¡Buenos días from Greenway Parks! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 9th of April twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

Public transport buses in Buenos Aires City and the surrounding suburbs are running at a massive reduction, with some lines cutting back 40% of their fleet. While the government promised to transfer missing subsidy funds on Wednesday the 8th, industry leaders warn it could take up to forty-eight hours for services to return to normal.

The system is buckling under the soaring cost of fuel, which jumped over 20% in March alone. Operators say they are struggling to keep the 17,000 vehicles in the metropolitan area moving as diesel prices climb.

In other news, Trump’s War on Iran is hitting Argentina in two very different ways. On the one hand, the global oil shock is fueling the inflation that is making those bus tickets and grocery bills harder to pay. Since the war began in late February, fuel prices have surged, making it difficult for the government to bring annual inflation below 30% this year.

On the other hand, the conflict has turned the Vaca Muerta shale fields into a gold mine for the national treasury. Because global energy prices are so high, Argentina is actually profiting from the chaos as a net energy exporter. Experts expect an energy trade surplus of over fourteen billion dollars this year, which helps stabilize the economy even as everyday citizens feel the pinch at the pump.

Now, an update on a story from last week regarding the legal troubles of Manuel Adorni, the Cabinet Chief. He is facing even deeper scrutiny after investigators found a previously undisclosed private mortgage. In November twenty twenty-four, while serving as the presidential spokesperson, Adorni reportedly took a 100,000 dollar loan from two private individuals to buy an apartment in Buenos Aires City. This looks suspiciously similar to the other deal we mentioned last week, where he allegedly borrowed nearly 90% of a property’s value from two retirees. A federal prosecutor has now cited the four women involved to explain where they got the money to lend to a high-ranking official.

While Adorni still has the full backing of President Milei, the judiciary is digging into whether these private loans are actually a way to hide unjustified wealth.

Speaking of legislative battles, a heated battle is brewing over the ice in the Andes. On Wednesday the 8th, deputies began debating a reform to the Glaciers Protection Law that could open up frozen mountain areas to mining. The original law from twenty-ten bans mining and oil drilling in these sensitive zones, but President Milei wants to let provincial governors decide which areas are hydrologically important and which are open for business.

Environmental groups like Greenpeace have already hit the streets, even climbing monuments in front of Congress to protest the move. They argue that redefining these protected areas puts the water supply for millions of people at risk. However, the government insists the changes are necessary to attract billions of dollars in investment for copper and lithium projects in provinces in the west like San Juan and Catamarca.

On that note about national resources, President Milei used his Veterans’ Day speech on Thursday the 2nd to send a strong message to the United Kingdom. Marking the anniversary of the nineteen eighty-two Malvinas War, he vowed to use all necessary diplomatic measures to block new British oil exploration in the North Malvinas Basin.

Milei also announced a plan to “rebuild” the Armed Forces after years of underfunding. He pledged to set aside 10% of the money gained from privatizing state companies to buy new weapons and equipment.

The tension over these high-stakes resources reflects a deeper divide in the country. Writing for the Buenos Aires Herald, journalist Adrian Genesir reflects on the phenomenon of the Two Argentinas. He notes that while the government’s macro-data shows record growth in mining and energy, those same numbers often leave out the everyday economy of ordinary work and small businesses.

Even as the GDP climbs, unemployment remains a hurdle because the sectors currently booming are capital-intensive and don’t hire on a large scale. The piece suggests that the recovery is only real for those directly benefiting from it, leaving many workers to look at the same statistics and come away with entirely different conclusions.

You can check out the full piece in English with the link in the show notes.

Back in the cabinet, Sandra Pettovello, the Human Capital Minister, has fired her Chief of Staff, Leandro Massaccesi. The move came just hours after a list leaked online showing that several high-ranking officials had taken out multimillion-peso mortgages from the state-owned Banco Nación. Massaccesi had secured a loan for over 400 million pesos, or about 300,000 dollars.

While the loan itself was legal, Pettovello reportedly found it incompatible with the austerity message her ministry promotes. Other top officials, including members of the Central Bank board, remain on the list with even larger loans, though Luis Caputo, the Economy Minister, says there is nothing immoral about them.

Since we mentioned the Economy Minister, he announced that the government is bringing back public works—but with a private twist. After halting almost all construction in December, the state will now put 9,000 kilometers of national highways out to tender in June. Caputo argues this will transform the country’s infrastructure over the next two years and lower the cost of doing business in Argentina.

The World Bank seems to agree with some of that optimism. In a new report released this week, they forecast that Argentina’s economy will grow by over 3.5% this year and next. If this holds true, it would be the first time since two thousand and eight that the country has seen three consecutive years of growth.

The report praised the government's fiscal consolidation and its pro-growth agenda. However, it also warned about significant risks, especially since the Central Bank still has negative reserves and limited access to international debt markets.

Moving to a lighter topic, Netflix just announced a lineup of local productions for twenty twenty-six and twenty twenty-seven, including a new film starring Ricardo Darín and Diego Peretti about a psychoanalyst who loses his faith in the profession. They are also working on several true crime and pop culture documentaries, and even an animated film about the childhood of national team goalkeeper Dibu Martínez.

Also on the cultural calendar, the Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival, or BAFICI, is returning from the 15th to the 26th of April. This year’s lineup is record-breaking, with over 300 titles including almost 150 Argentine films. The opening film will be a modern-day adaptation of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice set in Mar del Plata, on Argentina’s Atlantic coast.

Tickets are now on sale through the festival website and at the Teatro San Martín. General admission is 5,000 pesos (less than four dollars), but if you are a student or a senior, you can get a discount. You can find all the information in the link in the show notes.

In the world of sports, a video of Ignacio Lago, a footballer playing for Colón de Santa Fe, has gone viral. The clip is from an interview last year where Lago received a surprise video greeting from his boyfriend. While many media outlets reported this as the first coming out story in the history of Argentine football, Lago has actually been open about his relationship on social media for a long time. However, he does remain the only male professional footballer in the top Argentine divisions to speak openly about being gay.

To end on a fast note, Argentina is officially pursuing a return to the Formula 1 calendar. A delegation is heading to the Miami Grand Prix next month to meet with Liberty Media and present a concrete plan for the racetrack in Buenos Aires.

Aaand that’s it for this week! Thank you for joining us!

Anything to tell us, info@rorshok.com.

¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!