¡Buenos días from Greenway Parks! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 29th of January twenty twenty-six. A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

Let’s kick things off with some encouraging economic numbers. The country’s risk index dropped to 517 points, hitting its lowest level since mid-twenty eighteen. This drop suggests that international markets are starting to trust the local economy a bit more thanks to having maintained a fiscal surplus. The Central Bank has also been busy buying dollars, marking seventeen straight days of purchases and boosting reserves to over forty-five billion dollars.

The risk index is key if the government wants to borrow money abroad again. Speaking of which, Scott Bessent, the US Treasury Secretary, had some kind words for the Milei administration. In a recent interview, he clarified the details of that currency swap everyone has been talking about, confirming it was a loan to help stabilize the peso during the elections, which Argentina has already started repaying.

What’s more, he called Argentina the centerpiece of Washington’s strategy for Latin America. Why such a strong focus in the country? It’s largely geopolitical. The US views Argentina as a crucial ally to counter Chinese influence in the region, particularly regarding strategic resources like lithium and logistics near Antarctica.

Meanwhile, in the energy sector, there is a major shake-up in the Vaca Muerta pipeline project, in the western Neuquen province. Southern Energy, the consortium leading the charge, picked the Indian company Welspun Corp to supply the pipes for the massive gas export initiative. Their bid was about 40% cheaper than the one from Tenaris, the local giant owned by the Techint group. This is the first time in decades that Techint lost out on such a huge local energy contract, and the government celebrated the decision as a win for competition and cost-saving.

On that note about Vaca Muerta, the state oil company YPF and the private firm Pluspetrol agreed to swap some big assets. Pluspetrol will take a stake in a YPF-controlled entity to get into the shale game, while YPF takes over three of Pluspetrol’s blocks. The state company considers these blocks strategic for its plans to export Liquefied Natural Gas.

Heading south to Ushuaia, the government intervened in the local port, taking over its administration for at least a year. Officials say they found financial irregularities and safety issues that the local provincial authorities hadn’t fixed. Just days after this takeover, a delegation of US lawmakers visited the city to discuss energy and mining. The opposition didn’t like this one bit, criticizing the visit as a sign of foreign interference in a sensitive geopolitical spot near Antarctica.

While the US looks to the south, China is putting money back on the table. The southern province of Santa Cruz received more than 130 million dollars from a consortium of Chinese banks. The cash will restart the construction of the Barrancosa-Jorge Cepernic hydroelectric dam, which ground to a halt back in December twenty twenty-three. Authorities hope to finish the project within three years.

For those who love nature, there is some worrying news from the San Matías Gulf in Patagonia. Environmentalists are raising the alarm about the impact of the new oil and gas projects, since the area is a sanctuary for southern right whales. Experts fear that increased ship traffic and potential oil spills could devastate the ecosystem. A group of NGOs is calling for a more comprehensive study of the cumulative risks.

In Buenos Aires, there was a sudden reshuffle in the government. In just twenty-four hours, five high-ranking officials stepped down from the transport and energy sectors. The heads of the gas regulator Enargas, the Financial Information Unit, and the Transportation Secretariat all resigned, along with the chiefs of the state train companies. While they cited personal reasons, rumors are flying about internal disagreements and a potential corruption issue involving bus subsidies.

In security news, the government reported that the national homicide rate fell by nearly 6% last year, reaching its lowest point in decades. Alejandra Monteoliva, the Security Minister, credited the drop to a specific plan targeting the most violent municipalities.

Since we’re on the topic of fighting crime, here is an update on the extraordinary sessions in Congress we mentioned last week. The government added a new item to the agenda: a bill to lower the age of criminal responsibility from sixteen to fourteen. The administration wants to treat minors who commit serious crimes more like adults, although they would serve time in separate facilities. This comes after three recent high-profile murders allegedly committed by teenagers.

While the government pushes for more arrests, the prisons are already bursting. A new report from the National Committee for the Prevention of Torture shows that the prison system is operating at 130% capacity. The number of inmates grew by over seven percent last year, hitting a record high. The report blames short sentences and a lack of alternative penalties for the overcrowding.

Now, on to personal finances. A study based on Central Bank data revealed that Argentine families are drowning in debt to digital wallets. The average household now spends a third of its income just to pay back loans from these apps and non-bank lenders. If you add traditional bank debt to the mix, the total debt load is well above the average monthly income, and more people are falling behind on payments.

Last week, we mentioned the World Economic Forum’s report on Argentina’s economic risks. Well, the report had another interesting nugget: it listed Argentina as one of the countries where deepfakes — those AI-generated fake videos — are heavily influencing elections. The report warns that these realistic fakes are blurring the line between fact and fiction, deepening political polarization.

Speaking of high-tech, Correo Argentino inaugurated its first fully robotic parcel hub. Located in Monte Grande, in the Buenos Aires Province, the facility uses 240 autonomous robots to sort packages. It is the first system of its kind in Latin America and promises to triple the sorting capacity, handling up to nine thousand parcels an hour.

Movie buffs, listen up. The government ditched the forty-year-old film classification board. Instead of a local committee deciding which movies are suitable for whom, Argentina will now automatically adopt the age ratings assigned in the United States for American films, which make up the bulk of releases. For other movies, the local film institute will still decide, but the old ATP label for general audiences is out, replaced by the American-style G rating.

Finally, let’s head to the pitch. Argentine football returned this week as the twenty twenty-six Torneo Apertura kicked off. The league organizes the thirty clubs into two zones for a single round-robin schedule plus two inter-zone clashes, and the top eight squads from each group advance to a knockout bracket that ends with a final at a neutral venue. This season offers huge stakes as teams battle for eight potential trophies, including the newly introduced Recopa de Campeones.

If you want to watch the games, remember that viewers need a specific cable subscription with the Pack Fútbol add-on.

Before we go, a recommended read. The Conversation published an essay by Laura Tedesco titled How government killings and kidnappings in Argentina drove mothers to resist and revolt − and eventually win. The piece, which was written in English, draws a chilling parallel between the recent violence by federal agents in the US and the state terrorism of Argentina’s military dictatorship in the nineteen seventies. Tedesco shares her own memories of that dark era to highlight the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, who ultimately helped restore democracy by refusing to stop searching for their missing children.

Read the full article with the link in our show notes!

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

¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!