MILEI IN ISRAEL
President Javier Milei arrived in Israel last Sunday morning to join in its Independence Day celebrations on Tuesday and cement his alliance with Israeli premier Benjamin Netanyahu. Praying at the Wailing Wall, he promised to move the Argentine Embassy to Jerusalem “as soon as conditions permit” while announcing direct flights between the two countries as from December. On Monday he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Honour by his local colleague Isaac Herzog, as well as an Honoris Causa doctorate at the Bar-Ilan University, where he told his audience that it was not possible “to co-exist with certain cultures.” The Independence Day celebrations bizarrely included Milei singing the Nino Bravo hit ‘Libre.’ The presidential entourage included Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and Justice Minister Juan Bautista Mahiques.
POPE FRANCIS REMEMBERED
Most of the Cabinet not in Israel attended the memorial mass in Luján Basilica last Tuesday to mark the first anniversary since the death of Pope Francis although Acting President Victoria Villarruel gave the occasion a miss, reportedly in order to steer clear of questioned Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni, who headed the government representation accompanied by Ministers Diego Santilli (Interior), Mario Lugones (Health), Alejandra Monteoliva (Security), Carlos Presti (Defence) and Federico Sturzenegger (Deregulation & State Transformation), as well as Congress Speaker Martín Menem and a score of deputies. But both government and opposition were together in the Luján mass last Tuesday with Peronist Governors Axel Kicillof (Buenos Aires Province) and Ricardo Quintela (La Rioja), both hardliners, the CGT helm and picket leaders present along with the totality of Argentine bishops. But the Argentine pope was not forgotten by a Milei who had once called him “the representative of evil on earth,” sending an affectionate message from Israel beginning: “Here with the most important Argentine in all history … a distant hug, Holy Father.” The solemn mass in Luján was preceded in the weekend by a very different techno-religious event in Plaza de Mayo with bright lights and loud sounds, stage-managed by Father Guilherme Peixoto (a lieutenant-colonel in the Portuguese Army as well as priest and disc jockey) who mixed Queen and Bad Bunny songs with some religious messages and images in the backdrop. An estimated 80,000 people filled the square to dance to the rhythm.
PRESS DENIED ENTRY
The government last Thursday denied the accredited press entry into the Casa Rosada as a preventive measure against possible illegal espionage, sparking a wave of criticism, although the affected journalists were unofficially told that the move was temporary. President Javier Milei celebrated the move with a social network message beginning: “THE FILTHY TRASH WHO CALL THEMSELVES JOURNALISTS (95 PERCENT) …” Apart from the Russian espionage network denounced by an international consortium of journalists (with the media publishing their “fake news” previously denied Casa Rosada access), two journalists from TN television news channel were caught last Wednesday morning taking photographs in Casa Rosada corridors without authorisation. Press Secretary Javier Linari said on Thursday that the only aim of the move was “to guarantee national security.” There has been no precedent from the return of democracy in 1983 until now for closing the Sala de Periodistas for journalists in Government House.
THIEL IN TOWN
President Javier Milei last Thursday afternoon received in the Casa Rosada the German-born United States tech tycoon Peter Thiel of PayPal and Facebook fame to discuss possible investments with Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno also present at the hour-long meeting. An ally of Elon Musk and ideologically close to Donald Trump (and hence Milei), Thiel has also had a hand in Uber, Airbnb, Spotify and SpaceX among other high-profile investments.
EMBASSIES AT WAR
The Chinese Embassy here last Monday laid into United States Ambassador Peter Lamelas for “deliberately defaming the cooperation between China and Argentina” in an interview granted on a visit to Salta, charging that “his commentary is plagued with ideological prejudices” and pointing out that US President Donald Trump had described the bilateral relationship with China as “the most important in the world” with some 73,000 US companies investing over a trillion dollars in China. Links between China and Latin America were nothing more than “South-South co-operation,” the Embassy statement insisted, telling Lamelas that “instead of exaggerating the `Chinese threat,’ it would be better to do something concrete for the development of Argentina and Latin American and Caribbean countries.”
