MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Argentina consumer prices rose 3.7% in June and reach 29.5% in twelve months
Consumer prices rose 3.7% in June in Argentina, official data showed on Tuesday. That brought 12-month inflation to 29.5%, up from 26.3% in the 12 months through May, the INDEC national statistics bureau announced, which makes it the highest monthly recorded figure of the last two years. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesI am surprised not seeing the crowd that used to noisily protest against inflation at the time of the CFK government. Where are they?
Jul 18th, 2018 - 06:28 pm - Link - Report abuse -1Perhaps they do not want to remember that current president Mauricio Macri boasted, during his election campaign, that inflation would be “the easiest thing to tame.” He also vowed to be held into account if he ever failed to reign on it during his term.
Macri and his Cambiemos team also made, in 2015, numerous claims vowing to fight the alleged corruption of the then CFK government. He promised transparency, etc.
Well. For over a month now, a growing list of citizens in the Buenos Aires province -- over a 1,000 now -- have been speaking out about their inclusion in lists as financial contributors to the Cambiemos election campaign. Those citizens have flatly denied ever contributing a dime.
Some of them were shocked to discover that they had been included as members of the party now in power.
At this point, two judges are looking into two different types of potential offenses here -- one is the improper use of citizens' names and falsification of signature to account for inexistent contributions.
The second offence being investigated is the potential for money laundering through said false contributions.
If the allegations are proven in court, penalties for those found responsible are significant.
Buenos Aires province governor Maria Eugenia Vidal dismissed the accusations saying they were advanced by “Kirchnerists” and saying the electoral law has gaps that need to be corrected. However, in the last hours she felt the need to push under the bus a chief accountant.
Over a month after the story broke, Clarin finally took notice and published a meek story a few hours ago.
To be continued.
https://www.clarin.com/politica/aportes-electorales-gobierno-defiende-denuncia-sale-apurar-bancarizacion_0_r1Yo6Com7.html
Wow. That's crazy. Where is the money supposed to have come from? Is there a limit on any one campaign contribution that would make them want to hide an otherwise legal donation in this way, or is the money supposed to be from illegal sources?
Jul 18th, 2018 - 10:20 pm - Link - Report abuse -1@DT
Jul 19th, 2018 - 04:53 am - Link - Report abuse -1Where the money came from is one of the big questions. If there is enough public pressure, the truth may come out through the courts.
As the journalistic investigation by a small media outlet proceeds, new cases become known every day throughout the province. Simple citizens aren't the only ones who appear as contributors to Cambiemos campaign. Mar del Plata mayor Carlos Arroyo was listed in the Cámara Nacional Electoral with a personal contribution of 50.000 pesos, followed by 15 other municipal officials and 13 residents, who denied having contributed any amount.
Interestingly, governor Vidal appeared as the alternative candidate for 2019 if Mauricio Macri were to lose too much support. Now she, who claims honesty every time she speaks finds herself in the throes of an unprecedented, dubious campaign financing operation.
I've been trying to find out what the rules on campaign donations are in Argentina, but the only one I could find was a law against corporate donations. However, apparently it's easy to get around since corporate donations to the parties are allowed, they are just not supposed to be used for campaigning. So that seems unlikely.
Jul 19th, 2018 - 05:32 pm - Link - Report abuse -1If there were laws limiting the size of individual donations it could be to hide some, or they might be trying to hide foreign donations, either for legal or PR reasons. More sinister reasons could be that they were funnelling public money to their own campaign, but that would only apply to the 2017 election and they are investigating the 2015 one now too. Or it could be bribe money from companies given public contracts, which comes to the same thing, really. Suppose it could also be money hidden abroad, but I think they already had an amnesty on that. Finally, could be straight up money laundering, but that seems less likely.
What do you reckon, which seem the most plausible to you, or do you think it's something else altogether?
And how is Vidal involved? Is it because she's governor of the area affected or was her own campaign involved too?
Really don't know much about the rules on donations.
Jul 20th, 2018 - 04:59 am - Link - Report abuse -1As for the origin of the money attributed to multiple citizens or Cambiemos candidates, there is a rumour that part at least would have come from large pharma labs who donated more than they wanted to make it public. There would also be funds from bribes paid by construction companies. The judge should check those leads.
Vidal is president of Cambiemos in Buenos Aires province and therefore ultimate responsible for any irregularities.
EM,
Jul 24th, 2018 - 05:21 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Just to clarify, based on your comments on another thread: Inflation is high, partially because the peso is low in value, even though you said it was overvalued and the peso has dropped in value because Macri didn't intervene to manage its value even though he has now put in measures to increase the value of the peso?
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