Argentina

• Friday, May 1st 2020 - 08:15 UTC

  Pot banging in Argentina to protest release of inmates; government argues it is to slow spread of COVID-19

  

  Argentines staged loud protests in Buenos Aires and most large cities on Thursday evening, banging pots from balconies, and later applauding, in a show of opposition to the government's release of prisoners, allegedly to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

• Thursday, April 30th 2020 - 09:54 UTC

  Argentina is not abandoning Mercosur, but “we are in no haste to sign any accord”

  

  Foreign minister Felipe Sola said Argentina is “not abandoning Mercosur, and did not leave any chair at the table”. Furthermore, this Thursday a round of ministerial talks will be taking place, requested by Paraguay, to keep analyzing the legal and institutional framework that some members pretend to speed a list of negotiations with other countries.

• Thursday, April 30th 2020 - 08:40 UTC

  Controversy in Argentina over the release of convicted felons to avoid COVID-19 in the overcrowded jail system

  

  Argentina's Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity, Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta reiterated on Wednesday her complete rejection to the release of prisoners, accused or convicted of sexual crimes and gender violence, and asked the Justice to intervene to avoid “psychic and physical re-victimization of assaulted people.”

• Thursday, April 30th 2020 - 08:39 UTC

  Argentina refineries running at minimum capacity because of lack of demand

  

  A Buenos Aires crude oil refinery operated by Argentine state-controlled energy firm YPF is running with a minimal level of workers due to a drop in consumption and a lack of storage space amid a crash in global oil prices during the coronavirus pandemic, a spokesman said on Wednesday.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2020 - 09:41 UTC

  Uruguay and Argentina presidents discuss the future of Mercosur

  

  Uruguayan president Luis Alberto Lacalle Pou and his Argentine peer, Alberto Fernandez held a half-hour video conference Tuesday mid-morning to address the recent decision by the current Argentine administration to freeze Mercosur free trade negotiations with potential new partners and instead concentrate efforts in overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic and its sanitary, social, economic and employment consequences.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2020 - 07:56 UTC

  Argentina's debt restructure haircut proposal “is not enough” and will have to be revisited, says ex IMF economist

  

  Argentina’s latest effort to restructure its overseas debt probably won’t be its last, according to ex IMF advisor and Harvard University economist Carmen Reinhart, who has sounded alarms overcoming emerging markets crises in Venezuela and Turkey.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2020 - 07:55 UTC

  Mercosur beef sales to US on the rise, as American abattoirs are closing amid coronavirus complications

  

  Brazil's giant meatpacker Marfrig Global Foods CEO, Miguel Gularte, said the company has resumed sales of fresh beef to the US following a decision by US authorities to open their market to Brazilian beef. American slaughterhouses have been closing amid coronavirus social distancing rules and this has led to unmet demand within the US.

• Wednesday, April 29th 2020 - 07:54 UTC

  Argentine Coast Guard chases Chinese jigger operating in the country's EEZ

  

  The Argentine Coast Guard was finally unable to arrest a Chinese jigger operating in the country's EEZ, which managed to escape into international waters, the so-called mile 201. According to the force's report, the patrol vessel GC-27 “Prefecto Fique”, early Tuesday detected and pursued the jigger Lu Rond Yuan Yu 668, some 390 kilometers offshore Puerto Madryn.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2020 - 08:22 UTC

  Pandemic: Argentine armed forces major deployment since the Malvinas war

  

  The combat to contain coronavirus has been the major deployment of the Argentine armed forces in democracy, some 22.000 staff are out on the field throughout the country, said Defense minister Agustín Rossi, and to be more precise, “the largest deployment since the Malvinas war, and it has been done following the existing legal framework”.

• Tuesday, April 28th 2020 - 08:16 UTC

  Argentina and Chile defuse diplomatic spat; Santiago accused Fernandez of “meddling” in Chilean affairs

  

  The leaders of Argentina and Chile have moved to defuse a recent diplomatic spat after officials in Santiago accused President Alberto Fernandez of “meddling” in Chile's internal affairs after he met with Chilean opposition leaders.