¡Buenos días from Greenway Parks! This is the Rorshok Argentina Update from the 13th of November twenty twenty-five. A quick summary of what's going down in Argentina.

President Milei just wrapped up his thirteenth trip to the United States since taking office. On Thursday the 6th, he spoke at the American Business Forum in Miami, where he invited businesspeople to invest in the country and “demonstrate the power and moral superiority of capitalism.” He also attended the CPAC conference at Mar-a-Lago, where he thanked President Donald Trump for the US bailout, calling it an unprecedented gesture. The next day in New York City, he held a private meeting with executives from major companies like Morgan Stanley, Pepsico, and Pfizer, outlining his administration’s upcoming fiscal and labor reforms.

As part of that closer relationship with the US government, Alec Oxenford, the Argentine Ambassador to the United States, announced on Monday the 10th that a new trade agreement between the two countries is practically finalized. While he couldn’t give specific details due to a confidentiality agreement, he said there will be news very soon and that both governments are just waiting for the right moment to announce it. Reports suggest Argentina is seeking tariff-free exports and better access for products like beef, steel, and aluminum.

In more news on deals, Luis Caputo, the Economy Minister, met with about forty investors in New York on Friday the 7th. He told them the government plans to start accumulating foreign reserves and buy back sovereign bonds due in twenty twenty-nine and twenty thirty. However, Caputo clarified that President Milei does not intend to float the peso freely. Instead, they will maintain the currency trading band, though they might speed up its monthly adjustment pace from one percent to one-and-a-half percent, depending on inflation.

Now for an update on a story we’ve been following closely. After last week’s major cabinet reshuffle, the government has modified the ministerial structure, giving more power to the new appointees. The Cabinet, now led by Manuel Adorni, formerly the presidential spokesperson, will absorb the Secretariat of Tourism, Environment, and Sports, which was previously under the Interior Ministry. Adorni’s office will also take over the responsibilities of the eliminated Secretariat of Communication and Media.

What’s more, the National Security Ministry, led by Patricia Bullrich, will now control the National Migration Directorate and the National Registry of Persons, or RENAPER. Both of these key agencies were also previously managed by the Interior Ministry.

Speaking of high-profile political figures, a new major trial began last week targeting former two-time President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. This case involves the corruption notebooks, a set of eight notepads kept by a government chauffeur that allegedly detail a massive bribery scheme. Prosecutors say construction companies paid bribes to officials in exchange for state contracts during the Kirchner administrations.

If you want to learn more about this case, the Buenos Aires Herald published an explanatory article that summarizes everything you need to know. Check out the link in the show notes.

While that trial gets underway, the government has made a major change in the education sector. Through a new decree, the administration has deregulated private school fees, repealing a measure that had been in place since nineteen ninety-three. Previously, private institutions had to request authorization from the state to set or update their tuition and enrollment fees.

The government argued the old regulation was counterproductive, forcing schools to set exorbitant fees in March out of fear they couldn’t cover costs later. Federico Sturzenegger, the National Deregulation Minister, said the change will allow for more gradual and realistic adjustments aligned with the economy.

These deregulations aim to make the market more appealing, but a new report highlights a challenging trend: at least sixteen multinational companies have left Argentina since President Milei took office. The list includes major names. French supermarket giant Carrefour is reportedly in the final stages of a sale, as is the Burger King restaurant chain. This follows the exit of Dutch wholesaler Makro, the sale of HSBC to Grupo Financiero Galicia, and the departure of energy giants like ExxonMobil and Petronas.

Analysts point to a mix of structural reasons, including a lack of legal security, low profitability, and difficulties in moving profits out of the country, as well as global strategies by the parent companies to focus on more stable markets.

Meanwhile, one sector is booming with investment. Argentina has a new ten-year roadmap for its lithium industry, which is expected to triple in size. The plan aims to surpass 650,000 tonnes of production capacity, which could make Argentina one of the world’s top three lithium producers, competing with Australia, Chile, and China.

However, the sector faces hurdles. These include weak international prices, which are largely controlled by China, and the need for legal certainty regarding environmental regulations like the Glacier and Wetlands laws. The industry also urgently needs major upgrades to energy infrastructure and export logistics, such as roads and railways, to achieve this potential.

On that note about domestic challenges, farmers in the Pampas (central-east Argentina) are facing a natural one. Unusually heavy rains and stalled infrastructure projects have left millions of hectares of fertile land underwater, particularly in the Buenos Aires Province. The district of 9 de Julio is one of the worst-hit, with some farmers only able to access their land on horseback.

The disaster is blamed on a combination of factors: climate change, a lack of maintenance on rural roads, and the halting of public works. The provincial agriculture minister noted that a key section of the Salado River dredging project, which is overseen by the national government, has been stopped, worsening the region’s ability to drain the water.

From public works to public health, workers at the Garrahan Children’s Hospital have secured a sixty-one percent pay rise. The increase is retroactive from October and covers all permanent staff, contractors, and residents. This comes after months of protests and strikes over low pay and budget cuts.

Unions are calling it a historic triumph and the direct result of the Paediatric Emergency Law. You may remember that Congress approved that law in August, but President Milei vetoed it. Congress then overturned his veto in October. Despite the pay rise, unions warn that hundreds of professionals have resigned in the past year and staff shortages are still impacting services.

In other news, the Superclásico we mentioned last week took place on Sunday the 9th, with Boca Juniors beating their rivals River Plate two-zero at a packed Bombonera stadium. The win secures Boca's spot in the twenty twenty-six Copa Libertadores. But the big surprise was who was in the stands: international pop star Dua Lipa. She was spotted in a VIP box wearing an Argentine national team shirt and later received a personalized Boca jersey from the club president.

And that wasn’t her only headline. During her second show in Buenos Aires on Saturday the 8th, she surprised the massive crowd at River Plate’s stadium by singing a cover of Tu misterioso alguien, a song by the Argentine pop band Miranda. The band members, Ale Sergi and Juliana Gattas, posted on social media that they were in total shock and called it a version they never even dreamed of.

Dua Lipa’s concert wasn’t the only massive event in the city last weekend. On Saturday, the 8th, more than one million people flooded the streets for the twenty-first edition of the Night of the Museums. Over three hundred cultural spaces, from the MALBA to the Usina del Arte, opened their doors for free. One of the most talked-about attractions was Marta Minujín’s installation The Leaning Tower of Spaghetti at the Centro Cultural Recoleta, where visitors were invited to take home packages of pasta.

If you missed that, don’t worry. It’s currently Artisanal Ice Cream Week, running from the 10th to the 16th of November. The celebration, which involves hundreds of ice cream shops, also features a new official flavor called Fruta De Oro, which is a mango, banana, and lime sorbet with white chocolate.

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

And now....listen carefully listeners....we mentioned this last week...Rorshok needs to pull in some revenue and if you are hearing this you like what we are doing. So....just in time for the holidays....we are selling t-shirts. Very cool ones. However, there's a problem. The normal way to sell t-shirts is digital ads, which is code for handing money to oligarchs like Mark Zuckerberg. The Rorshok you know and love will not do that. So we will sell via personal collections, where real people like you who like the shirts, can set up personal collections.....and.....whoever sells the most, will get a free trip to Lisbon in early April. So help us out, be cool, and check the show notes.

¡Nos vemos la próxima semana!