Colombia, FARC sign historic peace deal
52 years of conflict ends Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Colombia, FARC sign historic peace dealColombian opposition leader and former president Álvaro Uribe (centre with hat, glasses) greets supporters at a protest yesterday against the government’s peace deal with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), signed last night in Cartagena. Ratification of accord leaves October 2 referendum as last hurdle to ending half-century of warCARTAGENA — Colombia’s government and the country’s largest rebel movement signed a historic peace accord yesterday, ending 52 years of combat that caused more than 220,000 deaths and left eight million homeless. “Viva Colombia,” Ban shouted at the conclusion of his speech welcoming the peace deal. The signing was greeted by wild cheers by about 1,000 FARC rebels in Sabanas del Yari, where the group recently concluded its last congress by endorsing the peace deal. “Yes, we can; yes, we can; yes, we can,” they shouted, followed by calls for Timochenko to be president.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
Clinton, Trump trade blows in debate showdown
Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Clinton, Trump trade blows in debate showdownRepublican presidential candidate Donald Trump (left) stands next to Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton before the first presidential debate at Hofstra University, last night. The debate kicked off with Clinton fielding the first debate question from moderator Lester Holt, who asked about her plan to create better jobs for US workers. The Democratic presidential candidate then dubbed her Republican rival’s tax cut proposals “Trumped-up trickle-down” economics. Just go to her website, she tells us how to fight ISIS on her website,” said Trump during the Monday night presidential debate. For Clinton and Trump, the first of three debates is a crucial moment to boost their standing with voters who view both candidates negatively.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
OECD urges Argentina to raise taxes on high-income earners
Such a move would help to reverse widening inequality between the wealthiest and the richest, the OECD said. In order to boost tax revenue, governments should also “offer incentives to increase the formalization (process) for workers,” said Angel Melguizo, head of the Latin America and the Caribbean Unit of the OECD’s Development Centre. OECD representatives will meet local officials to hold a series of meetings and to advance tax reform proposals. ‘Tolerance for tax evasion’Melguizo said only 22 percent of Latin American and Caribbean residents pay individual income tax (versus an average of 36 percent in OECD countries), while the richest 10 percent contribute only six percent of their income. “In Argentina, this tax income represents just three percent of Gross Domestic Product, while in the OECD it is up to nine percent,” said Melguizo as he presented a detailed report on the tax burden in regional wages.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
Another PT heavyweight arrested in Brazil graft scandal
Antonio Palocci — Former Finance minister to Lula, Chief-of-staff to Rousseff Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Another PT heavyweight arrested in Brazil graft scandalBrazilian Antonio Palocci, a former Finance minister and presidential chief-of-staff in recent Workers’ Party (PT) governments, is escorted by federal police officers after he leaves the Institute of Forensic Science in Curitiba yesterday. Palocci’s arrest brings the investigation of Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal further into the core leadership of the PT. Last week, police detained Guido Mantega, who succeeded Palocci as Lula’s Finance minister and stayed in the post for almost nine years. “This is another nail in the Workers Party coffin,” said Andre César, a political analyst at Brasilia-based public policy consultancy Hold Legislative Advisors. As finance minister from 2003 he continued the anti-inflation and pro-market policies of the previous centrist government, helping calm financial markets’ concerns about Lula's presidency.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
Macri and Massa both attend ceremony in Cartagena
Tuesday, September 27, 2016 Macri and Massa both attend ceremony in CartagenaPresident Mauricio Macri and Renewal Front leader Sergio Massa both attended the signing of the historic peace accord yesterday between the Colombian government and Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla rebels. As Macri arrived in Cartegena yesterday, he spoke of the peace deal saying “how important this is for the region and for the whole continent ... As he too arrived at the airport in Cartagena yesterday, Massa said: “I’m proud to share a historic day for Latin America; after decades of disputes, peace will be signed. I think it is really a historic day.” The former presidential candidate was invited by Colombia’s President Juan Manuel Santos to the ceremony at the Cartagena Convention Centre. The Renewal Front leader also held meetings yesterday with the mayor of Medellín, Federico Gutiérrez and Colombian legislators.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 03:00 UTC