MAGNICIDE NABBED?
Security Minister Alejandra Monteoliva last Wednesday announced the arrest of a man identified as aiding in the logistics behind the assassination of the Colombian presidential hopeful Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay last June although Colombian prosecution sources informed that the Argentine authorities had their wires crossed and the man was really wanted for a botched attempt in the same month on the life of a signatory of the 2016 peace treaty between the Bogotá government and FARC guerrillas. According to the Security Ministry, the arrested man, one Brayan Ferney Cruz Castillo, fled to Argentina following the attack, prompting an Interpol Red Notice at the request of the Colombian authorities. That was not Monteoliva’s only activity last week – on Thursday she inaugurated the Regional Centre for Information on and Analysis of Organised Crime (CRIACO in its Spanish acronym) together with Washington State Department undersecretary Thomas Di Nanno.
LUIS BRANDONI (1940-2026)
Veteran actor Adalberto Luis Brandoni died in the small hours of Monday just two days after his 86th birthday and was widely mourned across the nation for his multiple film, theatres and television roles stretching over more than half a century. See inside for more.
LUIS PUENZO (1946-2026)
Famous film director Luis Puenzo, best-known for clinching Argentina’s first Oscar with La Historia Oficial in 1986, died last Tuesday at the age of 80 just one day after his even more famous namesake Luis Brandoni. Previous films were Luces de mis zapatos (1973) and Cinco años de vida (1975). La historia oficial brought to international attention the tragedy of illegal adoptions during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Subsequent films were Gringo viejo (1989), La peste (1992), based on the Albert Camus novel and La puta y la ballena (2004), all with international casts. Between 2019 and 2022 he headed INCAA (Instituto Nacional de Cine y Artes Audiovisuales).
ADORNI OFF ONE HOOK?
Federal Prosecutor Alejandra Mangano last Thursday asked Federal Judge Daniel Rafecas to shelve the charges against Bettina Angeleti, the wife of Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni, for travelling to the United States last month aboard the presidential aircraft on the grounds that no law of any kind was broken.
ARSON ELUDES JAIL
Felipe Pettinato, son of the well-known television personality and musician Roberto Pettinato and a Michael Jackson imitator, was given a suspended prison sentence of three years last Monday for the death of his neurologist Melchor Rodrigo in May 2022, after causing a fire in his Belgrano flat. The verdict also included a nine-month prison sentence for the sexual abuse of the daughter of his ex-partner. The judges further ordered the younger Pettinato to continue rehab treatment. The prosecution had requested a 55-month prison sentence and the plaintiff 15 years.
HOUSE ARREST DENIED
The Federal Criminal Cassation Court decided last Tuesday to deny house arrest to Adolfo Donda and Bernardo Caballero, respectively serving life imprisonment and a 20-year sentence for crimes against humanity during the 1976-1983 military dictatorship, after this benefit had been granted without any judicial say in the matter. Donda, who imposed his surname on Victoria Donda (a three-term deputy, former head of INADI anti-discrimination institute and a child of missing parents born in captivity), was active at the notorious ESMA Naval Mechanics School concentration camp while Caballero was a military intelligence officer working out of the Campo de Mayo army base.
NOT SUCH A SUPER DERBY
Boca Juniors won a drab Superclásico 1-0 away against River Plate on the strength of a penalty converted by Leandro Paredes at the end of the first half, thus ending the unbeaten run of the new River coach Eduardo Coudet.
MOTOR-RACING SPECTATOR KILLED
A young man was fatally injured last Sunday after being hit by a car going off track in Córdoba Province during the South American Codasur rally, which was suspended after the accident. A Volkswagen Polo driven by Paraguayans Didier Arias and Héctor Núñez lurched off the road and crashed into a crowd watching in the small town of Giulio Cesare, some 120 kilometres distant from the provincial capital. A 25-year-old man was killed and two other spectators were slightly injured. The Codasur 2026 rally began last month in Brazil and after the Córdoba weekend was due to continue through Paraguay, Bolivia and Uruguay.
