Weekly Report - 10 September 2020 (WR-20-36)

The decision by a federal court to grant house arrest to a well-known businessman under prosecution over corruption charges has stoked Argentina’s political divisions. The deepening of ‘la grieta’ (‘the chasm’) that divides the country’s leftist ruling Partido Justicialista (PJ, Peronists) and its opponents, which has resurfaced over the controversial judicial reform proposed by President Alberto Fernández [WR-20-32], is a source of concern as it threatens to produce governability problems. This threat extends beyond the obstruction of the government’s legislative agenda in congress to include disruptive public demonstrations.