US gives backing to tax amnesty plan
Tuesday, September 27, 2016 US gives backing to tax amnesty planTreasury chief praises Macri, Prat-Gay; agrees to exchange information on Argentine citizensUnited States Treasury Secretary Jack Lew offered Washington’s additional support to President Mauricio Macri’s whitewash tax amnesty plan yesterday, announcing a fresh effort and new steps to improve the exchange of tax information between the nations during a stopover in Argentina. Lew said Argentine officials would be invited to Washington at his request soon, in order to speed the process. The Macri administration is betting a tax amnesty can bring in some of the investment crucial to restoring stuttering growth in the economy. Amnesty plansIn May, the government declared its proposals to bring in an estimated US$400 billion of undeclared assets that Argentines hold abroad through a sweeping tax amnesty programme that officially opened in August. Showers gov’t with praiseWhile Lew met with Macri briefly, his most substantial meeting was with his local counterpart, Prat-Gay, with the tax amnesty reportedly very much at the forefront of the agenda.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 02:48 UTC
Chaos in the zodiac
The dates for the western zodiac calendar have compressed and shifted later by a few weeks: if you were a Virgo born before mid-September, so the story goes, you are a Leo (now August 10 to September 16). With all of the chaos in the heavens, one might think that a retrograde Mercury is to blame. In January, NASA wrote a brief history of how the western zodiac came to be. The dates of the zodiac calendar follow this laser line as it sweeps from constellation to neighbouring constellation, a bit like the hand of a clock. “We didn’t change any zodiac signs, we just did the math.”NASA’s ultimate counter-argument is that the zodiac calendar is a fantasy on par with a fortune cookie.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 27, 2016 02:37 UTC
Colombia, FARC rebels to sign accord ending 52-year war
The agreement to end Latin America's longest-running war will turn the FARC guerrillas into a political party fighting at the ballot box instead of the battlefield they have occupied since 1964. Kerry lauded the deal during a visit to a training center for war victims, ex-combatants and other young people. The US Department of State has pledged $390 million for Colombia next year to support the peace process. PEACE VOTE NEXT WEEKDespite widespread relief at an end to the bloodshed and kidnappings of past decades, the deal has caused divisions within Latin America's fourth-largest economy. Influential former President Alvaro Uribe and others are angry that the accord allows rebels to enter parliament without serving any jail time.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 26, 2016 20:15 UTC
Debt and deficit
But following submission of the 2017 budget, there seems to be too much debt and deficit at the same time. Prat-Gay advances a concept of “net debt” to lower the numbers but this is achieved by leaving out the money owed between state agencies — i.e. mostly to the Central Bank and to ANSES social security administration, which previously Macri and other opposition politicians had denounced as one of the main Kirchnerite tricks for disguising the deficit. Without such juggling this year’s deficit would be over seven percent of gross domestic product — clearly such high debt levels are to finance the 2016 and 2017 deficits. Last but not least, the government should tread very carefully when it comes to juggling debt or deficit figures.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 26, 2016 04:41 UTC
LatAm leaders unite for FARC signing
Monday, September 26, 2016 LatAm leaders unite for FARC signingSantos wins backing from both left and right; Macri, Malcorra and Massa head to ColombiaLatin American leaders will put aside recent spats, diplomatic outbursts and disagreements today to briefly unite in Colombia, where they will offer President Juan Manuel Santos their full support for his historic peace deal with guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). While a meeting between Macri and Massa wasn’t anticipated, there is a possibility that the two leaders will run into each other. The 200 Guerrilla delegates had voted to unanimously approve the peace deal during the conference in their final meeting as a guerrilla army. PlebisciteAfter the signing of the peace accord, it will be submitted to a popular vote in a plebiscite that is scheduled to take place on October 2. Although FARC leaders haven’t revealed what the new party’s platform will be, most experts predict it will be based on a Marxist political philosophy.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 26, 2016 02:37 UTC
