News of opinion and analysis

A homeless man sits on a street corner of Palermo neighbourhood in Buenos Aires on March 31, 2025.

‘Not much to celebrate’ despite fall in poverty, says expert

Yesterday 13:13 Leading poverty expert Agustín Salvia, of UCA’s prestigious social debt observatory, digs into the figures after INDEC reports dramatic fall in numbers of poor.

POLLING & SURVEYS

Latin Americans split on retaliation as Trump’s tariffs loom

Yesterday 12:19 Half of Mexicans, Argentines and Brazilians want their governments to retaliate to Trump’s tariffs, with slightly smaller shares of Colombians and Chileans saying the same.

Candidates heading lists in the Buenos Aires City 2025 midterms.

POLITICS: MIDTERMS 2025

Who’s who: The candidates heading lists for Buenos Aires City midterms

30-03-2025 10:01 Main candidates are already defined for the Buenos Aires City midterms in May – Silvia Lospennato, Leandro Santoro, Manuel Adorni, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and Ramiro Marra are the names that head the highest-polling options.

Milei rides into space on Musk's SpaceX rocket.

Analysing Argentina

Will Elon Musk’s plumber pay for Milei’s trips abroad?

29-03-2025 06:11 There is reason behind the IMF’s decision to throw its weight behind President Milei, which means partnering with his political objectives too.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Tales of the blue (dollar)

29-03-2025 06:11 Milei and Caputo have promised to lift the 'cepo' currency controls. It won’t signal the end of the 'blue,' but it should reduce its importance and the wild fluctuations that voraciously mint millionaires and, at the same speed, erase their fortunes.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

The chainsaw crew? Milei, Trump, Sturzenegger.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Towards a smarter state

29-03-2025 06:11 The libertarian government seems intent on cutting back a bloated state to its right size without having any clear idea what that size might be.

by Michael Soltys

View of Casa Rosada presidential palace on November 20, 2023

IMF DEBT PROGRAMME

Argentina says its new IMF programme will total US$20 billion

27-03-2025 15:00 The economy minister added that funds combined from the IMF, World Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and regional bank CAF would put Argentina’s Central Bank reserves near US$50 billion.

Argentina's Economy Minister Luis Caputo and the head of the International Monetary Fund, Kristalina Georgieva.

ANALYSIS

How many dollars does Luis Caputo need to reach the midterms?

27-03-2025 00:39 The market is spotlighting fresh funds. The blend could be a bargaining-chip for exchange rate intervention. Central Bank reserves back to levels of late 2023.

by Eugenia Muzio

Javier Milei’s government is devaluing the Argentine peso by one percent each month using what’s known as a crawling peg.

ANALYSIS: SHOCK THERAPY

Traders bet on weaker peso as Milei’s IMF deal looms

26-03-2025 21:39 Investors see Argentina’s peso on the verge of devaluation again, but for Javier Milei, such a step could prove costly – especially ahead of midterm elections in October.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

'Cepo' in review

22-03-2025 07:53 It might well be argued that the ‘cepo,’ the seemingly endless set of currency and capital controls, has been a bane of Argentina’s existence.

by Michael Soltys

As I see it

The old order is fighting back

22-03-2025 07:45 Milei has managed to apply a much-needed corrective to a political order that, until he took over, seemed to have been programmed to destroy both itself and the country.

by James Neilson

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Autumn is coming for Javier Milei

22-03-2025 07:41 Last week, we discussed how an electoral agreement with the governor of Chaco signalled a possible pattern. This week, Chaco Governor Leandro Zdero received a 120-billion-peso transfer from the federal government. Just don’t tell the IMF.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Political hegemony turning to pathetic circus

22-03-2025 07:14 Market jitters have pushed the government into a defensive posture, in which Economy Minister Luis ‘Toto’ Caputo appears to have involuntarily flamed the fans of devaluation.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

‘Buenos Aires, The Biography of a City’ by James Gardner, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2015, 245 pages.

BOOK REVIEW

Will we always have Paris?

