Argentine Radical party chairman Mario Barletta said on Sunday that “he is really convinced” that the government of President Cristina Fernandez will advance with a constitutional reform bill and highlighted the petition campaign that the party is carrying out in order to express its discontent.
Thousands of Argentines began spilling out of the capital Friday night to make the most of the long weekend, which congress approved just three weeks ago. Monday's Sept. 24th holiday makes for a total of 19 national paid holidays this year. Only Colombia comes close in Latin America, with 18.
President Cristina Fernandez leaves this weekend for New York to attend the UN General Assembly where two of the main issues of the Argentine agenda will be the Malvinas Islands claim and AMIA, the terrorist attack on an Argentine Jewish institution in which allegedly Iran could have been involved.
Foreign minister Hector Timerman thanked the Colombian government for supporting Argentine legitimate claims over the Malvinas Islands and for calling for a resumption of negotiation with the UK to find a peaceful solution to the South Atlantic islands dispute.
A Venezuelan military delegation is currently visiting Buenos Aires to advance cooperation agreements with Argentina and continue to consider the project for the development of a training jet aircraft for Unasur, Union of South American Nations.
The Argentine opposition strongly criticized the budget bill sent to Congress and questioned the real growth of the economy during the current year, wondering who are the real holders of sovereign bonds tied to GDP growth maturing later this year.
The Argentine economy remained flat in the second quarter of the year compared to the same time period of 2011, the poorest performance in three years, according to the national statistics office Indec.
The Argentine Central bank has issued a new 100 Pesos bill to honour the figure of Eva Duarte de Perón, and a 2 Pesos coin commemorating the thirtieth anniversary of the landing of Argentine troops in the Malvinas Islands.
Argentina’s industrial output fell 0.8% last August when compared to the same month last year, according to the country’s stats office Indec. However it improved 0.7% when compared to July but dropped 1.2%, points out Indec Monthly Industrial Estimate
The Brazilian congress approved this week a bill which enables the opening of free shops or tax free shops, along border towns currently suffering from the massive inflow of imported goods purchased at international prices in such stores in Uruguay, Argentina and Paraguay.