Comunicaciones) and CNDC (Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia) regulatory agencies to evaluate if a potential monopoly is in the making, pointing out that this purchase could lead to around 70 percent of telecommunications services being concentrated into a single group which had enjoyed decades of state benefits. The statement pointed out that free competition is vital for keeping inflation under control. The Telecom purchase would see Movistar, Movistar TV, Tuenti, Telefónica, Personal (ex-Fibertel) and Flow all in the same hands.
HIDROVÍA TENDER NIXED
The government last Monday officially quashed the controversial Hidrovía waterway tender, also calling for a court investigation of possible anti-competitive manoeuvres. The tender on February 12 only received one offer from the Belgian company Dredging, Environmental and Marine Engineering NV (DEME) following the surprise withdrawal of fellow-Belgians Jan de Nul, the current dredging operators and frontrunners to continue, pleading a “vicious media campaign” against them and stiffer conditions being required. Guaranteeing the continuity of a waterway moving 80 percent of the country’s exports is now up to the government, which is seeking explanations from the other companies which pulled out of the tender.
NICE TRY?
Early this week Manhattan judge Loretta Preska gave the Argentine state and YPF until last Tuesday to endorse a presentation by the NGO Republican Action for Argentina (made on February 17) calling on her to quash her ruling condemning the state to pay US$16.1 billion to the hedge funds Burford Capital and Eton Park for the flawed 2012 nationalisation of YPF oil company. The presentation not only called for suspension of the trial but also a criminal investigation into the plaintiffs, ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the Eskenazi family, arguing that the latter had acquired 25 percent of the shares against inflated future dividends without paying a cent. But legal experts doubted whether an argument already deployed prior to the previous Frente de Todos government could prosper at this late stage. The case of the hedge funds is based on the minority shareholders being ignored when the Cristina Kirchner administration expropriated 51 percent of the shares then held by the majority shareholder, Spain’s Repsol, paying them US$5 billion in sovereign bonds.
TEACHER STRIKES
Teacher unions grouped in the CGT labour umbrella called a 24-hour strike last Monday with another to follow next Wednesday (after the long Carnival weekend), thus delaying the start of classes in at least 13 jurisdictions (this city, Chubut, Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, Mendoza, Salta, San Juan, San Luis, Santa Cruz and Santa Fe). The Human Capital Ministry summoned the unions to the negotiating table the same afternoon but the unionists complained about a minimum salary of 420,000 pesos as being “below the line of destitution.” Buenos Aires Province teachers protested outside the Education Ministry (now Secretariat) on Monday morning.
PENSION PROTEST
Several people were arrested and others slightly injured (including two policemen) in a police crackdown on last week’s edition of the regular midweek pension protest outside Congress. Dozens of policemen descended to disperse some 500 pensioners and leftist sympathisers, using tear gas which caused suffering to several demonstrators.
KIM MOURNED
The tragic death of seven-year-old Kim Gómez, dragged to her death in La Plata when caught under the wheels of a car stolen by two teenagers aged 14 and 17, has not only led to a massive public outcry against crime in general but also an acceleration of the government drive to lower the age of criminal responsibility to 13 in particular, as spearheaded by Security Minister Patricia Bullrich who blamed a “useless” Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof.
WHERE’S LIAN?
No news at press time on three-year-old Lian Flores of Córdoba, who in the past week has replaced Loan Peña of Corrientes as the missing child most in the public eye.
HAT IN THE RING
Former two-term City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta confirmed last Monday that he would be running in this year’s midterms while yet to define whether he would be a candidate for the Senate, Congress or the City legislature. In an extensive text entitled “Vuelvo” (“I’m back”) published in his social networks, Rodríguez Larreta announced his comeback with “a great team,” describing today’s city as “degraded and dirty” with criminals escaping from pólice stations on the loose. The party co-founder affirmed: “PRO has lost its identity,” expressing total opposition to handing it over to President Javier Milei.
PONZI SCHEME SENTENCED
The Goya court in the northeastern province of Corrientes on Tuesday sentenced Leonardo Cositorto, the author of the Generación Zoe Ponzi scheme to 12 years in prison for fraud. The prosecution had asked for 16 years. Three co-defendants were sentenced to eight years while two others were acquitted. All the accused await further trials in the provinces of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Santa Fe and Salta. Describing himself as a Protestant minister, Cositorto responded to his sentence by saying that he would run for the Buenos Aires provincial assembly.
MORE TERRORISTS
The Security Ministry last Tuesday declared the Venezuelan drug cartel Tren de Aragua a “terrorist organisation,” even though there is no record of its activities on Argentine soil. Tren de Aragua, along with three other Latin American cartels, was declared a terrorist organisation by the Donald Trump government in the United States last week. In mid-February the Security Ministry had also branded the RAM (Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche) indigenous movement headed by Facundo Jones Huala as a terrorist organisation.
WE DON’T NEED NO (SEX) EDUCATION
The national government’s drive to eliminate ESI (Educación Sexual Integral) from this year’s classroom content as “indoctrination” has run into resistance from 13 provinces (Buenos Aires (PBA), Córdoba, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Formosa, Jujuy, La Pampa, La Rioja, Mendoza, Salta, San Luis, Santa Fe and Tierra del Fuego) or over half who assure its continuity. Only four provinces (Río Negro, Santa Cruz, Santiago del Estero and Tucumán) will toe the government line while the other districts are ambiguous. Advocates of ESI argue the urgency of reducing teenage pregnancies. Only Buenos Aires Province and Santa Fe have budgets to accompany and protect trans children.
Comments