21-03-2025 11:11 ‘Buenos Aires, The Biography of a City’ by James Gardner, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 2015, 245 pages.

by Michael Soltys

ypf nationalisation case

Burford met with silence from Milei over US$16-billion YPF judgment

21-03-2025 10:33 Argentina faces a US$16-billion court judgment over its nationalisation of oil company YPF. But the firm that won the case says President Javier Milei won't talk to them.

Buenos Aires City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.

POLITICS

Rodríguez Larreta confirms midterms run after PRO expulsion talk

18-03-2025 21:58 Former Buenos Aires City mayor confirms run in May 18 City midterms; He will likely do so under a new banner – a reaction to reported move by PRO members to expel him.

by James Grainger

Shoppers browse products in a supermarket in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Argentina disinflation stalled despite strength of the peso

15-03-2025 10:52 Economists surveyed by Argentina’s Central Bank expect year-on-year inflation to plunge to 23% this year.

AS I SEE IT

Demography should help the US keep China at bay

15-03-2025 07:46 Despite the fact that demography has always been China’s not so secret weapon, in recent years it has become a major problem that seems certain to put a premature end to the imperial dreams of Xi and his immediate successors.

by James Neilson

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Is Donald Trump good for Argentina?

15-03-2025 07:40 Trump’s new transactional and short-term economic order overlaps with a new gangster-style and hyper-materialistic political order.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

Chaco Province Governor Leandro Zdero and President Javier Milei.

POLITICS

Chaco and Milei’s electoral strategy for October

15-03-2025 07:36 Chaco shows that Milei is willing to seal alliances with the local political establishment — a.k.a. “the caste” — as it best suits them. And the Casa Rosada has leverage in this negotiation with the governors: cash.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Violence and institutional informality

15-03-2025 07:29 There are serious questions as to what happened on the streets outside Congress, but it clearly helped to distract the attention away from what was going on inside Congress and in the troubled port city of Bahía Blanca.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

While conspiracy theories are wildly fashionable in today’s world, accidents can also happen.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The Ides of March

15-03-2025 07:21 While conspiracy theories are wildly fashionable in today’s world, accidents can also happen.

by Michael Soltys

Football fans take part in a protest of pensioners against the government of President Javier Milei in Buenos Aires on March 12, 2025.

FOOTBALL & POLITICS

Football fans put rivalries aside to stand up for pensioners

13-03-2025 00:39 As this week’s protest against President Javier Milei's government proves, supporters are willing to put aside their differences to fight a perceived injustice.

by Dan Edwards

Diners at a restaurant in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

ANALYSIS: SHOCK THERAPY

Argentines ditch dining out as Milei’s policies strengthen peso

12-03-2025 13:58 President’s self-titled “shock therapy” of economic policies are making the country’s currency so expensive it’s doubled dinner tabs at restaurants that were booming not so long ago.

Bahía Blanca Mayor Federico Susbielles warned last Sunday that the city’s reconstruction will demand "over 400 billion pesos," a figure which reflects the magnitude of the terrible damage left by the storm.

Tragedy in Bahía Blanca

The politics of distance

11-03-2025 13:07 Not even a symbolic gesture of accompaniment at a time when the population feels abandoned.

by Eduardo Reina

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Transportation electrification is coming, but will it spark a broader shift?

11-03-2025 11:19 From the heart of Buenos Aires to remote corners of Patagonia, the electrification of transportation is gaining momentum, driven by a convergence of innovation, government support and a broad push for modernisation.

by Heliana Veronica Higbie

Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei flew this week to Canada to lead the country’s delegation to one of the largest mining shows on Earth.

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Exit rigging, enter RIGI

08-03-2025 06:00 Argentina has, many times in its recent past, seen long-term sustainability ruined by short-term objectives.

by Marcelo J. García

Vélez Sarsfield coach Gustavo Quinteros.

Football in Argentina

Vélez Sarsfield: From success to staggering slump

08-03-2025 06:00 The reigning Liga Profesional champions are sinking without a trace in 2025 with little sign of respite on the horizon for now.

by Dan Edwards

The political “iron triangle” that run the show.

