TE DEUM CONTROVERSY
President Javier Milei attended the traditional Te Deum service accompanying the May 25 anniversary of the birth of nationhood last Monday with his entire Cabinet – but not estranged Vice-President Victoria Villarruel. Star spin doctor Santiago Caputo and Congress Speaker Martín Menem, leading figures of the two sides of La Libertad Avanza infighting, were present but Villarruel, who has been described as a “traitor” by Milei, was not invited, representing the worst moment in the relationship within the winning presidential ticket since it came to office in late 2023. The invitations are the responsibility of Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei. Villarruel participated in last year’s Tedeum ceremony despite growing tension with the Mileis, only exacerbated now by her sarcastic comments on the problems facing Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni. At the Te Deum, Buenos Aires Archbishop Jorge Ignacio García Cuerva’s sermon deplored the “haranguing polarisation” in current politics, urging a “national dialogue” instead. The prelate also spoke of a “prostrated” country paralysed by a lack of jobs and opportunities. But instead of taking umbrage (describing the sermon as a “valid opinion” and “absolutely understandable”), Milei preferred to talk of a “highly probable” papal visit in November – he was also cordial with City Mayor Jorge Macri, whom he had snubbed at this time last year.
CHAINSAW FOR CANCER
The government has discontinued financing free long-distance bus travel for the handicapped, persons with transplanted organs and children with cancer, delegating this responsibility to the bus companies, according to a Transport Department decision published in the Official Gazette last Tuesday. The new resolution argues that these subsidies arose out of an “emergency” context amid “the regulation of fares with heavy state intervention” and are thus incompatible with Decree 883/2024 deregulating transport, including its pricing with the option of offering free travel, thus theoretically preserving the rights to free travel of the handicapped, persons with transplants and children with cancer, which “remain fully valid and a requisite of transport companies.” In order to guarantee that the companies continue to offer free tickets to the above categories despite not receiving state compensation, the CNRT (Comisión Nacional de Regulación del Transporte) regulatory agency is entrusted with control of procedures.
QUIRNO PLUGS GROSSI
Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno took advantage of his presence at an open debate of the United Nations Security Council in New York last Tuesday to put in a word for the candidacy of Argentine Rafael Grossi, director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, to be the next UN secretary-general. But the main thrust of his presentation was a continuation of the “cultural battle” proposed by President Javier Milei, criticising multilateral organisations in general and urging the UN to dismantle its current agenda with its accompanying bureaucracies in favour of a “moral compass” based on the triangle of protecting life, liberty and property. Grossi was the man to make the necessary reforms, which extended to the Security Council he was addressing, Quirno concluded.
MAY I BE EXCUSED?
Testifying at the Tuesday hearing of the graft trial against ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner among others, Hilda Horovitz (the former partner of the former Federal Planning Minister driver Oscar Centeno at the heart of proceedings as the author of the notebooks documenting graft giving the trial its nickname of ‘Cuadernos’) confirmed that her ex-partner did indeed jot down obsessively all the money movements in which he participated with stacks of notebooks around the house, as well as the frequent appearance of bags of money from the Ministry at their door for delivery. But her testimony was not entirely favourable to Centeno, saying that he was far from alien to the receipt of black money since he used her as a dummy owner to buy up flats, cars and a house in Salta while making her pay in cash he gave her. She further testified that Centeno frequently complained about the percentage cut he was given by former Federal Planning secretary Roberto Baratta (now one of the defendants), as well as accusing him of frequently beating her up. Horovitz also testified that Centeno had entrusted his original copybooks to former presidential secretary Miriam Quiroga, who was supposed to testify last week but excused herself on health grounds, submitting a medical certificate pointing to “intense stress” and “high blood pressure.”
SCHOOL SIT-IN
Secondary school students at the Colegio Nacional and Carlos Pellegrini, both attached to the University of Buenos Aires, occupied their colleges as from Tuesday evening to protest the government’s failure to respect the University Financing Law approved by Congress and upheld against a presidential veto. The students argued that the lack of university financing also affected them with their teachers paid around 30 percent less than at other schools. Pleading the need for a balanced budget, the government suspended the law by decree with the issue now up before the Supreme Court for a final decision. On Thursday the Colegio Nacional students lifted their protest but at press time it still continued at the Pelligrini.
THIEL CROSSES ESTUARY
German-born United States multi-billionaire Peter Thiel, 58, is now a man of property on both sides of the River Plate estuary, according to reports, after acquiring five plots of land totalling nearly 500 hectares in Punta del Este for almost US$10 million to add to his Barrio Parque mansion (where ex-president Mauricio Macri is among his neighbours). The projected complex combines private residences with de luxe hotel services including suites, bungalows, villas, restaurants, a spa, a golf course designed by Arnold Palmer, a polo club and various other sporting and recreational areas. Thiel, who built up his fortune as a co-founder of PayPal and investor into Facebook but is now best-known for heading Palantir Technologies, has been quoted as saying that he considers “the ideas of Javier Milei to have global relevance.” On Thursday, The New York Times reported that Thiel had permanently relocated to Argentina, dismayed with aspects of the US government, and began hosting dinner parties with economists at his new home in the capital.
AIR FREIGHT SOARING
Argentina has the fastest-growing international air freight in the region, according to a report supplied by the Airline Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (ALTA). A total March volume of 19,905 metric tons spelled an increase of 25.1 percent with the United States (an exceptional 58 percent), Brazil (37 percent) and Chile (26 percent) as the nations where flow accelerated the most while Peru and Panama were the only other countries in the region to register double-digit growth. International air freight across the region was 4.1 million metric tons from March to March with an annual increase of 3.2 percent.
BLUE WHALE IN CHUBUT
Passengers and crew aboard a tourist boat in the San Jorge Gulf (Chubut Province) during the long weekend were protagonists of a unique experience when their excursion took them close enough to a blue whale to be able to film it. The enormous and elusive mammal (Balaenoptera musculus is the scientific name) is considered the biggest animal on the planet. Chubut Governor Ignacio Torres was quick to post a video of himself alongside a whale with the words: “This is not Artificial Intelligence but one of the marvels of our province which make all our visitors fall in love with it.”
VACCINES ALSO KILL?
Almost five years after the death of 24-year-old Melín Agustina Sartori, a Córdoba court ruled that her premature end was due to the effects of the Sputnik V vaccine against Covid-19 rather than the virus itself, ordering the National Health Ministry to pay 95 million pesos in compensation to the victim’s family. This decision was the first ruling against the state over the consequences of the Russian vaccine favoured by the Alberto Fernández administration. Sartori died a fortnight after being vaccinated with her first dose of Sputnik V, having enjoyed perfect health beforehand.
TITLE HEADS INLAND
The Córdoba team Belgrano won the First Division Apertura title last Sunday thanks to two goals in three of the closing minutes by supersub Nicolás ‘Uvita’ Fernández. The Millonario went ahead twice and were within 10 minutes of claiming the title but it was not to be, meaning the Pirata were able to claim their province’s first-ever league crown.
CUERVOS CAN NOW CROW
San Lorenzo football club officially confirmed last Tuesday that it has now recovered the totality of its historic Boedo grounds after signing a free leasehold agreement with the Corporación Buenos Aires Sur for the 8,345 remaining square metres. Club president Sergio Costantino termed it “a historic day,” calling the agreement “the result of over three years of work and negotiations” and completing the process since the approval of the Law of Historic Restitution driven by San Lorenzo fans in 2012. The agreement includes a clause obliging San Lorenzo to launch the urban development of the zone.
