VETOES MASSIVELY PROTESTED
Inside Congress on Wednesday deputies voted to overturn presidential vetoes of bills to improve spending on the Garrahan Children’s Hospital and public universities by overwhelming majorities (181-60 and 174-67 respectively) – outside Congress thousands were marching to protest the vetoes with trade unions, opposition parties and university students and staff the most numerous elements, all celebrating the defeat of the vetoes. The Senate was set to follow suit at press time.
2026 BUDGET UNVEILED
President Javier Milei’s presentation of the 2026 Budget via a 15-minute nationwide broadcast last Monday evening marked a U-turn in both style and content – a sober delivery proposed consensus and promised increases in such sensitive social areas as pensions, education (including the universities) and care of the disabled. He also expressed understanding for those suffering his austerity drive without yet receiving its benefits (assuring them: “The worst is already over”) and offered to “work elbow to elbow” with provincial governors. But the leitmotif of his message repeated in almost every minute was that fiscal surplus was the cornerstone of his economic policy and not up for negotiation. The main numbers of the Budget were to forecast a five percent growth rate for next year, inflation of 10.1 percent, an exchange rate of 1,423 pesos per dollar at the end of 2026 and a fiscal surplus of 1.4 percent of Gross Domestic Product (whereas the agreement with the International Monetary Fund stipulates 2.2 percent). The reaction of provincial governors and opposition deputies was that a third year without a budget would be unacceptable.
MILEI STAYS INTERNATIONAL
President Javier Milei maintained an international agenda last week amid domestic political and financial crisis with last Tuesday finding him in Paraguay while last weekend he attended virtually the regional summit of Spain’s far right Vox in Madrid with a tribute to slain United States influencer Charlie Kirk (described as a “martyr to liberty”) a common denominator between the two activities. In Paraguay he met his presidential colleague Santiago Peña over lunch and participated in a CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) in Asunción where he praised the Paraguayan model of free enterprise and export assembly plants. On Wednesday morning he addressed Congress as part of his state visit to Paraguay where he reiterated his recognition of Edmundo González Urrutia as Venezuelan president-elect while also touching on the issues of the Yacyretá binational hydro-electric dam, the Hidrovía waterway and bilateral trade where the Paraguayan trade surplus is almost US$2 billion within a volume of US$4.75 billion. The Vox summit in Madrid was attended in person by Cults Secretary Nahuel Sotelo (about whom rumours of his exit from the Foreign Ministry originating in Clarín newspaper were swirling last week), representing Milei in his absence. Sotelo blasted the hippie movement of the 1960s and accused Spain of “deleting God.”
A MINISTER FOR THE INTERIOR
President Javier Milei last Monday formally swore in Lisandro Catalán (previously deputy Cabinet chief) to head the newly revived Interior Ministry in a brief four-minute ceremony with only Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello absent among his new colleagues. Catalán attributed his promotion to the “President’s decision to upgrade the dialogue with the governors and provinces … and to go correcting the things which need correcting.” He proclaimed himself optimistic for the future even if the revival of his ministry was prompted by electoral uncertainties. The appointment was accompanied by the transfer of 12.5 billion pesos in ATN (Aportes del Tesoro Nacional). Treasury remittances to the provinces of Chaco, Entre Ríos, Misiones and Santa Fe.
BAHÍA BLANCA BILKED
Despite La Libertad Avanza winning its best result in all Buenos Aires Province (46.4 percent) in Bahía Blanca last September 7, the government last weekend halved the 200 million pesos allocated by Decree 238/25 for the relief of the victims of the storm last March when almost half a metre of water descended on the port city in eight hours. Last June President Javier vetoed a law unanimously approved by Congress to create a fund of 200 million pesos for the reconstruction of the city on the grounds that this sum had already been allocated. But the reconstruction of city infrastructure has been moving slowly in the last six months.
NEW ENVOYS
The new British Ambassador to Argentina David Cairns was up and running as from last Monday when he presented his credentials to Foreign Minister. “I feel very honoured to be able to represent my country in Argentina in the bicentennial year of our diplomatic relations,” said Cairns, referring to the 1825 Treaty of Friendship, Commerce and Navigation. “In those 200 years we have fostered cooperation in areas as diverse as trade, politics, science and culture, which already forms part of our British and Argentine identities. I hope to deepen those ties and support what clearly a priority for our Prime Minister and your President – growth and prosperity,” concluded Cairns. At press time, the US Senate approved the appointment of Peter Lamelas as US President Donald Trump’s new US ambassador in Argentina.
KARINA BACKS DOWN
Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei last Tuesday dropped her lawsuit requesting an injunction to ban the media broadcast of her voice messages reportedly taped in the Casa Rosada, informing civil & commercial law judge Patricio Maraniello of her decision. In her writ presented to the court, Milei denied that her move had sought “prior censorship” or to avoid revealing “incriminating information as various operators have tried to make people believe,” insisting that the voice messages had been manipulated and edited while presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni went one further and said that their content was false. “Freedom of the press cannot be used nor converted into a shield or protection for campaigns to manipulate public opinion and far less for the use of voice messages, wiretapping, videos or photographs obtained illegally,” she criticised while adding that their content did not affect her security “nor the rights of third parties nor national security.” At the start of the month judge Maraniello partially approved the injunction requested by the President’s sister, banning media diffusion of the audio messages.
CRISTINA & THE COURTS
Court rulings continue to go against ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner – on Monday the National Electoral Appeals Court unanimously revoked a decision by a Santa Cruz judge upholding her right to vote despite her conviction for corruption and in midweek the Federal Criminal Cassation Court rejected her appeal against having to pay over half a billion dollars along with other co-defendants as reparations for the misallocation of state funds in the Vialidad case centred on Santa Cruz highway contracts. The former case was in any case abstract since Cristina Kirchner’s house arrest in the Constitución neighbourhood made it impossible for her to vote where registered in Santa Cruz Province. The exact sum stipulated by the Cassation Court was 684,990,350,139.86 pesos (some US$530 million), to be paid by Cristina Kirchner, the tycoon Lázaro Báez and former Public Works secretary José López among others. The ex-president argued that her accountant had calculated this sum to be some 42.5 billion pesos lower.
JOBS IN SHORT SUPPLY
Unemployment in this city in the second quarter of this year was 7.7 percent of the workforce, up from 7.3 percent at the same time last year and affecting some 132,000 people (especially women), City Hall statisticians reported on Monday. The good news was that jobs in construction and industry did not register any further decline but the services sector accounts for almost three-quarters of the jobs in the national capital. Underemployment was 10.3 percent. The data further showed 71.6 percent of the workforce to be making pension contributions.
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