ARGENTINA: CFK’s House Arrest & more – 19th June 2025

Buenos días from BA! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 19th of June twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

. To kick things off this week, an update about the situation of Argentina’s former president and vice-president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Picking up from last week’s episode, the Supreme Court confirmed Cristina’s six-year prison sentence and lifelong ban from running for elections, on the basis that she had irregularly granted public work contracts to Lázaro Báez, a businessman who was close to her and her husband, late president Néstor Kirchner.

On Tuesday 17th, it was confirmed that she will be serving her sentence in her own home in Constitución, in Buenos Aires City. The prosecutors who worked in the case had initially rejected her request for a house arrest sentence, but the Supreme Court later confirmed it. Cristina will also have to serve her sentence wearing an ankle monitor, and she will have to ask for authorization from the judiciary to receive visits outside a limited list of family members, doctors, lawyers, and security personnel.

Ever since the Supreme Court’s ruling on Tuesday the 10th, thousands of advocates, Peronist leaders and public figures have congregated outside Cristina’s apartment, gathering on the street and expressing their support. Later, on Wednesday 18th, the whole Peronist party, human rights organizations, and common supporters gathered at Plaza de Mayo, one of Argentina’s key locations for its political history.

It is estimated that more than half a million people marched to express their disagreement with the Supreme Court’s decision and their loyalty and support for the former President. Thousands of people marched in other cities across the country, but also outside Argentina, in cities including Bogotá, New York, and Paris.

Meanwhile, just hours before this massive march at Plaza de Mayo, President Milei and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich approved a reform, by decree, of the Argentine Federal Police or PFA statute that will grant this body special powers, like searching people’s personal effects or vehicles and executing arrests without a judicial warrant in situations such as protests and marches.

Bullrich said that this reform aims to transform the PFA into a more “investigative police force” similar to the FBI. She added that the PFA will also be able to execute social media sweeps and access public databases to prevent possible crimes and dismantle criminal organizations. The decree offers vague context in which these actions could be conducted.

Going back to political leaders under investigation, the Argentine anti-corruption office ruled that President Milei is innocent of breaking any laws in the $LIBRA crypto gate. On Friday 13th, the office decided that Milei did not go against the ethics of public office when, in February twenty twenty-five, he spread the news and backed the launch of the $LIBRA cryptocurrency on Twitter.

In the post, President Milei described the currency as an excellent opportunity for investors to fund small Argentinian businesses. After his post, the currency’s price soared, just minutes after its launch, only to plummet to almost nothing, making thousands of investors lose millions of dollars.

Outside Argentina, the case is still under investigation, including in the United States and Spain.

Speaking of Argentina’s President, Milei condemned Iran’s retaliation against Israel on Friday 13th. The President decided to express his support for Netanyahu, Israel’s PM, something he has been doing ever since the conflict in Gaza started in October twenty twenty-three.

Milei also criticized the appointment of Ahmed Vahidi as head of the Revolutionary Guard, Iran’s main branch of armed forces. Vahidi is one of the main defendants of the bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (or AMIA) in nineteen ninety-four in Buenos Aires, a terrorist attack that killed eighty-five people and is still being investigated today.

After Israel’s drone strikes on 100 targets in Tehran, including nuclear sites, which wounded 320 people and killed seventy-eight according to Iran’s UN ambassador, the country retaliated with 100 missiles over Tel Aviv. The Argentine President criticized Iran’s attack calling it “vile”.

Since we mentioned a terrorist attack, June 16th marked the 70th anniversary of the bombing of Plaza de Mayo in nineteen fifty-five. This tragic event was part of The Liberating Revolution or La Revolución Libertadora, a period of history during which a large portion of the Argentine armed forces and civil allies plotted against Perón, the Argentine President at the time. In an attempt to kill Perón and take over the government, a group of the Argentine Air Force planned to bomb the Casa Rosada.

Due to an information leak in the planning of the attack, a whistleblower alerted the government, and a defense was set up, and the coup couldn’t be carried out at the time. However, the bombing resulted in 300 dead and 800 wounded and, in September, Perón was proscribed and replaced by a military government.

Coming back to the present day, we’ve got some news about the environment, as Javier Milei’s administration intends to cut glacier protections through a decree, to allow mining and other economic activity in areas that are currently protected by law.

Milei is planning to modify the Glacier Law, which has protected glaciers since its passing in twenty ten. Argentina’s glaciers hold over half of the Earth’s and 70% of the country’s freshwater and also attract millions of tourists every year.

With this decree, Milei’s administration intends to allow enterprises, especially related to the mining and hydrocarbon activities, to function in the periglacial zones, which are frozen portions of earth immediately around glaciers that play a crucial role in the water cycle.

Environmentalists warn that this decree could irreversibly harm glaciers and consume large volumes of freshwater, a vital resource for the country and the whole world.

On the economic front, the monthly inflation fell to 1.5%, the lowest in five years, since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, when the economic activity was suddenly paralyzed. Luis Caputo, the Economy Minister, celebrated this number on Twitter. However, economists explain that the government’s policy of lowering inflation depends on the exchange rate appreciation and on frozen wages.

Consultants doubt whether the president will be able to maintain his policy: the declining trade surplus is causing a drop in the foreign currency influx, which could push for a devaluation of the peso.

Social unrest could also be expected, as reports show that consumption levels continue to fall and that a large portion of Argentine families are having to depend on credit cards, loans, or state assistance to buy food.

After the acclaimed Argentine series The Eternaut was released, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo organization announced that there was a sudden hike in the number of people consulting them about their identity. The organization, which was created after Argentina’s last dictatorship unlawfully took the newborn babies of political detainees, receives the reports of people who suspect that they may have been stolen during this dark period of history, and carries out genetic studies to find out the person’s true identity. It is estimated that 500 babies were taken during that time.

The Netflix series, directed by Bruno Stagnaro, is based on the iconic science fiction comic book by the same name, whose author, Héctor Germán Oesterheld, was abducted and disappeared by the military, as were his daughters and sons-in-law.

Finally, let’s dive into some cultural updates. This year, the Buenos Aires International Festival of Independent Cinema, BAFICI, which every year screens Argentine and international independent movies and documentaries, ran for two weeks during April. Among its 298 films were some local documentaries that offer a glimpse of some aspects of Argentine culture and identity. Some can still be watched at museums and cinemas.

A Night at Paladium offers an insight into what nightlife was like in Paladium, an iconic nightclub in downtown Buenos Aires that made old tango musicians, politicians and rock stars come together in the eighties and nineties. You can watch it this Saturday 21st at the Cinearte Cacodelphia cinema.

Meanwhile, Me and the One I Used To Be is an intimate portrait of Adriana Lestido, one of the most important Argentine photographers, by her dear friend Constanza Niscóvolos. It will be screened at the MALBA museum during July.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

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