POLITICAL ANALYSIS

Challenging Milei’s ‘iron triangle’

08-03-2025 06:00 The Donald holds the keys to Milei’s future.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Distaff dismantled

08-03-2025 06:00 Female suffrage arrived in Argentina in 1947 with Law 13,010, more commonly known as the “Ley Evita” after Eva Perón who announced it in person, with women voting for the first time in the 1951 elections.

by Michael Soltys

AS I SEE IT

Alarm bells ringing in Europe

08-03-2025 06:00 Have the Europeans stumbled into the dependency trap? Trump and his cronies evidently think they have and therefore deserve to be treated like the supplicants they are.

by James Neilson

Argentine veteran reporter, radio presenter and host Marcelo Longobardi.

INTERVIEW / PERIODISMO PURO

Marcelo Longobardi: ‘Milei’s conduct with journalists identical to Kirchners’

08-03-2025 06:00 Veteran reporter, radio presenter and host Marcelo Longobardi – whose incisive criticism led both the Kirchner and Milei governments to force him off the air – offers a critical analysis of the state of journalism in Argentina.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

People walk in the street in the neighbourhood where at least 22 people were killed on the eve in Guayaquil, Ecuador, on March 7, 2025.

CRIME & SECURITY

Crime fears offer opening to conservative leaders

07-03-2025 18:06 Crime and drug-trafficking surpass corruption and the economy as top issues for Latin American voters, giving hard-on-crime conservatives a boost in the upcoming election cycle.

Argentina's Central Bank has slowed its monthly peso depreciation to 1% from 2%.

ANALYSIS: SHOCK THERAPY

All the currency, capital controls Milei needs to end this year

05-03-2025 12:00 Javier Milei has taken several steps to ease restrictions during his first year in office, but he entered 2025 with few indications that there will be a quick unwinding of the rules.

Santiago Caputo clashes with Facundo Manes.

POLITICS: CORRIDORS OF POWER

Santiago Caputo’s consecutive errors, government accelerates campaign mode

05-03-2025 10:25 Run of missteps by Javier Milei’s star spin doctor causes problems for the President.

by Ramón Indart

The moon rises above a mosque as Muslims leave after offering prayers on the first day of the Islamic holy fasting month of Ramadan in Rawalpindi on March 2, 2025.

GUEST COLUMN

The month of Ramadan: a new opportunity for reconciliation

04-03-2025 16:57 Let us not forget in our thoughts and prayers those corners of the globe where fasting is not a choice, but an imposition and the consequence of war.

by Marwan Gill

President Donald Trump delivered on his threat to hit Canada and Mexico with sweeping import levies and doubled an existing charge on China.

Global trade

Trump escalates global trade war, sparking tit-for-tat tariffs

04-03-2025 12:27 Confirmation of the levies lays to rest doubts Trump would actually follow through on his repeated threats to upend global economic ties to counter what he casts as imbalanced trade.

ANALYSIS

Milei feels the heat of the $LIBRA scandal

01-03-2025 07:18 Milei is doubling down. Not only does he deny any wrongdoing, he’s also trying to push forward with his own agenda.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

As I see it

Hail to the chiefs

01-03-2025 06:15 Much of the world is reverting to an older formula in which it is taken for granted that everything depends on the whims of a handful of big men.

by James Neilson

Analysing Argentina

Flooding the zone might drown the Milei administration

01-03-2025 05:24 The fragility of Argentina’s economy demands sobriety and steadiness — something that zone-flooders may lack as they attempt to sow confusion.

by Marcelo J. García

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

State of the nation

01-03-2025 05:13 Milei has been riding the crest of the wave of this summer although the resulting hubris has caused him to fly into a cryptocurrency black swan.

by Michael Soltys

POLITICS

‘La ruta del dinero Karina’? Probing the reports of dirty Milei money

28-02-2025 10:00 Javier Milei’s government is undergoing its worst crisis yet, with questions and speculation over ‘Cryptogate’ and reports of shady characters wanting cash for access to the President. Behind the La Libertad Avanza leader, there is one person who runs everything related to him: his sister, Karina.

