ARGENTINA: Lesbians Murdered & more – 16th May 2024

¡Buenos días from Greenway Parks! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 16th of May twenty twenty-four. A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

One piece of news that the whole country has been talking about is the horrific murder of four lesbians. On Monday, the 6th a man set four women on fire while they were sleeping in a boarding house in the Barracas neighborhood in Buenos Aires City. Two of them suffered burns over 90% of their bodies and did not survive. Another passed on Sunday, the 12th, and the fourth woman is still in the hospital.

Even though the police have not confirmed the motive, they suspect it was a hate crime. The Argentine LGBTQ Federation stated that hate crimes like this would only become more frequent if government officials kept endorsing hate speech and intolerance. On Friday, the 10th, LGBTQ groups organized a protest to condemn the hate crime and demand the government take a stronger stance against LGTBQ discrimination.

Another story that made waves recently was that several social groups, or piquetero organizations were being investigated for alleged fraud and abuse of authority. In December of twenty twenty-three, the government set up a line for people who received social welfare to report extortion attempts by these groups. Buenos Aires City attorney Gerardo Pollita and judge Sebastián Casanello launched an investigation based on some of these reports.

Their investigation has uncovered WhatsApp chats that show leaders threatening to withhold food given out by the Government to people who did not attend enough protests. They allegedly threatened individuals saying they would lose government aides if they did not fulfill requisites such as paying a fee, handing out flyers for the candidate the organization supported or attending the demonstrations the groups organized. The investigation is still ongoing.

Let’s move on to a subject that has been frustrating the government for several months already. The ruling party Liberty Advances or La Libertad Avanza (LLA) was hopeful that their proposed reform packet would be signed into law before the 25th of May, but that goal seems further and further away. As of Wednesday, the 15th, the revised bill packet has once again been sent back to the Chamber of Deputies for revision.

The setback was partially due to the expected pushback from opposition parties, but it was also caused by disagreements between the LLA and their allies and even within the ruling party itself. Some of the more contentious points are those related to reinstating the income tax, the delegation of legislative powers to the Presidency, and the deactivation of public works.

Shifting over to Economic matters, on Saturday, the 11th, the government reached a new agreement with the International Monetary Fund (or IMF). The fund was meant to review the targets they had set for the country in terms of reducing fiscal deficit. Argentina passed with flying colors since the IMF determined the surplus had been four times higher than expected.

In addition, the Central Bank’s reserves grew by 2 billion dollars more than stipulated. The positive results mean the fund will likely approve June’s $792 million-dollar disbursement.

Keeping up the streak of good news, there might be a silver lining to the dark clouds of inflation that have been plaguing the country. According to several consulting agencies, the projected inflation rate for May should hover around eight percent, making it the lowest in two years.

The fall is partially due to the Economy Ministry postponing the rise in gas and electricity prices for next month, although other measures, like the general slump in consumership, have also influenced this outcome. However, the consulting groups expect that deflation will slow down after May.

Still, it’s not all good news on the Economic front. According to consultancy group Orlando J. Ferreres and associates, domestic private investment fell over sixteen percent in the first quarter of twenty twenty-four, and in March alone, it fell over twenty-two percent.

One of the potential explanations is the lack of public investment in construction work, which has put a stop to all ongoing work and caused a significant drop in purchases and sales within this industry.

The consulting agency’s report also stated that all the indicators of activity worsened in March. According to the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (or ECLAC), Argentina’s Economy is set to shrink by around three percent. The government has made the country’s economic recovery a priority, but many business people fear they are focusing too much on the financial front and not enough on internal production.

It’s time for a change of subject. It seems that YPF, Argentina’s biggest oil and gas producer, has some ambitious plans to ramp up the country’s shale production. The company recently got an environmental permit that would allow it to build a cross-country pipeline to help increase crude exports from the Vaca Muerta shale patch.

The pipeline is expected to be a $2.5 billion dollar project. However, the profits would far exceed the costs. Vaca Muerta is already bringing in the bucks for the cash-strapped country, allowing it to transport oil to Argentina’s Northern region, which historically depended on importing fuel from Bolivia. It has also allowed it to begin selling crude to Chile. This second project could help Argentina ramp up crude exports.

Moving on to foreign affairs. According to confidential diplomatic sources, Argentina is planning on a less-friendly approach to diplomacy with Venezuela. The issue currently causing waves is the fate of a few aides of opposition candidate María Corina Machado, who sought asylum in the Argentine embassy in Caracas back in March.


Senior Argentine officials have confirmed that President Maduro had initially agreed to let the six aides leave Venezuela for Argentina but has now backtracked. There are currently arrest warrants issued for Machado’s people on the count of conspiracy. The opposition candidate has denied the misconduct remarks against members of her team.

More on foreign policy. On Friday, the 10th, at the UN summit, 143 countries voted in favor of the official recognition of the Palestine state, while Argentina reversed its traditional diplomatic stance by voting against it.

Only nine members voted against the resolution, including Israel and the United States. One thing that the vote against the resolution shows is Milei’s administration's willingness to become an ally of the US. Recall that back in April, the US vetoed Paletine’s request to become part of the United Nations.

Next up, on Friday, the 9th, a train from the San Martín line carrying passengers crashed against another empty one parked on the tracks. The collision happened on the bridge over Figueroa Alcorta, one of the city’s main avenues.

Emergency services and firefighters quickly arrived at the scene to treat the over a hundred injured individuals. Paramedics assisted around ninety people, and fifty-five of those were transported to nearby hospitals, Fortunately, there were no fatalities.

An investigation has been opened, although the train conductor’s union blamed the accident on lack of public funding. Official reports say the automatic signaling system has been down for over ten days after its cables were stolen and were never replaced.

In other news, residents of the city of Ushuaia in Tierra del Fuego, Argentina's southernmost province, were treated to a true spectacle of light on Friday the 10th. The aurora australis filled the skies with dancing red lights.

A massive solar storm caused the phenomenon, which created powerful plasma and magnetic field expulsions that lit up skies all over the world. Argentina’s National Meteorological Service announced that the lights had also been spotted At the Marambio research base in Antarctica, where they glowed green and orange instead of red.

Touching on a not-so-pretty natural phenomenon, floods in Brazil have begun trickling over to Argentina. The neighboring country has been experiencing severe floods that are now causing Argentine rivers to grow. In the city of Concordia, in the province of Entre Ríos, over 500 people have been evacuated because of the rise of the Uruguay River.

Francisco Azcué, the Mayor of Concordia, said in an interview on Monday, the 13th, that although the Salto Grande dam was keeping most of the floods under control, it had its limits. The local government has been trying to control the flow of water by strategically opening and closing the dam’s gates. People in the neighboring country of Uruguay have also been evacuated.

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

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¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!