Argentine president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner underlined on Monday the close relations with Spain and vehemently denied tensions over the situation of Aerolíneas Argentinas whose major shareholders are Spanish and allegedly room is being made for Argentine investors to join.
Argentine farmers and government representatives met late Monday in an undisclosed location and no information was available as to the terms and agenda of the much expected encounter with the new Economy minister Carlos Fernandez, but a new atmosphere seems to prevail.
Argentina's country risk according to JP Morgan signaled last Friday a new high, matching the June 2005 mark, following Standard & Poor's negative rating of Argentina's foreign debt.
Just four months in office President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has suffered a considerable loss of support and over half of Argentines feel the country is in the wrong track, according to a public opinion poll released Sunday in Buenos Aires.
Argentina's sunflower crop was greater than forecasted totalling 4.52 million tons, the largest of the last six seasons, according to Buenos Aires Grain Exchange. The total area planted was 2.636.000 hectares, with an average yield of 1.720 kilos per hectare, which is 2.5% over last year's crop.
The doves of the Argentine cabinet headed by vice president Julio Cobos called on farmers to give the new cabinet a chance and more time to discuss the issues which so far have stalled negotiations.
School text books distributed by an Argentine provincial government identify the Islas Malvinas as the Falklands with the GB for Great Britain next to the map. The error (blooper¿?) triggered a strong reaction from the local chapter of the Malvinas veterans and the provincial congress.
In early April, The Guardian published a piece by Latinamerican expert Richard Gott, on the new Argentina and its architects, as the title suggests.
However, Argentine born Celia Szusterman and a political scientist from University of Westminster is not convinced with Mr. Gott's idea of a new Argentina and believes it's very much like the old Argentina.
Argentine Economy Minister Martin Lousteau resigned four months into President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner's administration amid disputes over farm policies and accelerating inflation in South America's second-largest economy
With only a week left for the end of the month long truce, negotiations between Argentine farmers and government are virtually paralyzed, --and with growing animosity--, while rural organizations begun to review protest mechanisms, taking lessons from the three weeks strike, in the event of the resumption of the conflict as of May 2.