Worker bonuses: UIA will ‘protest but pay’
The Argentine Industrial Union (UIA, by its Spanish initials) will pay its workers the two AR$30,000 bonuses mandated by the government. Despite the unease the measure has caused in the business world, UIA President Daniel Funes de Rioja said on Sunday that his manufacturing industry federation would “protest, but pay”. He was speaking at a celebration for the Day of Industry in Entre Ríos province, which was also attended by Economy Minister Sergio Massa. On August 27, Massa announced that formally employed workers with monthly salaries of up to AR$400,000 will receive AR$60,000. The bonus is currently worth US$171 at the official exchange rate and US$89.50 at the MEP dollar rate.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 05, 2023 01:41 UTC
Charco Press: A love of Latin American literature across the pond
The Spanish word for “puddle” or “pond,” “charco,” is a colloquialism people in Latin America commonly use to describe traveling between America and Europe. Born in Buenos Aires as the daughter and granddaughter of bookshop owners, she settled in the United Kingdom, where she earned a PhD in Latin American literature from the University of Edinburgh. “The idea behind publishing contemporary literature was to intervene in this sort of stalled status quo.”“What is Latin American literature in the minds of English-speaking readers? I think that combination works.”Orloff also noted that the way Latin American literature handles certain topics like politics is especially interesting to foreign readers. “Ideologically, it’s something we feel we have to do.”That commitment is not limited to offering a representative selection of contemporary Latin American literature.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 04, 2023 22:17 UTC
Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo identify four pregnant women murdered by dictatorship
Vaccarini was 22 when she was abducted on May 16, 1977, and three months pregnant at the time. Girardi, who was between four and six months pregnant, had been a militant in the PRT-ERP for 20 years when she was abducted at her home in Rosario. The genocidaires threw people into the sea and kept pregnant women alive before murdering them. They riddled pregnant women with bullets, sometimes in their stomachs, as in the cases of Dora Elena Vargas, Olga Liliana Vaccarini, and Hilga Margarita Farías. They also shot women who were showing, like Liliana Beatriz Girardi, who was six months pregnant.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 03, 2023 16:57 UTC
Argentina’s growing ‘polyworker’ scene: they already outnumber the unemployed
She is not alone — “polyworking” (having multiple jobs instead of a single full-time occupation) is a growing world phenomenon. “It is more common to find a person with more than one job than someone who is unemployed,” the report says. Polyworking, the report found, is not necessarily associated with the objective of shoring up income to avoid falling below the poverty line. “Technically I could live with only the union job, but I’d barely make ends meet, and I don’t want to. “It seems that the times where having a registered job used to be a kind of panacea are no more.”
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 03, 2023 16:56 UTC
Government gets AR$464 billion in ‘surprise’ bond auction
The government raised AR$464 billion through peso securities in the local market in an off-schedule auction that took place on Friday. The goalwas to finance the relief measures announced last week to counterbalance the economic impact of the 22% devaluation the government implemented the day after the primary elections. Among the measures announced by Economy Minister Sergio Massa last Sunday are bonuses and loans for workers, pensioners and welfare recipients, as well as price freezes and tax breaks for farmers and the self-employed, among others. “Almost all of the awarded bids came from the private sector, with the participation of a broad base of investors, which made it possible to obtain financing in excess of the expected $100 billion,” added Setti. Economist Leandro Ziccarelli said on Twitter that the collected amount is “a little more than half of what the measures announced over last weekend will cost.”As per the current schedule, the next auction will take place on September 14.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 02, 2023 19:02 UTC
Peru tears down Lima 'wall of shame' but wealth divide stays strong
A 4.5-kilometer “wall of shame” separating luxurious estates in Peru’s capital Lima from neighboring communities living in poverty is being torn down after some four decades, though divisions remain strong. The group was largely destroyed in the 1990s, but the wall dividing La Molina and the poorer Villa Maria del Triunfo remained and has grown in size. Francisco Dumler, the municipal manager of the La Molina, said residents would comply with the ruling but the demolition could take time due to unforeseen costs. “It must also be made clear that there is no possibility of building paths or any kind of vehicle access to allow crossings directly into La Molina from Villa Maria del Triunfo,” he said. La Molina boasts lush parks and large residences that can cost several millions of dollars.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 02, 2023 15:45 UTC
Bullrich’s two-front battle
Patricia Bullrich, presidential candidate for Juntos por el Cambio (JxC), has found herself in the unenviable position of fighting a two-front battle in the runup to October 22. Meanwhile, Sergio Massa, Economy Minister and candidate for the ruling Unión por la Patria, is battling her for the center ground. She has tapped economist Carlos Melconian, a former Banco de la Nación Argentina president, as her prospective economy minister and has moderated her traditionally combative rhetoric. Hoping he can breathe some lucidity into her policy platform, Bullrich last week announced Melconian as her pick for economy minister. In line with her appointment of Melconian, Bullrich has shifted her post-primary tone.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 02, 2023 08:06 UTC
Official PASO tally: difference between 3 main coalitions smaller than initial count
Libertarian economist Javier Milei is still the most voted candidate, but his total vote count has dipped below 30%. The final numbers mean there is a difference of just 2.6 percentage points between the three main coalitions. The official tally, which starts 48 hours after the election, is done counting the official voting acts certified at each voting station. The provisional count, on the other hand, is done on the same day of the election based on information sent by voting stations to the Interior Ministry via telegram. The official vote count all voting stations, including the ones that were not accounted for in the earlier count.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 01, 2023 20:01 UTC
