Mauricio Macri's long odds
In his bid to win a second term, Argentina’s president is defying history
Mar 7th 2019
These have been difficult days for Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s president, and not just because his father, a businessman from whom he was often estranged, died on March 2nd. The previous day he had delivered his annual message to congress, in which he was forced to eat his words. A year ago he had told Argentines that “the worst is over”. Since then the peso has lost half its value, inflation is close to 50% a year, interest rates have soared and the economy has fallen into recession. In return for a $57bn bail-out from the imf, an institution reviled by many Argentines, Mr Macri has pledged austerity to eliminate the primary fiscal deficit (ie, before interest payments) this year. “Many are going to think, ‘I am worse off’…and they are right,” the president admitted.
Despite all this, Mr Macri, a reformist of the centre-right, is poised to seek a second term at an election in October. That looks quixotic. Even if the economy starts to pick up, as officials insist it will, it will be a while before the average voter feels the benefit. While accepting responsibility for the setback, in his speech the president laid much of the blame on the mess he inherited from Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a populist Peronist, and on circumstances. A rise in interest rates in the United States prompted investors to jib at financing Mr Macri’s gradual fiscal adjustment. To cap it all, drought last year cut Argentina’s exports of farm goods—its mainstay—by some 20%.
More:
https://www.economist.com/the-americas/2019/03/09/mauricio-macris-long-odds
Sorry, I hit the paywall, but this snippet at least offers a glimpse of the shoddy premise Macri will be using as his reason for his shocking impact on the economy. Surely hope it simply won't work for the people who count.
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The prosecutor???? He doesn't look all that scholarly, does he?
He looks like a "collector" for a capo, doesn't he?
"This looks like a very nice message board. You wouldn't want to see anything happen to it, would you?"
The extortionist?
THE COUNTRY
February 14, 2019
Mansions, luxury cars and motorcycles, collection watches in the second leveling
The hidden fortune of Marcelo D'Alessio
The procedure, ordered by the judges Ramos Padilla and Villena, was done in the mansion that the operator has in the country Saint Thomas. They found cars, motorcycles and other values of which D'Alessio still could not explain their origin.
By Irina Hauser and Raúl Kollmann
In the case of extortion involving the prosecutor Carlos Stornelli, two judges ordered an interminable raid yesterday at the home of operator Marcelo D'Alessio, a measure that continued at the close of this edition and could be extended throughout the night. The magistrates found a huge fortune that, at least for now, has no explanation. D'Alessio has a mansion in the country Saint Thomas, an apartment in Puerto Madero, another property in the Chaco, ten luxury cars, two very high-capacity motorcycles, a yacht, a collection of 50 high-value watches, including a Double Tourbillon that, if original, is worth around 200,000 dollars. The joint raid was carried out by the judge of Dolores, Alejo Ramos Padilla, He has the cause for the extortion against businessman Pedro Etchebest in the framework of the photocopies of the notebooks, and his pair of Lomas de Zamora, Federico Villena, who investigates D'Alessio for money laundering originated in drug trafficking. The operator tried to defend himself with a judicial declaration that he presented at dawn alleging that he asked for money on behalf of Stornelli to advance an investigation that was requested by two agents of the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI).
. . .
Washed.
The cause for money laundering drug trafficking began, as often happens, with an anonymous stranger. "Mr. judge. I want to tell you that there is a person who is a mobster who extorts and handles money from drug trafficking, who says he is a criminal lawyer in Canning, who has relations with judges, prosecutors, with Patricia Bullrich, has a spa, cars, motorcycles, race cars , a house in Miami with heliport, the Savia bowling, a company ". The prosecutor requested the realization of measures, but it turned out that there was a leak, so that judge Villena opened a case against the police. In the AFIP, D'Alessio was spending more than 2,500,000 pesos a year, without explaining the income.
More:
https://www.pagina12.com.ar/174678-la-fortuna-oculta-de-marcelo-d-alessio
Salta mayor, Gustavo Sáenz, the bagman, with Macri. What?????
It really looks as if Macri and company brought over a lot of Mafia guys from Europe to help Macri run his organization, doesn't it?
I wonder if this new information is going to take Macri down, or if he is actually still too bullet-proof!
Thank you for this information, I had missed reading it earlier.
Fascinating.
It's interesting, too, seeing that other countries have also named various political scandals after Nixon's very own beloved Watergate! It brought the US good luck. Hope Cuadernogate might bring Argentina a little luck, too!