by Juan Luis González

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Hidden by crypto

22-02-2025 06:59 The Once train crash was technically a railway accident far more frequently dubbed a tragedy and a crime in not a few eyes – few transport disasters have been so heavily politicised even if two previous rail accidents had claimed more lives.

by Michael Soltys

‘Cryptogate’ scandal

$LIBRA: Javier Milei’s black swan moment

22-02-2025 06:59 The case is scandalous from all angles and while Milei will probably manage to survive and even thrive in its aftermath, the reputational damage is done.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Analysing Argentina

Milei’s long honeymoon is over, what happens next?

22-02-2025 06:32 For the first time since December 2023, Milei and his people lost control of the narrative … more than ever, Milei now relies on the success of his economic programme.

by Marcelo J. García

As I see it

Milei caught in a crypto spider web

22-02-2025 06:09 By associating himself with a cosmopolitan bunch of chancers, Milei has raised serious questions about the government he leads.

by James Neilson

Editorial

La $Libra no avanza

22-02-2025 06:05 There can be no excuse for a President turning into an influencer for such a risky venture. A trained economist should always check the facts before reaching conclusions.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Milei and the ‘$LIBRA’ scandal: How far does it go?

19-02-2025 15:20 Milei has a track record of reckless stances on troubled digital ventures. The consequences of the ‘$LIBRA’ scandal could be unpredictable and perhaps, it has only just begun.

by Javier Calvo

Javier Milei and his sister Karina Milei at a polling station during the presidential run-off in Buenos Aires in 2023.

'CRYPTOGATE' SCANDAL

Milei crypto scandal widens with allegations against his sister

19-02-2025 08:00 The political uproar over President Javier Milei’s role in a crypto scandal puts the spotlight on his closest adviser and gatekeeper: his sister Karina.

Argentina's President Javier Milei leaves the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires on February 17, 2025.

'CRYPTOGATE' SCANDAL

Explainer: ‘Cryptogate’ scandal involving Milei and Argentina

18-02-2025 17:49 Last Friday evening, Argentina's President Javier Milei promoted (or “shared,” according to his version of events) information about the ‘$LIBRA’ memecoin on social media. Just a few hours later, he was regretting the post.

Javier Milei speaks at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on January 23.

POLITICS & ECONOMY

Milei stumbles into crypto memecoin scandal before US trip

17-02-2025 14:27 President Javier Milei's government launches probe after Libra debacle; La Libertad Avanza leader hoping to meet Trump, secure fresh IMF funds in Washington.

As I see it

A cyberpunk at the helm

15-02-2025 06:10 Is Milei an astute operator who is merely playing the role of a foul-mouthed cyberpunk or is he simply showing the world the kind of person he really is?

by James Neilson

ANALYSING ARGENTINA

Cavallo, Milei and the elephant in the room

15-02-2025 06:08 Besides numbers, markets measure moods and tones. And the tone they got from President Javier Milei this week may not have been reassuring.

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS & ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Milei’s week of fury

15-02-2025 06:05 The market has doubts as to whether Milei and Caputo can sustain what is clearly a super strong peso, forcing them to come out publicly to defend their policy choices. The level of aggression with which they have defended their position suggests that the risks to their strategy are real.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Primaries (time and) Again Serve Oppositions

15-02-2025 06:05 Introduced little more than 15 years ago for less than noble reasons and widely rejected today as a waste of time and money, the PASO primaries will not be missed by many.

by Michael Soltys

Estudiantes embark on spending spree with US billionaire Foster Gillett’s support.

FOOTBALL IN ARGENTINA

Just what is going on with Estudiantes and Foster Gillett?

14-02-2025 13:30 After a January of reckless spending, serious doubts have emerged over US businessman Foster Gillett's economic dealings, raising questions about just what exactly is going on with their shadowy financier.

by Dan Edwards

President Javier Milei arrives to speak during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 24, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland.