Crucial IACHR visit remembered at ex-ESMA
Monday, September 26, 2016 Crucial IACHR visit remembered at ex-ESMAHuman Rights Secretary Claudio Avruj (second from left) discusses the importance of the IACHR (Inter-American Commission of Human Rights) on the 37th anniversary of its 1979 visit to Argentina during the last military dictatorship. The event was moderated by ex-ESMA Museum Director Alejandra Naftal, who herself had been a prisoner at another clandestine detention centre. It was only last year that former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner inaugurated the renovations to the ex-ESMA officers’ quarters memorial site. When the Buenos Aires province’s human rights secretary spoke, he remarked how the ex-ESMA is not only a symbol of pain but also a symbol of hope, thanks to all those that work at the memorial sites and towards their preservation. “This reflects the realities that the newspapers had to deal with, at a time when 90 percent of the newspapers were complicit with the last military dictatorship.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 26, 2016 02:37 UTC
The most anticipated event of the US presidential race yet
Debates don’t often change races — but Clinton v Trump is no normal head-to-head Monday, September 26, 2016 The most anticipated event of the US presidential race yetBy Dan BalzThe Washington PostPressure on Democrat rises, with polls tightening and expertise expected to shine throughTonight’s debate between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton is the most anticipated event of a US presidential campaign filled with remarkable and revolting moments. But if the debate season, when it’s all over, has changed the trajectory of the race, it will be a surprise. The Clinton team and other Democrats express confidence that she will prevail in both, thanks to demographics. Michigan has been the best of those Midwest battlegrounds in terms of Democratic performance in presidential races. Can Trump change that — and defy history — with his performances in the debates?
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 26, 2016 02:37 UTC
Questions of tactics, style and substance
Monday, September 26, 2016 Questions of tactics, style and substanceA TV cameraman sets up during rehearsals for the presidential debate between Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton and Republican hopeful Donald Trump at Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York last night. By Chris CillizzaThe Washington PostWhat can we expect from Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in the first US presidential debate? That said, during the primary debates, Trump appeared to have only two settings: Attack Mode and Disappearing Mode. When in Attack Mode, Trump would unleash invective at whoever was in his way — regardless of whether it made political sense. There is, after all, only one Donald Trump.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 26, 2016 02:37 UTC
The Malvinas deal
Although tepidly, the president reiterated that Argentina’s sovereignty claims over the Malvinas take priority within Argentine foreign policy. In trying to wriggle out of the uncomfortable position where the Malcorra-Duncan agreement had left Argentine foreign policy, Macri said that Britain’s brand-new Conservative Prime Minister Theresa May had declared herself willing to discuss Malvinas sovereignty. A brief dialogue of two minutes had sufficed, so it would seem, for the greatest achievement of Argentine foreign policy since the return of democracy. Those pushing to shift Malvinas policy towards the seduction of the Kelpers and the Foreign Office often point out that taking a nationalistic tone has produced no results. The Malvinas episode was another step that shows the contradictions between the rhetoric and the facts produced by the government.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 25, 2016 02:37 UTC
Corbyn confirms grip on Britain’s Labour Party
Sunday, September 25, 2016 Corbyn confirms grip on Britain’s Labour PartyNewly re-elected opposition Labour Party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, speaks during Labour’s women’s conference on the eve of the Labour Party annual conference, in Liverpool. LIVERPOOL — Jeremy Corbyn was re-elected leader of Britain’s opposition Labour Party yesterday and called for unity after ending a “coup” by more centrist lawmakers who say his left-wing agenda can never deliver victory at the polls. His victory marks the next phase in a battle for control of the Labour Party. Tens of thousands more new members have flocked to Labour since Corbyn was elected, many of them young and enthusiastic. Centrist lawmakers say now they need to take stock, with some pushing to regain some control of the party machinery and boost groups promoting more centre-left policies.
Source:Bueno Aires Herald
September 25, 2016 02:37 UTC