Six months into Argentine President Javier Milei’s mandate, the government hasn’t passed a single law through Congress. (Cohete a la Luna) This week the libertarian executive will face the decision of negotiating in order to ensure support for his package of reform laws — up for vote in the Senate on Wednesday — or face yet another legislative defeat. (Infobae)
The government is suffering an exodus of officials in the midst of a scandal regarding retained stocks of food assistance supplies. (Buenos Aires Herald) Community kitchens have been a staple of Argentine society for decades. Though their relationship to power has evolved, they have always received some form of public support and guarantee survival for millions. Until the current government, under which demand for community kitchens has shot up, and which has interrupted supplies and questioned the organizations carrying out vital aid.
“Behind these measures, what is at stake is not only the management of food policy but the model of society,” writes Eleonor Faur in Anfibia. “The government seeks to dismantle the political framework that is central to guaranteeing the survival of impoverished sectors, and with this it aims to deactivate community care networks promoted by women and dissidents, workers in the popular economy.”
More Milei
WOLA calls for attention to Argentina’s democratic situation — including verbal attacks against critics and press, and efforts to criminalize protests — in the midst of the Milei administration’s concerted implementation of austerity, deregulation and public policy paralysis. These are “not just numbers on a balance sheet. They are harming real middle class and poor people.”
PEN International voiced concern regarding Milei’s stigmatizing speeches against journalists, writers, publishing houses and media outlets. Since January, at least 61 attacks against the Argentine press have been recorded, according to the Argentine Journalism Forum. Of these attacks, the president was responsible for at least 30%, while 13% were carried out by police and 10% by municipal and national officials.
Milei has not only sought to verbally attack memory and justice narratives, but has also undermined state policies regarding the last dictatorship, including trials, reparations and spaces for memory, reports CELS and Memoria Abierta. (Tiempo Argentino)
Regional Relations
Argentine officials denied supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro were seeking asylum in Argentina after participating in riots against government buildings. Brazil’s Supreme Court sent an information request regarding potential fugitives to the Argentine Foreign Ministry through its embassy in Buenos Aires, reports the Buenos Aires Herald.
Last week Brazilian police officials said they would request the extradition of more than 60 people who fled to Argentina after being charged for their alleged involvement in the Brasilia riots. (BBC)
Russian naval exercises in the Caribbean have been common in the past, though they haven’t taken place since 2019. But a changed global context, namely the war in the Ukraine and U.S. permission to Kiev to use its military aid to hit military targets in Russia, means heightened attention on the exercises announced for next week. “It's important to monitor the potential issues without overhyping the threat,” argues James Bosworth in World Politics Review.
On the itinerary, Russian ships will be near Venezuela as the country heads to highly important elections on July 28: “ That could potentially allow Russian naval personnel to assist the Venezuelan military in repressing any political dissent in the run-up to the election and any eventual protests in its aftermath,” argues Bosworth. Russian presence could also potentially embolden Venezuela on the Essequibo issue, though “any Venezuelan invasion of Guyana remains highly unlikely.”
Though nobody believes Nicolás Maduro actually plans to invade the Essequibo, troop buildup on the border and fiery rhetoric in a tricky electoral context increases the “opportunity for grayzone hybrid tactics that could lead to miscalculation,” Ryan Berg of the Center for Strategic and International Studies told me for this article in Cenital.
Haiti
Haiti’s new prime minister, Garry Conille, was hospitalized late Saturday, just days after arriving in the country. His office said in a statement that Conille was feeling slightly unwell “following a week of intense activities.” (Associated Press)
“Since his arrival, Conille had been trying to put together a government, but has been embroiled in tensions with the seven voting members of the transitional presidential council about how large the new government should be, and who should serve in which ministries,” reports the Miami Herald.
Peru
“Press freedom groups say the investigation of Gustavo Gorriti, a noted Peruvian journalist, is politically motivated and part of a growing campaign against the news media,” reports the New York Times.
Migration
Days after the U.S. shutdown its border with Mexico to migrants, the number of people massing at the border showed signs of stabilizing, compared with previous years, as many migrants appeared to be heeding the warning that they would be turned away, reports the New York Times.
Mexico
Financial markets have reacted with alarm to the massive electoral victory by Mexico’s Morena party, which puts the government within reach of constitutional changes that critics say would undermine democratic checks and balances, reports the New York Times.