News of poverty

Wealth tax: inequality solution for Latin America?

19-02-2021 12:52 The income chasm between the rich and poor in Latin America has led to efforts to tax the wealthy – though the reception has been uneven across various countries.

Dilemmas and defining factors

13-02-2021 10:36 Two entirely different news items at opposite ends of the past week might well be the shape of defining factors in this year’s elections.

Oxfam hails Argentina’s ‘wealth tax’ as law takes effect

30-01-2021 08:21 Charity calls on other nation states to raise taxes on their richest citizens, citing government’s new law as an example.

What we learned this week: January 23 to 30

30-01-2021 08:10 Stories that caught our eye over the last seven days in Argentina

2020: The year that was

02-01-2021 09:27 Economic crisis, rising poverty and unemployment, debt talks, creditors, the IMF, wealth tax, squatters, a police mutiny, the failed appropriation of Vicentin, alleged AFI espionage, ‘lawfare,’ corruption, legalised abortion, diplomacy, disappearances, the death of Diego Maradona… a lot happened in Argentina over the past 12 months, but it was all overshadowed by Covid-19.

by Michael Soltys

The great coronavirus war

26-12-2020 09:38 What made the coronavirus pandemic so special was not the mortality rate but the almost universal decision to tell people to stop “non-essential” work and hunker down until a vaccine relief force finally put an end to the siege.

by James Neilson

The first year of the rest of a presidency

12-12-2020 09:08 A bigger game-changer than coronavirus could hardly be imagined, but Argentina remains very much the same country behind the face-masks.

Poverty: we must go further to alleviate the effects of the pandemic

12-12-2020 09:00 The full inclusion of the most impoverished sectors of society demands a new generation of political and market activities for a fairer distribution of the capacity for social development.

by Agustín Salvia

Pfizer applies for vaccine approval in Argentina as government details targets

05-12-2020 08:28 President Alberto Fernández says 300,000 could be vaccinated using Russian vaccine in next few weeks, followed by 10 million more by end of February.

UN: World food prices jump to six-year high

03-12-2020 19:26 Global food commodity prices rose sharply in November to their highest level in nearly six years, the UN food agency said Thursday, due in part to adverse weather conditions.

Maradona, a Peronist with a high political profile

28-11-2020 08:46 No fan of Mauricio Macri, Diego Maradona did not shy away from expressing his political views. A self-declared Peronist and fan of left-wing Latin American leaders, he famously viewed Fidel Castro as a hero.

The life, death and philosophy of Diego Maradona

28-11-2020 08:06 A rebel to the bone, genuine, charismatic and 100 percent controversial, all this and more constructed the myth of Diego.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Squatter dispute on ex-minister's family land prompts protests in Entre Ríos

27-10-2020 23:52 Tensions rise in Entre Ríos Province as squatters take over land, with ex-Agriculture minister Luis Miguel Etchevehere's and social leader Juan Grabois on differing sides of the dispute.

Peronism tries to strike back

24-10-2020 08:52 On October 17, the national government tried to regain the initiative. To some observers, Loyalty Day came and passed with some subtle but notable observations.

by Martín Gambarotta

Argentina’s poorest struggle in face of crisis, pandemic

03-10-2020 09:06 More than 45% of people living in Salta City are now considered poor. With jobs few and far between and incomes going down the drain, the poverty-stricken are being forced to adapt in their struggle to survive.

by Nick Evans

Moisés Naím: 'Argentina is a world champion in political necrophilia'

03-10-2020 08:59 Arguably Venezuela’s most influential intellectual speaks about the crisis facing his country and the lessons it could teach other nations in the region: not to fall for the facile discourse of charlatans and to pay attention to sleeping authoritarianism in society.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

Miguel Pesce: ‘A dollar at 130 pesos would inflict unbearable levels of poverty’

26-09-2020 08:45 Following a week of difficult announcements, Central Bank chief Miguel Pesce sits down for a feature-length interview to explain the government’s logic in what he describes as “very arduous situation, aggravated by the action of speculators.” Nevertheless, Pesce remains optimistic over 2021 growth, lower inflation and export possibilities.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

Latin America's cities bustle like Covid is gone – but it’s not

20-09-2020 21:57 In Latin America’s big cities, as in other places around the globe, it almost feels like the virus never happened.

Pandemic threatens to undo a decade of Latin American progress

21-08-2020 16:07 6.4 million people have contracted Covid-19 across Latin America, leaving many unemployed and food insecure.

Precarious workers struggle to get by on delivery jobs, state aid

21-08-2020 02:05 Many informal workers, who found themselves unemployed overnight when the pandemic hit, are scraping by on state support packages or low-paid delivery jobs.