Protests in Jujuy Against Banning Roadblocks as a Form of Protest & more –22nd June 2023

¡Buenos días from The Springs! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 22nd June twenty twenty-three A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

The start of this week was marked by protests and strong police repression in the province of Jujuy after the adoption of a partial constitutional reform. Protestors took to the streets outside the legislature building to show their discontent with a provision included in the reform that bans, precisely, roadblocks as a form of protest.

On top of that, the reform also includes new rules regarding private property, as it allows for quick measures to solve disputes in the case of unauthorized occupation. At the same time, it eliminates midterm elections, and it dictates that the party who wins the governor election will get half of Legislature seats plus one, meaning they’ll have a majority.

Unfortunately, the protest ended with more than thirty arrests and a number of injuries. It will also come at a cost for Governor Gerardo Morales, who pushed for the approval of the reform.

Toward the East, the province of Chaco held their primary elections to choose the next governor. The current governor, Jorge Capitanich, won outright as an individual candidate, securing his candidacy for the general elections. However, opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio was the most voted one overall, taking into account the votes received by the two candidates it presented.

Speaking of the opposition, Juntos por el Cambio presented its coalition on Wednesday the 14th with no name or party changes ahead of the PASO primaries. In the end, Córdoba Governor Juan Schiaretti declined to join and decided to compete with his own front called Hacemos por Nuestro País or “We do for our country.” After three governor terms in Córdoba, Schiaretti can’t run for reelection again, so he will now be running for president for the first time.

On the other hand, the Frente de Todos ruling coalition announced that it has changed its name to Unión por la Patria which translates to “Homeland Union.” Regardless of the new name, the political parties featuring in the ruling coalition are practically the same as in twenty nineteen and twenty twenty-one. The new tag was mainly designed to help overcome internal divisions between VP Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, presidential candidate Daniel Scioli and Economy Minister Sergio Massa.

While they were able to agree on a new name, it was harder to coincide on the percentage required for PASO primary runners-up to also place candidates on the lists for Congress. This was finally set at 30 percent.

In total, seven electoral alliances will compete in the PASO primaries on the 13th of August. Now, they have mere days to sort out the lists of candidates, including the presidential ticket.

Everything that happened during the pandemic will have an effect on the results of this year’s elections. One of those episodes is the “VIP vaccine” scandal, which cost the original Minister of Health his job. This week, former minister Ginés González García was summoned to testify on the 10th of July, charged by prosecutor Eduardo Taiano. He is accused of administering the scarce vaccines against Covid-19 the government had in twenty twenty to privileged people not in risk groups or health workers.

Speaking of crimes, Argentina sought an international arrest warrant for four Lebanese citizens suspected of involvement in the nineteen ninety-four bomb attack on the AMIA Jewish community center. They are thought to reside in either Paraguay, Brazil or Beirut and to be linked to the Shiite Hezbollah organization.

In other news, President Alberto Fernández and the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, signed a memorandum of understanding that aims to guarantee a steady and sustainable supply of commodities needed to ensure the energy transition. The memorandum also looks to support the creation of local added value, quality jobs and sustainable and integrated economic growth for both parties.

Since we’re on the topic of energy, the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline filling began on Tuesday the 20th. The infrastructure is ready for operation, but the filling process will take about twenty days.

During a radio interview, Flavia Royón, the Energy Secretary, explained that Argentina had to make an important purchase of natural gas around this time of the year in twenty twenty-two. But from now on, the country will only have to make purchases to meet specific winter peaks.

One of the countries Argentina has historically bought from is Bolivia, which is struggling to meet the expectations of the countries it usually sells to. This year, Bolivia sold 47% less natural gas to Argentina --- an issue that stems from output problems and the failure of the hydrocarbons exploration and exploitation programs.

Aside from the gas pipeline, all eyes are on the lithium operations in the north-west. Earlier this month, James Cameron, the Canadian film director, visited Argentina for a conference in Buenos Aires and then headed to the Jujuy province to visit a large solar power plant. However, Cameron said later that he felt ambushed, as he believes Governor Gerardo Morales attempted to use his image as an environmentalist to give a positive spin to lithium mining operations. After the visit, he promised to devote money from his Avatar Alliance Foundation to support indigenous communities opposing lithium operations in South America.

Speaking of environmental news, the BBC published an interesting piece about the Iberá Wetlands, titled Argentina’s answer to Yellowstone. Located in the Corrientes Province, the Iberá Wetlands are one of the most important freshwater ecosystems in South America, home to a stunning variety of animals and plants. The article explains how the Iberá Wetlands went from a degraded backwater tainted by commercial foresting, illegal hunting and cattle ranching to Argentina’s premier wildlife-watching destinations thanks to a transformational rewilding initiative.

We’ll include the link in the show notes in case you want to know more.

Another article that was published this week is one by The New York Times. As usual, the main topic is inflation, titled In Argentina, Inflation Passes 100% (and the Restaurants Are Packed). As the name indicates, the article explores why Buenos Aires enjoys a flourishing dining scene despite the financial collapse. Link in the show notes!

On that note about the economy, Javier Bolzico, the president of the Argentine Bank Association, questioned the idea of “dollarizing” the economy, which is one of the main proposals of the far-right presidential candidate Javier Milei. In short, he said that the efforts needed to implement a successful dollarization are the same as those needed to have a stable currency. Plus, it’s basically like giving up.

Since we’re talking about foreign currency, the lower house approved a tax bill for freelancers who work for companies abroad. If the Senate passes it, workers who offer services abroad will be able to declare their activity and receive up to 30,000 US dollars per year straight into their bank accounts, without having to convert it into pesos at the official exchange rate.

The project will have to overcome the objections of business chambers, who are lobbying against it. The Software Industry Chamber and Argencon, the association that gathers top knowledge economy companies such as Mercado Libre and Globant, for example, both plan to stop the bill. Their argument is that the bill would result in increasing precariousness for contractors, arguing that people who work for foreign clients, rather than local companies, don’t have formal employment contracts. This means that they lack benefits that companies like Mercado Libre and Globant spend millions on, such as paid vacations, healthcare, social security and parental leave.

They also argue that it will result in a reduction of public income, since they estimate that it is the only fiscal contribution those workers will pay, and it comes to substantially less than the taxes companies pay for having full-time employees. They do, however, believe a middle ground can be reached, which could come in the form of a law that applies to some liberal professions, such as journalists or gamers, but not for people linked to the knowledge economy, like programmers.

That’s it for this week! Thanks for joining us!

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¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!