News of history

Peru's president signs military crimes amnesty bill into law

Yesterday 17:36 Peruvian President Dina Boluarte signs controversial bill granting amnesty to military personnel, police and members of civilian self-defence units over a bloody 1980-2000 campaign against leftist guerrillas.

HISTORY & CULTURE

Peñico: Peruvian citadel that is nearly 4,000 years old opens doors to tourists

14-07-2025 10:20 Site of 3,800-year-old citadel from the Caral civilisation, one of the oldest in the world and located in northern Peru, opens to the public after eight years of scientific studies and restoration work.

TV & STREAMING

New Carlos Menem series hits the small screen

09-07-2025 17:09 Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service premieres new series about Argentina’s former president Carlos Menem, who led the nation from 1989 to 1999, on Independence Day.

Campaign comments

On a mission in omission

07-06-2025 06:34 Voting for provincial deputies in Misiones is more likely to be a landslide for the local ruling party than any electoral earthquake.

by Michael Soltys

Independence claim

Small island of Annobón seeks recognition from Argentina

03-06-2025 10:18 Separatists on the tiny African island of Annobón, part of Equatorial Guinea, appeal to Argentina for support for its independence claim, citing historical ties to viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

BOOKS & LITERATURE

Things ain’t what they used to be – and nor were they then

23-05-2025 15:12 'Crisis social, pandemia y colonialismo inglés: una mirada de la Argentina a través del sainete y del seminario Don Quijote de Eduardo Sojo'; by Victoria Cox, Ediciones Diotima, 2024, 96 pages.

by Michael Soltys

NAZI DISCOVERY

Nazi documents found in Supreme Court archives

11-05-2025 21:39 Hoard of World War II-era Nazi propaganda and membership documents unearthed in the basement of Argentina's Supreme Court, where it has lain, stashed in champagne crates, since 1941.

PROFILE: Leo XIV

New pontiff Leo XIV spent decades amid the poor in Peru

08-05-2025 21:34 Robert Francis Prevost was born in Chicago but also has a Latin American connection, after spending much of his career in Peru before moving to Rome under Francis’ guidance.

REMEMBRANCE

Everyone needs to go to Auschwitz-Birkenau

25-04-2025 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

IMF DEBT PROGRAMME

Argentina and the International Monetary Fund: A long, tricky history

12-04-2025 09:29 Argentina, which has a track record of economic crises and hyperinflation, is already the IMF's biggest debtor, ahead even of war-torn Ukraine.

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.

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

On this day...

The day Argentina declared war on the Axis

27-03-2025 15:18 On March 27, 1945, 80 years ago, Argentina put an end to neutrality. “A state of war” was officially declared between the Argentine Republic and Germany, “in view of the latter's status as an ally of Japan.”

by Leonardo Torresi

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

EMOTIONAL FAMILY RETRIEVAL

Daughters scale Argentine peak, retrieve dead mountaineer dad's photos

04-03-2025 16:34 Sisters recover backpack of mountain-conquering father Guillermo Vieiro, who died in 1985 while descending Argentina's Tupungato volcanic peak, one of the highest peaks in the Americas.

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

BUENOS AIRES CITY

Renovation of Luna Park approved by commission

21-02-2025 10:48 Controversial proposal to renovate Luna Park venue in Buenos clears first round of approval; Heritage organisations voice warning for iconic symbol of city’s cultural and athletic history.

by Zella Milfred

CAPTURING HISTORY

Presidential photographer hangs up camera after 47 years

06-02-2025 23:55 Víctor Bugge, presidential photographer who captured Videla, Menem and the Rolling Stones, retires after 47 years.

Football in Argentina

Summer football has forsaken its spiritual home

17-01-2025 11:54 (Disclaimer: The following column is full of unabated nostalgia and old-man-yells-at-cloud aimless ranting. When asked for an explanation, the author professed that it is very hot in Buenos Aires right now and that has him in a foul mood. For actual up-to-date information, please consult elsewhere in today's newspaper)

by Dan Edwards

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Death be not proud

02-01-2025 18:10 Jimmy Carter and Jorge Lanata contrasted in many ways, the one profoundly humanitarian, the other deeply human.

by Michael Soltys

FILM & CINEMA

'I'm Still Here': Oscar buzz for ode to Brazil resistance

02-01-2025 16:26 Honoured in Venice, Brazilian film 'I'm Still Here' is a contender for a Golden Globe this Sunday and even possibly for the Oscars. Its director Walter Salles and star Fernanda Torres explains why this cinematic a message of "resistance" is important amid a rise in support for the far right.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

G20 or 19+1?

23-11-2024 06:00 Argentina was an odd man out in the G20 long before the shaggy libertarian embarked on his solitary crusade against Agenda 2030.

by Michael Soltys

HUMAN RIGHTS

Almost 50 years on, French families still seeking answers about disappeared relatives

22-11-2024 11:14 Almost 50 years on, families are still seeking answers about French citizens who disappeared in Argentina in the late 1970s, during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship’s reign of terror. Last week’s visit to Buenos Aires by French President Emmanuel Macron put the topic back on the agenda.

