Successive Uruguayan heads of state are developing a habit of being caught out making inappropriate and tactless remarks about Argentina, which, while delighting the national media, could have an adverse effect on diplomatic relations and bilateral cooperation. President José Mujica continued a trend begun by Jorge Batlle (2000-2005) and continued by his predecessor, Tabaré Vázquez (2005-2010), after he was caught referring pejoratively to Argentina’s President Cristina Fernández and her predecessor and late husband, Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007). Former president Batlle had to travel to Buenos Aires in tearful contrition after Argentina had decided to default on its sovereign debt in 2001…
Copper strikes: On 9 April Chile’s Federación de Trabajadores del Cobre (FTC), which groups 22 unions at the state copper company Codelco, made good on its threat to stage a 24-hour nationwide strike [RBS-13-03]. This was the second national strike by the FTC since Piñera took office and the second Chile’s return to democracy in 1990. The FTC objects to Codelco’s use of temporary contractors, accuses the management of seeking to privatise health and pensions services and is also critical of the company’s failure to develop the potential of its mines. The FTC’s president, Raimundo Espinoza, said that 100% of…
This month two threats facing the Coaliciόn por el Cambio (CC) government of President Sebastián Piñera vis-à-vis education materialised; the main confederation of university students (Confech) staged its first national demonstration of the year on 11 April in opposition to Chile’s fee-paying education system and Education Minister Harald Beyer was dismissed after the legislature impeached him for dereliction of duty. Both developments spell problems for Piñera and suggest that the issue of education is likely to take centre stage ahead of the 17 November general election. The march, organized by Confech, which was behind the mass protests in 2011 and…
Tens of thousands of Argentines took to the streets of Buenos Aires, Santa Fe, Rosario and Tucumán to protest the government’s plans to “democratize” the judiciary on 18 April. Opposition leaders attended the rallies, though their presence at a demonstration organized largely via social media, and advertised repeatedly in the private press, merely highlighted how ineffective their attempts to challenge the government have become. A few days after the protest, the president of the supreme court, Ricardo Lorenzetti, published a letter sent to him by Council of Presidents of National and Federal Courts, which warned the reforms could “paralyze the…
Inflation, authoritarianism, violence, and corruption: all provided the motivation for the tens of thousands of Argentines that took to the streets around the country on 18 April to protest against the government. The planning minister, Julio de Vido, responded to the demonstrations by saying that “workers, pensioners and the retired are spending money in the local economy, they are not banging pots and pans over here so they can go to Miami.” “Miami” is invariably invoked by government ministers looking for a shorthand for the middle-classes’ frivolous self-interest. However, President Cristina Fernández tweeted in a more measured manner that she…
Given the polarized nature of the Argentine electorate, and the engrained culture of high-level corruption in the country, the latest allegations against President Cristina Fernández and her former husband may not alienate her base. Nevertheless, it has certainly gifted the divided opposition a weakness to exploit, and will help to mobilise its supporters. For all the resistance to the arcane subject of judicial reform, it is the allegations that the president benefited from a money-laundering scheme that funneled money out of the country, while capital controls were being imposed at home, that boiled the blood of many protesters. The allegations…