Argentina's Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa Thursday announced a refund of the VAT paid on basic food basket items for 9 million workers. In a move to discourage unregistered transactions, he is willing to raffle cars and household appliances for retailers and customers, it was explained.
A Court of Appeals Friday upheld a four-and-a-half-year prison sentence for former Argentine President Carlos Menem for undue bonuses paid to government officials during his administration. His then Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo was sentenced to three and a half years.
Hooliganism and mobbing by government officials seem to be the norm in Argentina following on the experience of two incidents, one involving a BBC crew forced out of the country for their alleged 'disrespectful attitude' towards the Falklands/Malvinas conflict memory, and a second calling on hecklers to impede a conference in Buenos Aires of a former minister.
Former Argentine president Carlos Menem and his former economy minister Domingo Cavallo were both formally indicted for embezzlement over the sale of the Rural Society property in the Buenos Aires high income Palermo neighborhood in 1991 at a price the court yesterday described as “vile.”
Former Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo assured that Argentina’s current problems are much more serious, than back in 2001 since nowadays “people are desperate because they want to preserve the value of their savings and the Government does not allow them to do so”.
President Cristina Fernandez speaking at Harvard University denied there was a “dollar clamp”, chided some students for making the same “monochord questions” as the Argentine media, attacked the IMF and finally described a question on her wish for re-re-election as ‘abstract’ since it does not depend from her or a single party.
Argentine former economy minister Domingo Cavallo assured that had the restrictions to buy US currency not been applied by the local Government “people would be flocking to buy dollars.”