ARGENTINA

The world's largest dinosaur arrives in Patagonia

09-11-2024 15:18 The world’s largest known dinosaur has found its permanent home in Patagonia. As of Saturday, November 9, the colossal Patagotitan Mayorum, stretching 40 meters in length and standing nine meters tall, will be on display at the Egidio Feruglio Paleontological Museum, inviting awe from all who visit.

POLITICS

The 'Caputo Clan': A family linked to politics and power

02-11-2024 07:36 The Caputo family has been involved in Argentina's politics for some time, though its most recent star, presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, was an unknown until Javier Milei rose to office. A look at the family tree of a clan long linked to politics and power.

by Giselle Leclercq

MIDDLE EAST

World marks first anniversary of October 7 attack on Israel

07-10-2024 07:37 Global commemorations mark first anniversary of Hamas's deadly October 7 attack, with memorials held to honour the victims and the hostages still in captivity in Gaza.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Poverty lies under the mattress

05-10-2024 06:06 Idle capital amounting to over half of Gross Domestic Product surely goes a long way towards explaining why over half the population is poor.

by Michael Soltys

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

The whys and whens of decline

07-09-2024 05:08 Analysts of Argentina’s decline understandably focus on the whys but there is a strong case for saying that they are inextricably intertwined with the whens.

by Michael Soltys

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

When ugly ducklings are black swans

31-08-2024 05:27 How can the libertarian creed possibly have anything in common with the totalitarian model of a military dictatorship?

by Michael Soltys

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

Liberating the Liberator

17-08-2024 06:31 Today is the 174th anniversary of the death of independence hero José de San Martín – but he has become so frozen in marble that his humanity escapes our grasp.

by Michael Soltys

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

No economising economists

13-07-2024 07:44 The atomisation of economic thinking prevails far beyond the ministerial level in Argentina.

by Michael Soltys

OPINION & ANALYSIS

Poverty has no limit in Argentina

22-06-2024 05:28 Argentina’s food crisis and the profound reasons for structural decay. How we reached the current state of emergency, from the Kirchners to Milei.

by Alejandra Daiha

Science & Nature

In Darwin's footsteps: scientists recreate historic 1830s expedition

30-05-2024 12:45 Sarah Darwin, the great-great-granddaughter of Charles Darwin, is one of a group of scientists and environmentalists who have sailed from Plymouth to the Galapagos over the last year.

FEATURE

Norberto Milei: The unknown story of the President’s father

25-05-2024 05:27 How President Javier Milei’s father went from being a bus-driver to businessman. His lost trials for tax evasion and the companies he formed with his daughter, Karina, to manage millions of dollars. The scenes of physical and psychological violence which distanced him from his son.

by Juan Luis González

CATHOLIC CHURCH

Before dawn at the Vatican Museums, the key keeper unlocks history

15-02-2024 12:44 Gianni Crea, the Vatican's keeper of over 2,000 keys, oversees unlocking every door of the museum before visitors arrive.

Archaeology

Roads, farming threaten Ecuador 'lost city' complex

14-02-2024 06:37 The remains of a massive 2,500-year-old network of Ecuadorean cities are being threatened by road and farm encroachment just as its long-held secrets are being revealed.

Human rights

Rio carnival group pays tribute to wronged hero of black history

07-02-2024 11:25 Paraíso do Tuiuti's carnival song is a tribute to João Candido, a sailor in the Brazilian navy who led a revolt against slave-like conditions on ships.

DECADE ON FROM DEATH

Chávez legacy looms large, and divides Venezuela, 25 years on

02-02-2024 12:21 Charismatic revolutionary Hugo Chávez, who became the symbolic leader of the left in Latin America, died in 2013, but his 'Chavismo' political movement lives on.

A WALK THROUGH HISTORY

How Argentina arrived to 40 years of democracy

09-12-2023 09:31 From Raúl Alfonsín to Alberto Fernández, a breathless, compressed account of how Argentina traversed four decades of democracy.

by Michael Soltys

OBITUARY

Henry Kissinger, diplomat who defined US foreign policy, dies at 100

30-11-2023 13:38 Henry Kissinger, the child refugee who rose to define United States foreign policy during the 1970s, has died.

HUMAN RIGHTS

The imperious need to penalise denialism

27-09-2023 13:12 There are issues, like crimes against humanity, which should be beyond electoral speculation. With the same speed with which the government secured approval for amending the income tax threshold, it should also now approve a law to condemn denialism with the support of Juntos por el Cambio and a united opposition.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

DOMESTIC RUGBY

Rugby in Argentina: an 'elite' sport changing at a slow pace

15-09-2023 06:00 Still overshadowed by football, rugby is growing in popularity in Argentina and starting to leave behind its domestic image of an 'upper class' sport, thanks in large part to the success of the Pumas.