Foreign relations & diplomacy

Trade war puts Milei’s Trump-first foreign policy to the test

14-02-2025 10:48 Javier Milei has spent his presidency cozying up to Donald Trump. But Argentina’s suddenly vulnerable position on tariffs demonstrates that not even friends are clear of Trump’s trade ire.

POLITICS & COURTS

Government sets March target for Supreme Court appointments

13-02-2025 13:41 Casa Rosada is seeking consensus for nominees Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla and its bid to appoint them to the nation’s highest court. But should support be lacking, it may resort to using decrees.

by Juan Pablo Kavanagh

This combination of pictures created on February 04, 2025 shows, L-R, US President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House on February 3, 2025, in Washington, DC and China's President Xi Jinping speaking in Macau on December 19, 2024.

GEOPOLITICS & DIPLOMACY

Gutting aid, US cedes soft power game to China

12-02-2025 14:52 Successive US administrations have vowed to wage a global competition with China. But by freezing nearly all US foreign aid, Washington has effectively ceded one of its main levers of influence.

Argentina's President Javier Milei addresses the United Nations General Assembly.

Foreign policy & diplomacy

Chronicle of an announced withdrawal

11-02-2025 10:44 Milei government anticipates its departure from the United Nations Human Rights Council, opting not to seek re-election for current mandate — an indirect way of accelerating its retreat. The move would reflect the new policy of alignment with Washington.

by Juan Gasparini

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Woke no joke

08-02-2025 06:55 “Woke” has become a pejorative for anything the new right considers excessively progressive, but too few people here seem to have any precise idea what it means.

Analysing Argentina

Can Kicillof break the spell?

08-02-2025 06:11 If the current political trajectory stands, Kicillof would face an uphill battle … but Argentina has shown in recent years that "impossible" is not in the local political dictionary.

by Marcelo J. García

Politics – Analysis

Milei the copycat

08-02-2025 06:06 Pegging Argentina’s foreign policy to the United States is a risky strategy.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Gaza waits as Trump and Netanyahu look on.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Trump and Gaza: No laughing matter

07-02-2025 10:01 What Trump wants to happen in Gaza is downright dangerous and could have dire consequences for a region that has triggered one war after another for decades.

by David Smith

As I see it

Mar-a-Lago on the Med

07-02-2025 09:58 Why is Trump’s suggestion being derided as hopelessly far-fetched and reactionary?

by James Neilson

GEOPOLITICS

Trump flashes newfound imperialist streak in White House return

06-02-2025 13:09 US presient's surprise proposition to take control of the Gaza Strip is just the latest signal that his new foreign policy doctrine revolves around expanding the US footprint across the globe.

Handout picture released by Venezuela's Presidency shows Venezuela's president Nicolás Maduro speaking with US President Donald Trump's special envoy Richard Grenell at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas on January 31, 2025.

US-VENEZUELA RELATIONS

Has Trump changed tack on Venezuela and Maduro?

03-02-2025 09:34 US President Donald Trump may be adjusting the hard-line approach he adopted toward Caracas during his first term.

INTERVIEW / PERIODISMO PURO

‘Trump is the catalyst,’ agree former ambassadors to China

01-02-2025 09:44 Argentina’s two most recent ambassadors to China, Diego Guelar and Sabino Vaca Narvaja, discuss the chessboard facing the world’s two key powers as Donald Trump begins a new term in the United States.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

Employees of the CONICET scientific research institute stage a workers' assembly.

SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY

Milei’s chainsaw slashes funds for science, research institutes

01-02-2025 09:12 President Javier Milei’s government has drastically reduced the budgets of the CONICET scientific research council, INTA agricultural technology body and ARSAT satellite firm – now entire programmes are being eliminated.

by Andrea Gentil

As I see it

The quest for the new philosopher’s stone

01-02-2025 09:07 For good or ill, Artificial Intelligence is the philosopher’s stone of the age we are living in.

by James Neilson