Argentina

• Monday, December 11th 2023 - 10:03 UTC

  Argentina: Ministers sworn in unbroadcast ceremony

  

  Argentina's new President Javier Milei Sunday signed his first urgency decree cutting down the number of ministries from 21 to 9, it was reported in Buenos Aires. The Libertarian leader had insisted throughout his campaign that there were going to be 8 such agencies in addition to the Office of the Cabinet Chief -which is created by the Constitution- but changed his mind to keep Health a separate issue from Human Capital as previously announced.

• Monday, December 11th 2023 - 09:42 UTC

  Argentina to reapply for OECD membership

  

  Argentina's new Foreign Minister Diana Mondino confirmed that her country would resume the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), which had been initiated under President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) but was dropped during the Alberto Fernández years (2019-2023).

• Sunday, December 10th 2023 - 11:13 UTC

  Milei's colorful list of guests to his taking office ceremony

  

  It's a great day for Javier Milei, the libertarian who in just two years from scratch managed to defeat the main dominant political forces in Argentina and will become this Sunday the country's elected president.

• Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 11:00 UTC

  Singapore signs free trade agreement with Mercosur at the Rio summit

  

  The city-state of Singapore and a leading business and financial hub in Asia finally signed a free trade agreement with Mercosur during the South American countries summit held in Rio do Janeiro. It is Mercosur's first deal with a Southeast Asian nation.

• Saturday, December 9th 2023 - 10:44 UTC

  1982 war veteran slated for Argentine Defense Ministry's “Number 2” job?

  

  Argentina's future government of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) is entertaining the possibility of appointing retired Colonel Daniel Esteban, a Malvinas War Veteran, as Deputy Defense Minister as of Dec. 10, according to Buenos Aires daily Clarín. Esteban would serve under former Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) Vice Presidential candidate Luis Petri, who has been picked to head the Ministry following the now-defunct alliance's support to Javier Milei against Sergio Massa at the Nov. 19 runoff.

• Friday, December 8th 2023 - 10:10 UTC

  IMF official highlights importance of BCRA in tackling inflation

  

  International Monetary Fund (IMF) Communications Director Julie Kozack Thursday insisted during a press conference at the agency's headquarters in Washington that Argentina must have a “strong and credible” Central Bank to reduce inflation under future President Javier Milei. In Kozack's view, high prices are one of the most important imbalances the country needs to tackle.

• Friday, December 8th 2023 - 09:03 UTC

  Tierra del Fuego Governor warns Milei against possible drop in Malvinas claims

  

  In a column published this week in Buenos Aires daily Clarín, Gustavo Melella, Governor of the Argentine Province of Tierra del Fuego which technically includes the South Atlantic Islands over which the South American country claims sovereignty, stressed that the future Libertarian administration of Javier Milei should not enact a U-turn in the state policies on that particular matter.

• Friday, December 8th 2023 - 08:56 UTC

  Martín Menem appointed Speaker of Argentina's Lower House

  

  Newly-elected Congressman Martín Menem of La Rioja of President-elect Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza has been appointed as the new Speaker of Argentina's Lower House to succeed Cecilia Moreau, the first woman ever to serve on the post.

• Friday, December 8th 2023 - 08:38 UTC

  Ukraine's Zelensky attending Milei's inauguration

  

  Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky Thursday announced he would be attending Javier Milei's inauguration in Buenos Aires on Dec. 10. His presence will add notoriety to a ceremony to be skipped by Brazil's President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva among other world leaders politically not aligned with the future head of state.

• Thursday, December 7th 2023 - 13:53 UTC

  Case of Malvinas conscripts tortured by officers admitted by International Human Rights Court

  

  A light of hope for the many Malvinas Veterans who for years have litigated in Argentine courts to have their own officers condemned for having abused, tortured, and committed all sorts of human rights violations against many of the green conscripts sent to fight a war in the Falkland Islands, four decades ago.