Far-right president’s measures aimed at tackling the country’s severe economic problems passed easily despite public protests
Argentina’s lower chamber of deputies has given overall approval to libertarian president Javier Milei’s sweeping “omnibus” reform bill in a vote on Friday after days of debate, paving the way for a decisive vote in the Senate.
The controversial reform package was approved on a vote of 144 votes in favour and 109 against.
Continue reading...Tens of thousands of marchers take to streets as schools and businesses close in protest at president’s extreme legislation
Argentine demonstrators have staged their biggest-yet show of opposition to Javier Milei’s radical attempt to reshape the South American country with a nationwide strike that shuttered schools and businesses, grounded hundreds of flights, and saw tens of thousands of marchers hit the streets.
Milei, a boisterous celebrity economist nicknamed “El Loco” (the Madman), became president in December vowing to free Argentina from decades of “decadence and decline” with his libertarian ideas. Since then, the far-right politician has moved speedily to implement what the former Ukip leader Nigel Farage recently called “Thatcherism on steroids” – first with a far-reaching emergency decree; then with a mega-reform bill known as the “omnibus law”.
Continue reading...Rev Franco Reverberi is accused of crimes against humanity during country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s
Italy’s justice minister has refused Argentina’s request to extradite a priest accused of crimes against humanity during the country’s military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s.
The Rev Franco Reverberi, 86, who served as military chaplain during Argentina’s 1976-1983 military regime, faces charges related to the alleged murder in 1976 of the 20-year-old political activist José Guillermo Berón, and his alleged participation in torture.
Continue reading...Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto fled Argentina in 2011 and will be tried in Rome for premeditated killing of eight people in last military dictatorship
A judge in Rome has ordered Lt Col Carlos Luis Malatto, a former Argentine army officer accused of murder and forced disappearances during Argentina’s 1976-83 military dictatorship, to stand trial in Italy for the premeditated killing of eight people.
The former military officer is accused of crimes against humanity in Argentina, but he fled the country in 2011 and had been living in a tourist village in the province of Messina, Sicily. In a letter to the court of appeal in the Argentine state of Mendoza, Argentine prosecutors alleged that Malatto “actively participated in various detention procedures and is one of the most infamous perpetrators” of the dictatorship “for his participation in interrogations under torture”.
Continue reading...The new president’s rightwing supporters are targeting journalists and women’s rights activists – but the fight goes on
Female journalists who write about gender issues say they are having to deal with a toxic wave of threats against them in Argentina. Some are fighting back, others are lying low and one has gone into self-imposed exile for her safety.
“We are facing a witch-hunt from the ultra-right,” said the author, journalist and activist Luciana Peker, who recently left Argentina for an undisclosed location due to the weight of threats against her.
Continue reading...Javier Milei swept aside an anti-nepotism law to appoint his sister to a high-ranking position – but who is she?
When Javier Milei first walked into Argentina’s presidential palace earlier this month, the radical libertarian leader was not accompanied by his vice-president, Victoria Villarruel, nor his partner, the actor Fátima Flórez.
Milei’s escort at this key political moment was a woman who many analysts describe as the true power behind his throne: his sister, Karina.
Continue reading...Far-right president says not ‘opportune’ for Argentina – which had been set to become a member on 1 January – to be part of alliance
Argentina has formally announced that it will not join the Brics bloc of developing economies, the latest in a dramatic shift in foreign and economic policy by Argentina’s new far-right populist president, Javier Milei.
In a letter addressed to the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – all members of the alliance – Milei said the moment was not “opportune” for Argentina to join as a full member. The letter was dated a week ago, 22 December, but released by the Argentinian government on Friday, the last working day of 2023.
Continue reading...Turkey also affected by fog, with 10 killed and 57 injured in serious road crash involving three buses
During the Christmas period, parts of South America experienced intense showers and thunderstorms, resulting in substantial rainfall in various regions. On Monday, more than 100mm of rain fell in the Catamarca province in Argentina, which led to flash floods. A sudden surge in river water levels then caused the collapse of a pedestrian bridge, which was the only link between the towns of Rincón and Pomán. While many other roads in the region were damaged and houses were flooded, no casualties were reported.
The unique topography of Catamarca aided the formation of a near-stationary convective shower over Pomán, unleashing several hours of torrential rain and causing catastrophic flooding.
Continue reading...New libertarian president accused of drawing up a ‘battle plan against working people’
Thousands of protesters have poured on to the streets of Buenos Aires after Argentina’s new president announced a far-reaching emergency decree containing dozens of controversial economic measures – a move one prominent critic compared to the actions of an absolute monarchy.
Javier Milei, a radical libertarian economist who was inaugurated less than a fortnight ago, won power promising a dramatic shake-up of Argentina’s moribund economy amid rampant inflation and widespread poverty. On Wednesday night Milei appeared on television, flanked by 12 stony-faced ministers and top officials, to unveil a decree he claimed would haul the South American country out of “the economic hell we are now living through”.
Continue reading...President Javier Milei and his allies are preparing new security guidelines in anticipation of protests against currency devaluation
Human rights activists in Argentina have expressed consternation over new security guidelines to crack down on an anticipated wave of protests after the incoming government of libertarian president Javier Milei devalued the country’s currency by more than 50%.
Protesting individuals and organizations will be identified with “video, digital or manual means” – and then billed for the cost of sending security forces to police their demonstrations, said Milei’s security minister, Patricia Bullrich, as she announced the new protocol on Thursday.
“The state is not going to pay for the use of the security forces; organizations that have legal status will have to pay or individuals will have to bear the cost,” Bullrich said.
