News of opinion and analysis

Mourners attend a rosary prayer in Saint Peter's Square on the day of Pope Francis' death in Vatican City

A simple funeral for Pope Francis becomes conduit to see Trump

Today 14:26 Funeral for Pope Francis risks being turned into high-profile stage for international diplomacy at a moment of geopolitical turmoil.

A delegation of the Argentine Holocaust Museum takes part in the March of the Living to honour the victims of the Holocaust in front of the main gate with the lettering 'Arbeit macht frei' (Work sets you free) at the Auschwitz Birkenau Memorial and Museum at the site of the former German Nazi concentration and extermination camp in Oswiecim, Poland, on April 24, 2025. The March of the Living in 2025 from the former Auschwitz I to Auschwitz II-Birkenau camps is dedicated to the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II and the liberation of the concentration camps in Nazi-occupied Europe, according to organisers.

REMEMBRANCE

Everyone needs to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau

Today 14:00 At this potentially dark hour, the Holocaust should serve as a message of what could lie ahead, if we continue fan the flames of hatred and fear.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Jorge Bergoglio with Néstor Kirchner; Pope Francis with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner; with Mauricio Macri and Julia Awada; and with Alberto Fernández.

THE PONTIFF & POLITICS

A political Pope – probing Francis’ ties with Argentina’s presidents

23-04-2025 11:52 The man formerly known as Jorge Bergoglio recognised himself as being a political figure, long before his arrival in Rome. He once declared: "Christians should not be apolitical." A look at his links with Néstor Kirchner, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, Mauricio Macri, Alberto Fernández and Javier Milei.

Nur Azman Rahim, Ambassador of Malaysia to Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.

GUEST COLUMN

Malaysia’s capital control (cepo) success – a journey beginning in Buenos Aires

19-04-2025 06:03 Malaysia’s success highlights the importance of policy credibility, clarity of purpose and exit strategy in the use of capital controls.

Milei and the International Monetary Fund.

POLITICS & ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Milei dreams of re-election – with IMF's help

19-04-2025 06:00 Whether signing an IMF deal represents a “day of liberation” or one of mourning, it lifts a cloud of uncertainty and allows the political ecosystem to focus on upcoming elections.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

As I see it

Milei goes low in an effort to get high

19-04-2025 06:00 To get the big electoral majority he is after, Milei will have to persuade such people that he is the man, as was Juan Domingo Perón in his moment and after him, Carlos Menem and Néstor Kirchner.

by James Neilson

Analysing Argentina

Milei and the bicycle temptation

19-04-2025 06:00 The Milei government is confident it can make it to the midterm elections in October without major volatility. But this relative calm — won by force of debt — should not obscure the storm that was brewing before the cash injection.

by Marcelo J. García

Campaign comments

First day of the rest of the year

19-04-2025 06:00 Economists have hailed the exit from the cepo as a milestone but this columnist hesitates to consider it an electoral game-changer – there is both too much and too little time for that.

by Michael Soltys

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

Trump’s China trade war is forcing Latin America to pick a side

15-04-2025 14:02 Intensifying battle between world’s two largest economies has left governments grappling with the reality that their days of doing big business with Beijing without serious blowback from Washington are numbered.

A man holds a sign that reads 'Milei swindler. No to the IMF' during a protest of pensioners and union members against the government of Argentina's President Javier Milei in front of the National Congress in Buenos Aires on April 9, 2025

ARGENTINA & THE IMF

Another IMF loan: for Argentina, it’s Groundhog Day

12-04-2025 15:24 Generations of Argentines feel their country is trapped in a recurring cycle: yet another loan from the International Monetary Fund to rescue a volatile economy.

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Milei gains 'breathing room' from his ties with Trump

12-04-2025 11:54 The support President Milei has garnered from the Trump administration stands in stark contrast to the mounting challenges on the home front.

by Pablo Varela

As I see it

Trump has China in the crosshairs

12-04-2025 05:41 The 19th century belonged to the United Kingdom, the 20th to the United States. And the 21st?

by James Neilson

Milei and Argentina caught in Trump's trade war with China.

Global politics – Analysis

Trump, Milei and how to lose the trust of markets and voters

12-04-2025 05:37 Trump stepped back from the edge, at least momentarily, even though he is keeping his finger on the trigger.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Analysing Argentina

Careful Javier, the ‘caste’ smells blood

12-04-2025 05:29 Legislators who had until now been cooperative or aloof toward confrontation with Milei are changing their tune, in line with what they hear from their constituencies.

by Marcelo J. García

Campaign comments

And so it begins

12-04-2025 05:22 This year’s midterm voting begins tomorrow in the major province of Santa Fe with the constituent assembly elections.

by Michael Soltys

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Milei launches new economic phase, with nod to middle class

11-04-2025 23:56 Casa Rosada expresses satisfaction as alignment with Trump bears fruit and secures an unprecedented initial disbursement from the International Monetary Fund.

EURO TRADE PLANS

EU races to expand two-trillion-euro trade network as US links sour

11-04-2025 13:49 The European Union is racing to clinch trade deals with countries around the world in an effort to diversify away from an increasingly protectionist United States.

President Javier Milei and Chinese Premier Xi Jinping.

ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

IMF deal fine print could disrupt China swap renewal

10-04-2025 05:36 In June, the grace period China granted Javier Milei expires. Washington is already pressuring Buenos Aires over the currency swap, with US$6.5 billion remaining frozen.

by Eugenia Muzio

BLOOMBERG - ANALYSIS

Milei needs rush of soy dollars to calm peso sell-off in Argentina

09-04-2025 17:42 Like his predecessors, President Javier Milei is depending on the soy harvest to manage one of the word’s most volatile currencies.

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

Axel advances elections, disobeying CFK – has a new Peronist leader been born?

09-04-2025 14:42 As in any risky play, the decision has an effect of uncertainty and could expose the governor to undesired consequences.

Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner’s supporters rally near the former Public Works Ministry in Buenos Aires, which displays a façade featuring a huge image of Eva Perón.

BLOOMBERG - FEATURE

Milei tries erasing Argentina’s history to lure foreign investment

08-04-2025 09:04 Argentina’s president is desperate to woo foreign investors. But he's had more success tearing down physical symbols of the old guard than untangling the web of red tape it left behind.

What's at stake in a US$20,000-steaks case.

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Milei's private dinners, cash and political transparency

07-04-2025 11:09 What's at stake in a US$20,000-steaks case...

Election time: Milei with Trump's support.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Midterms North and South

05-04-2025 06:48 Midterm results have tended to be adverse in both the United States and Argentina, from a government standpoint. In the former, a mere two of those 10 contests have gone the way of the presidential party – in the latter, the margin is narrower.

by Michael Soltys

President Javier Milei and his libertarian crew.

As I see it

Sailing blithely into the maelstrom

05-04-2025 06:15 Like Donald Trump with his error-prone minions, Javier Milei is accompanied by an entourage which includes far too many individuals who are unsuited for high office.

by James Neilson

Analysing Argentina

Can Cristina Fernández de Kirchner be the next Donald Trump?

05-04-2025 06:13 It is difficult to imagine a Fernández de Kirchner comeback à la Trump. Or rather, her comeback has already happened, no matter how much she denies it

by Marcelo J. García

POLITICS & ECONOMY – ANALYSIS

Milei: a tourist in Mar-a-Lago

05-04-2025 06:10 As Donald Trump rattles up the world with his tariffs, things are heating up domestically for President Javier Milei.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

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

POVERTY ASSESSMENT

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

01-04-2025 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

01-04-2025 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