MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchnerite Senator wants more repression on parallel dollar traders

Everybody knows where “caves” trading black market dollars are, the Senator insisted as she called for more repression

Hardline Kirchnerite Senator Juliana Di Tullio has demanded Argentine police play a deeper role in chasing currency exchange parlors where US dollars are traded at the unofficial “blue” rate of around AR$ 337.

The Economy Ministry's latest measures have sparked a dollar buying fever as the government's ability to handle the country in the coming months is increasingly under question, with some opposition sectors even calling for the resignation of President Alberto Fernández “before it is too late.”

In the meantime, Economy Minister Silvina Batakis is traveling this week to Washington DC to meet with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to discuss the country's current situation following the resignation of her predecessor Martín Guzmán earlier this month.

Fernández himself was also expected to review the case with US President Joseph Biden at the White House, but that engagement has been postponed due to the Democratic leader's testing positive for COVID-19.

In that scenario, Di Tullio, a die-hard loyal of Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) called for tighter control measures and said everybody knew where these illegal exchange parlors, commonly referred to as “caves,” are. Di Tullio insisted these traders set “a value [for the US dollar] on the board and that's it.” She insisted that such behavior distressed people.

Regarding a devaluation that continues to seem inevitable despite Di Tullio's opinion, the Senator warned that if it came to be that way, salaries would be “liquefied in two minutes,” which would “annihilate millions of people.”

Di Tullio considered that the increase of the free dollar “has an effect on the collective psyche, not on the real economy,” in line with CFK's latest statements.

Read also: Alberto Fernández warns rural producers they “will not twist” his arm

Di Tullio came under heavy criticism this weekend on Twitter when she posted what she claimed was “grain withholding” on the part of rural producers but later had to apologize and admit the picture was of bags from an oil mill.

So far this year, the “blue” dollar has advanced AR$ 129 after a 25.3% growth in 2021 which it closed at AR$ 208 from AR$ 42 at the beginning of the year, thus trailing the yearly inflation of 50.9%. But in 2020, it had grown 111% when inflation reached 36%. This volatility does anything but encourage investments.