Package of spending cuts introduced in attempt to tackle country’s worst economic crisis in decades
Argentina has devalued its currency, the peso, by more than 50% as part of a package of large-scale spending cuts intended to address the country’s worst economic crisis in decades.
The plans, introduced under the newly inaugurated administration of Javier Milei, include cutting energy subsidies and cancelling tenders for public works.
Continue reading...Radical libertarian likens his election to fall of Berlin Wall in inauguration speech with strong echoes of Trump’s 2017 address
Argentina’s new president, Javier Milei, has vowed to lead his country out of decades of “decadence and decline” but said its punishing economic crisis would intensify over the coming months, as a “who’s who” of the global far right assembled in Buenos Aires to celebrate the radical libertarian’s inauguration.
Addressing tens of thousands of supporters outside Argentina’s turquoise-domed neoclassical congress, Milei – a mercurial former TV celebrity known as El Loco or the Madman – compared his shock election with the start of the Soviet Union’s collapse.
Continue reading...As world leaders gather at Cop28, these charts show how far away the major economies are from their targets
Not a single G20 country has policies in place that are consistent with the Paris agreement’s goal of limiting global heating to 1.5C and meeting their “fair share” of emissions reduction.
The assessment, based on data up to 5 December provided by the Climate Action Tracker, comes as leaders gather in Dubai for the Cop28 conference.
Continue reading...US statesman’s encouragement of Pinochet’s coup in Chile and his backing for Argentina’s military dictatorship left lasting stain
Henry Kissinger’s death has brought out some bitter epitaphs from Latin America where the legacy of US intervention helped saddle the region with some of the most brutal military regimes of the 20th century.
Nowhere has been the reaction been more damning than in Chile, where Kissinger was instrumental in the 1973 coup that led to the death of a democratically elected socialist president, Salvador Allende and the installation of a dictator, Gen Augusto Pinochet, and his military junta.
Continue reading...Newly elected president and far-right libertarian has vowed to repeal country’s 2020 landmark legalisation of abortion
Three years after Argentina made history as the first large Latin American country to legalise abortion, women’s rights campaigners are gearing up to again go to battle after the election of Javier Milei as president.
“It’s a very bleak picture,” said Soledad Deza of the Fundación Mujeres x Mujeres. “This is a government that is promising us greater inequality and – from the first minute – that the autonomy, sovereignty and independence of our bodies is not going to be supported by the state.”
Continue reading...‘El Loco’ wins landslide victory in Argentina that experts say shows scale of frustration with Peronist status quo
Luminaries of the global far right are in raptures over Javier Milei’s thumping election victory in Argentina which experts predict will turn Buenos Aires into a new stomping ground for the populist radical right.
Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro led the merrymaking after their Argentinian ally trounced his rival, the Peronist finance minister Sergio Massa, by nearly 3 million votes in Sunday’s presidential election. The former US president predicted Milei would “truly make Argentina great again” while Brazil’s ex-president applauded a victory for “honesty, progress and freedom”. Bolsonarista and Mileísta activists predicted Milei’s win would be the first in a trio of rightwing conquests that would see Trump and Bolsonaro reclaim power in 2024 and 2026.
Continue reading...President-elect’s idea is a gamble that is likely to crash an economy paying the price for mistakes of his predecessor
Javier Milei’s bigger-than-expected victory in the Argentinan presidential election suggests voters in South America’s second biggest country have willingly opted for shock treatment to sort out the country’s deep economic malaise.
It is perhaps not hard to see why 56% of the electorate backed the rightwing libertarian: Argentina may have the world’s best football team but its economy has performed disastrously in recent years. Inflation is running at 140% and a three-year drought has led to a sharp fall in agricultural production. Two out of five people live in poverty and the currency has lost 90% of its value in four years.
Continue reading...Sauli Niinistö calls for close cooperation on border security during visit to Poland
Israel’s foreign minister, Eli Cohen, has congratulated Javier Milei and invited the new Argentinian far-right libertarian president to visit Israel to open an embassy in Jerusalem.
Milei has previously said he would move the location of Argentina’s embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. “I don’t care if I’ll be criticized by world leaders. I truly believe that’s the right thing to do,” he said in a recent interview with the Times of Israel.
It’s obvious that Argentina needs a change. It was unacceptable that one of the most prosperous countries in the world should keep falling year after year into the same thing.
I wish the new government every success and I want them to know that they can count on Madrid, where we’ve worked to defend freedom from day one and where we’ve looked after so many Argentinians who have fled, terrified, from Peronism …
Continue reading...Victory for TV celebrity-turned politician catapults South America’s second-largest economy into an unpredictable future
Javier Milei, a volatile far-right libertarian who has vowed to “exterminate” inflation and take a chainsaw to the state, has been elected president of Argentina, catapulting South America’s second largest economy into an unpredictable and potentially turbulent future.
With nearly 99% of votes counted, the Mick Jagger impersonating TV celebrity-turned politician, who is often compared to Donald Trump, had secured 55.7% of the vote compared to Massa’s 44.2%.
Continue reading...Populist provocateur appears slight favorite over Peronist Sergio Massa as 35m Argentinians vote to choose new president
Argentina is teetering on the brink of an unpredictable new political era this weekend with an erratic far-right populist known as “El Loco” (the Madman) the slight favourite to become president of South America’s second-largest economy in Sunday’s election.
As polls opened on Sunday morning against a backdrop of soaring inflation and widespread poverty, analysts believed Javier Milei, a TV celebrity turned congressman, held a slender advantage over his rival, the finance minister, Sergio Massa, but said the result was too close to call.
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