Arteba: Buenos Aires art fair kicks off in style at Costa Salguero Center
Landmark pieces by Argentina’s top 20th-century painters, galleries from all over the country, and emerging artists will all converge this weekend at arteba, Argentina’s storied art fair. The 2023 edition, which runs through Sunday, September 3, at the Costa Salguero Center in Buenos Aires, will feature upwards of 400 artists from 58 art galleries across more than 15 cities. “It’s the first time ever that an art space from El Calafate, in Santa Cruz, has attended the fair,” gallery director Toia Ibáñez said. “I don’t usually work with such a contemporary thing, but people like them a lot, especially younger buyers.”Argentina’s current political-economic tensions have, of course, filtered into local artists’ work. “Argentine art pieces are very affordable in comparison with the rest of the region.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 01, 2023 15:56 UTC
Following bonus announcement, government freezes train and bus fares
The Transport Ministry suspended the 6% increase in train and bus fares within national jurisdiction scheduled for September 1. Current fares for all train and bus lines were extended indefinitely through a Transport Ministry resolution published in the Official Bulletin on Thursday morning. In the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, bus fares range between AR$52.9 and AR$72.6, while train tickets cost between AR$25.7 and AR$52.9, depending on the route. Since March, public transport fares have been updated monthly based on the price index done by the National Institute for Statistics and Census (INDEC, for its Spanish initials) in Greater Buenos Aires. It also asks that provinces and Buenos Aires City apply the same measure for public transport within their local jurisdiction.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
August 31, 2023 20:12 UTC
BA City and 11 provinces refuse to pay bonus for civil servants
The governors of Santa Fe, Misiones, Córdoba, Jujuy, Entre Ríos, La Pampa, Neuquén, Catamarca, Tucumán, Salta and Santa Cruz, along with BA City Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, have all come out to say they will not pay the bonus. Mendoza, La Rioja and Santiago del Estero are the only provinces that have confirmed their government employees will receive it. “The province is in no condition to pay a bonus. In his announcement, Massa clarified the bonus will be considered as a part of ongoing or future salary negotiations. Private companies that don’t pay the bonus, however, will be sanctioned.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
August 30, 2023 15:00 UTC
Business leaders criticize government-backed bonuses for workers
Multiple Argentine business associations spoke out against the two AR$30,000 bonuses for workers earning less than AR$400,000 a month —one of the measures announced by Economy Minister Sergio Massa on Sunday to counterbalance the economic impact of the 22% devaluation imposed two weeks ago. The UIA said the government should regulate the macro-economy and fight against inflation instead of altering “wage discussions through unilateral measures.” Nevertheless, the group said that its associated chambers and industries will “comply with the regulations in force.”The CAC expressed “deep concern” for the measure. The association said it was “fully aware of the deterioration in the purchasing power of wages,” but added that “a good part of the country’s companies are in a delicate situation” due to stagnation and a decade of disorder in the macroeconomy. “[That] makes it infeasible for them to afford the bonus,” it continued. “Micro, small, and medium-sized companies have been losing economically for several months and this imposition will worsen this loss,” CAME continued.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
August 30, 2023 00:08 UTC
‘Argentina, 1985’ sweeps Argentine Academy Awards
Santiago Mitre’s Argentina, 1985 swept the Academy of Film Arts and Sciences ceremony last Monday, collecting 10 Sur Awards in the main categories, including Best Fiction Film, Best Director, and Best Script. Pilar Gamboa, a member of the renowned Piel de Lava theater company, won the Best Actress award for her comedic performance in Adrian Suar’s 30 Nights with My Ex. Mariano Biasin’s first feature Sublime won Best Debut Film and Groundbreaking Performance by an Actor (Martín Miller). Alejandro Hartmann’s film about slain photojournalist José Luis Cabezas, The Photographer: Murder in Pinamar won the Best Documentary category. The Best Adapted Screenplay award went to Jorge Bechara, Matías Bertilotti and Sebastián Pivotto for Lucas Combina’s Un Crimen Argentino, based on the book by journalist Reynaldo Sietecase.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
August 29, 2023 21:00 UTC
IMF Raises Concern About Economic Relief Measures
The IMF listed these measures in its most recent staff report, which it released after the disbursement of US$7.5 billion. The report indicated that the Fund had approved its fifth and sixth reviews, and provided new goals for 2023. The document summarized “recent developments” in the Argentine economy, stating that “the fiscal deficit increased significantly” due to the drop in export revenues caused by the drought. The Fund’s report acknowledged that the measures would provide relief for households, along with small and medium businesses; “one-time bonuses” for pensioners and students; and larger subsidies for credit card purchases. Still, the IMF insisted that the primary deficit target of 1.9 percent of GDP must be met.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
August 29, 2023 01:09 UTC
Outcry over racism after Indigenous couple mocked on live TV
Journalists from ElTrece television channel have been lambasted for racism, xenophobia and discrimination after a clip went viral of them mocking an Indigenous couple during a live report from the Buenos Aires subte (subway). Quechua, technically a family of languages, is the most widely-spoken Indigenous language group in South America. Doman and the columnists in the show’s studio laughed after Rimachi explained that he is a member of an Indigenous community. “We advocate for Indigenous peoples’ rights, and the Indian wants to kick us out,” one of the columnists said. The complaints mainly mention “racism, mockery, discrimination, xenophobia and disrespect for other cultures,” among other issues, the source said.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
August 29, 2023 00:47 UTC