Stories that caught our eye: November 6 to 13

Below a breathless thumbnail sketch of the four-day visit of Pope Leo XIV (with much more inside this newspaper) – Arrival from Uruguay at Aeroparque airport at 4.30pm on Sunday afternoon with a multi-layered welcome from President Javier Milei (upon landing, private meeting and official reception). A busy Monday (his main day in this city) started early at the Pequeño Cottolengo Don Orione home for the disabled and special needs in Claypole. After midday a slightly condensed Mass in Palermo (skipping the second reading and the Apostle’s Creed) attended by no less than 2.5 million people with a VIP tent adding a scandalous note. The afternoon included a UCA Catholic University encounter with trade unionists and representatives of social organisations, followed by the Foreign Ministry (where he meets the leaders of other religions and makes a speech urging peace) before the day wound down with prayers in the Metropolitan Cathedral and an unexpectedly jovial dinner with Argentine bishops singing folk songs. Tuesday was dominated by Córdoba (a mass at the FAdeA military aviation factory attended by some 650,000 worshippers and a meeting with the local clergy) but the pontiff returned to this city in time for an evening vigil with around a million youngsters at the Monumento de los Españoles venue of the Monday mass. Wednesday starts early with an 8am visit to the Federal Penitentiary, followed a couple of hours later by a Mass in Luján drawing almost as many people as in Palermo, then driving straight to Ezeiza International Airport where Milei saw him off to Lima around 2pm.

INFLATION BACK OVER 2%

Last month’s inflation was 2.2 percent, the highest monthly figure in half a year, the INDEC national statistics bureau reported on Thursday afternoon, running at an annual rate of 33.1 percent and 26.3 percent so far this year. The return to territory above a monthly two-percent sent alarm bells ringing in the economic team, especially coupled with the challenge of keeping the dollar below 1,600 pesos. Nevertheless, Economy Minister Luis Caputo looked on the bright side as usual, celebrating the lowest core inflation (excluding regulated and seasonal prices) in 15 months at 1.5 percent. The leading culprit was housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels (4.2 percent), driven by hefty increases in gas billing due to subsidy cuts, followed by recreation and culture (3.3 percent). The key item of food and beverages was slightly below average at two percent, despite a 5.5 percent surge in vegetable prices. Last Monday City Hall statisticians registered an October inflation of 1.9 percent – a figure more in line with what most consultants had been forecasting at national level – at an annual rate of 32.5 percent and 26.1 percent so far this year.

SEA LION UNDER ATTACK

At 10am Hamburg time Argentina last Tuesday began its litigation against the Sea Lion oil project north of the Malvinas at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), the first time it has taken London to court over the issue since the British occupation of the islands in 1833 apart from an 1884 Argentine proposal for arbitration rejected by Whitehall. On Monday the ad hoc judges were sworn in – retired Oxford professor Vaughan Lowe for Britain and UBA Buenos Aires University professor Raúl Vinuesa, a veteran of the pulp mill dispute lost against Uruguay at the World Court in 2006, replacing ITLOS vice-president Frida Armas Pfirter, who recused herself as an Argentine judge. The hearings will be headed by Cameroon’s Maurice Kamga. The arbitration bid starts just when Princess Anne will be visiting the islands until next Friday, having arrived there last Monday, with the Defence of National Sovereignty bill up for debate in Congress while Tuesday found Pope Leo XIV in Córdoba. The Argentine delegation is headed by Legal and Technical Secretary María Ibarzabal Murphy with Mario Oyarzábal, Marcelo Kohen, Dutchman Nico Schrijver and Agustín Giustiniani on her team, all international law specialists. The delegation plans to add environmental objections to the sovereignty arguments against the Sea Lion project. The tribunal’s decision is expected before the end of this month.

PARAGUAY IN CRISIS

A week after Paraguayan President Santiago Peña was impeached and ousted by Congress over the collapse of the UENO Bank (with close to three million accounts or almost half the country’s population), replacing him with Speaker Pedro Alliana, the country continued in a state of uncertainty with the danger of a total collapse of the financial system not banished.

