Argentine Mondays: October 9th, 2017
Corrientes votes
The province of Corrientes voted for a new governor on Sunday, with the Cambiemos candidate Gustavo Valdés defeating the incumbent Ricardo Colombi by over nine points (54.08 percent of the vote). Valdés is breaking the 16-year streak of Colombi governance (with three terms of Ricardo at the fore and one term in the middle led by his cousin, Arturo). However, the election will be no means have been the greatest hurdle that Valdés is set to face: 40 percent of Corrientes' population suffer from poverty and another 9.3 from extreme poverty. Not only that, but Colombi's influence stretches b eyond the final count and Valdés may find himself grappling with the family ghost.
Continuing on the electoral note, two surveys have placed the Cambiemos senatorial candidate for the province of Buenos Aires Esteban Bullrich between 2.5 and 4.3 points ahead of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the most hotly contested legislative bid in the upcoming elections on October 22nd.
Source: Clarín
Continuing on the electoral note, two surveys have placed the Cambiemos senatorial candidate for the province of Buenos Aires Esteban Bullrich between 2.5 and 4.3 points ahead of former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the most hotly contested legislative bid in the upcoming elections on October 22nd.
Obama’s back!
In Argentina, not in politics. Sorry, guys. Former US president Barack Obama made his second visit to Argentina over the weekend, taking part in the Green Environment Summit on Friday in which he gave a speech on clean energy and climate change in the city of Córdoba. Later, he played golf with President Mauricio Macri on a golf course owned by the Argentine president’s brother, Gianfranco. Aside from Saturday’s round of golf — which they won as a team — all of their discussions, meetings and activities were “strictly private”
Source: NDTV
The economy: tidbits for Monday small-talk
Argentina has placed a 105.1 percent import tax on certain Chinese electrical kitchen products due to suspicions over dumping and ensuing detriment to the local market. The main complaint was presented to the government by Liliana SRL.
A group of 26 Argentine slaughterhouses took part in the Anuga food and beverages trade fair over the weekend in Germany with hopes to boost sales to said country, which accounts for 80 percent of Argentina’s meat cut exports to Europe (the premium cuts, to boot). According to Deutsche Welle, however, insect meatballs were the trend of the year.
Three Argentines were featured in the MIT Technology Review's "35 Innovators Under 35" list for 2017. You can look through their achievements and profiles here (in Spanish).
Source: Perfil
More layovers for Venezuela visits
Aerolíneas Argentinas announced on Friday that it has definitively cancelled its weekly flights to Caracas, Venezuela, due to “operational issues.” The company had already stopped selling its direct flights back in August, but now due to “low demand, a payment dispute with the [Venezuelan] government [and] security concerns for their crew in [the country],” you can forget about that Buenos Aires- Caracas flight.
Source: América TV
What to look out for this week
The Argentine football team is set to play against Ecuador on Tuesday at 20:30: the chances of Argentina actually making it through to the World Cup depend on the outcome of the game in Quito so a) prepare for a nail-biting match and b) just be nice to fellow Argentines. It’s not an easy time.
The Argentine economic cabinet, comprised of Finance Minister Luis Caputo and Treasury Minister Nicolás Dujovne, and the head of the Central Bank Federico Sturzenegger will travel to the United States this week for the annual meeting of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.
Macri is set to meet Bono today. Yes, as in the singer and frontman of U2. Beyond Macri’s enviable celebrity hangouts, be on the lookout for potential traffic jams and those signature glasses around the Casa Rosada.
If knowledge is power, being informed helps you power through the morning. Or at least have a conversation or two.
Happy Monday!
