An estimated 58,000 cruise visitors have landed in Ushuaia, extreme south of Argentina during the current 2015/16 season which took off last 15 September, according to the Tierra del Fuego Tourism Institute. The largest number was concentrated in January, with an estimated 25.000, and this weekend promises to be equally busy with several vessels calling with 10.000 passengers.
Argentina's main political force, Peronism, under the Justicialista party banner, announced that the party's elections will be held on 8 May, while the members of the electoral board set to oversee the election would be chosen during a meeting in Buenos Aires on February 24.
The Argentine government officially unveiled the National Registry for Admission to Football Matches. The measure was announced by the Security Ministry, which released a statement saying they “needed the cooperation from the clubs affiliated with the Argentine Football Association (AFA), who will bring us the names of the people who are not allowed to attend soccer matches.”
The Chilean ambassador in Buenos Aires met with Malvinas war veterans and the head of the National Monument to the Flag in the city of Rosario, and delivered an official letter condemning the violent actions and destruction by fans from the University of Chile football team against a Memorial to the Malvinas fallen.
Argentina's main opposition party suffered a split on Wednesday after an estimated fifteen of its lawmakers quit, party leaders admitted, handing a boost to newly-elected President Mauricio Macri's hopes of pushing his legislative agenda through Congress. In effect, Macri's political alliance in the Lower House becomes the majority grouping.
Argentina announced Tuesday that it reached a $900 million preliminary accord to settle its pending debt with 50,000 Italian holders of defaulted Argentine government bonds. Finance minister Alfonso Prat-Gay said that the agreement with Italian bondholders includes the Argentine government's acknowledgement of the debt and reasonable interest.
Two of the 46 Chileans arrested on Monday for vandalism against a Malvinas Fallen Monument in Argentina's second largest city, Rosario, were still waiting on Tuesday for the prosecutors' charges before going before a federal judge. During the first hearing, advised by a government supplied lawyer, the Chileans abstained from making any statement while demanding to be set free.
Fish landings in Argentina totaled 752,359.1 tons in 2015, which represents 4.2% less than the previous year, according to the latest from the National Under secretariat of Fisheries. Among the main species of commercial importance, Illex squid (Illex argentinus) led the decline with a drop of 25%, with landings amounting 126,531.4 tons until 30 December 2015.
The government of Chile will be selling energy-short Argentina 5.5 million cubic feet of natural gas a day starting in May, providing also 200 MW of electricity through the interconnection system between both countries. Chile also committed to invest 200 million dollars in the Incremental Project of the Magallanes Area to boost hydrocarbon production.
Argentina's central bank said on Friday it had sealed a deal for a US$5 billion, one-year loan from international private banks, bolstering its low foreign reserves as the country heads into talks with creditors suing over unpaid debt. Argentina has been shut out of global credit markets because of its long-running legal dispute in U.S. courts with creditors over debt it defaulted on in 2002.