TEHRAN’S TIT FOR TAT

In a delayed reaction to Argentina declaring Iran’s Revolutionary Guard to be a terrorist organisation last March, the Iranian Foreign Ministry designated Argentina’s Navy and Air Force as terrorist organisations, throwing in the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force for good measure, although not the Armies of either country. The Ministry called Argentina’s decision “hostile and contrary to the fundamental principles of international law,” also pointing to a principle of reciprocity contemplating countermeasures against countries supporting Washington’s actions against the Islamic Republic.

MALCORRA ANTI-GROSSI

Susana Malcorra, who served as foreign minister during the Mauricio Macri Presidency and herself candidate to become United Nations secretary-general back in 2016, on Thursday came out in favour of Costa Rica’s Rebeca Grynspan for the UN helm by signing an open letter by the former foreign ministers of Latin America and the Caribbean, thus ignoring her compatriot Rafael Grossi, the director-general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). "We are convinced that this unity is fundamental for our region to assume the leadership of the United Nations with a woman for the first time in its eight decades of history. Rebeca has the experience, capacity and vision necessary to head the [UN] Organisation in these difficult times," read the letter. Grossi is reportedly the runner-up in a race which remains open and Argentina has paid its debt of US$15 million to the United Nations to assist his candidacy. The social network backlash against Malcorra for backing Grynspan against an Argentine was not long in coming, pointing out that Grossi was also Latin American.

SUBWAY STRIKE

Subway workers on all lines stopped work early at 9pm on Thursday evening to protest the death of a colleague from exposure to asbestos.

TRANS ATTACK ARREST

An adolescent was arrested last Wednesday for his presumed participation in the November 2 attack with sticks and stones on trans women in Palermo, when half a dozen of them were injured. The teenager stands accused of “grievous bodily harm aggravated by gender hatred.” He was reportedly detected via the images of the attacks shared on social networks. The investigation to identify the other assailants continues.

PRIDE MARCH

On the eve of the Pope’s arrival this city was the scene last Saturday afternoon of the 35th Pride March LGBTINB+ anti-fascist and anti-racist, drawing thousands of people downtown for a colourful programme combining music with protests against the libertarian government and ending up outside Congress.

FILM DIRECTOR DIES

Just before last weekend Chile’s Oscar-winning director Sebastián Lelio died in the national capital of Santiago at the age of 52, his family reported. The Argentine-born filmmaker raised in Chile is best known for his 2017 masterpiece Una mujer fantástica (A Fantastic Woman), which took home an Oscar from Hollywood. “With great sadness we announce the death, due to health reasons, of filmmaker Sebastián Lelio,” his partner Amalia Kassai wrote on Instagram, adding: “His memory will remain with us forever.” Prosecutors were investigating the exact cause of his death, the office told reporters. Lelio first gained recognition for his 2013 film Gloria, whose lead Paulina García received the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival. Una mujer fantástica, about a transgender waitress reeling from her boyfriend’s death, cemented his international reputation. Not only did it win the Oscar for best foreign language film but it sparked a debate that helped change the law in his native Chile, allowing people to legally change their gender.

CUMBIA MUSICIAN DIES

Marcos Camino, 76, accordion-player, musical director and founder of the emblematic Santa Fe cumbia tropical music band Las Palmeras over 50 years ago, died last Tuesday at his recording studio in the provincial capital of Santa Fe. Police reports and the initial forensic tests pointed to suicide. Last February the artist had announced that he would not be making any more live performances, citing health reasons and his advanced age as his motives. The decision followed the controversial exit of lead singer Cacho Deicas.

FOOTBALL NEWS

Carlos Babington, an icon of Huracán football club and a 1974 World Cup player nicknamed ‘el Inglés’ due to his surname, died last Wednesday at the age of 77. Contrary to the current trend of frequent transfers, he remained linked to the Parque Patricios club for over half a century after starting out very young with River Plate, helping Huracán to win the 1973 Metropolitano championship for César Luis Menotti. Both Huracán and the Argentine Football Association (AFA) published extensive messages of mourning. In other football news, AFA confirmed on Thursday that Lionel Scaloni (twice a World Cup finalist and champion in Qatar) would continue coaching the national football squad through to the next World Cup in 2030. The indoor rather than outdoor version of the game with five players not 11, but Argentina lifted the gold medal for futsal at the Dakar Youth Olympics on Thursday, beating Portugal 2-1 with goals from Joaquín Pesl and Lorenzo Sampedro.