tagged w/ Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
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Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has defended her policies in her first news conference since taking office eight months ago.
Ms Fernandez, who was forced to abandon tax increases on farm exports, said she would not change any of her decisions. Her only mistake was to underestimate the power of the opposition, she said. She added that she would make no further changes to her cabinet, which was reshuffled after the reforms were defeated in the Senate last month. The left-wing Argentine president also dismissed claims that her husband, former President Nestor Kirchner, was running her admnistration. "Comments of that nature come from a biased reading of reality," she said.
"We're simply a political team that has worked for a long time with the same vision and common ideas about the society we want." About her defeated plan to increase taxes on agricultural exports, she said she had no regrets. She added that high agricultural profits in the face of soaring world food prices "should be taken up as an instrument of economic policy". The proposals provoked months of protest by farmers. Farmers said the taxes would be crippling, but the government said they were needed to fight poverty. Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner has defended her policies in her... more
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www.thomasonlatinamerica.blogspot.com
Any general overview of Latin American economic history will show you how attitudes for or against nationalisations and privatisations swing back and forth over time with a pendulum-like consistency.
The 1980s and 1990s saw the pendulum of state vs. private debate swing back in favour of privatisation after the presumed overreach, corruption and mismanagement of the state-owned enterprises of the mid-20th century. SOEs were meant to have fuelled economic development in many a Latin American country. Unsurprisingly, perhaps, it wasn’t long before the pendulum swung back the other way and privatisation became a word that any politician sought to distance themselves from as far as humanly possible. Of course this didn't always stop them from implementing privatisation. In Bolivia during the 1990s, President Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada was somehow able to hood-wink the Bolivian people into believing that when he was selling off the rights of the country’s natural resources to foreign multinationals, it wasn’t so much 'privatisation' but rather 'capitalisation'. Yes, there is a difference, but it’s a slight one at best. And it ultimately left the Bolivian government unable to benefit from the huge windfalls that were soon to be made from Bolivia's recently discovered huge natural gas reserves. But more on that in my dissertation paper...
Anyway what drew my attention today through my daily trawl through the BBC website was the news that the Argentine government is to renationalise its floundering airline, Aerolineas Argentinas - Argentine Airline Set For Bumpy Ride. The national airline was one of many companies to been sold off rapidly when Carlos Menem was Argentine President back in the 1990s. Now with the left-of-centre and so-called ‘back-to-the-roots populist Peronism’ of the Kirchner's in hold of the Casa Rosada (Buenos Aires's answer to the White House) a number of the sectors once privatised by Menem have been renationalised.
It seems pretty obvious that it’s going to be hard, if not impossible to bring Aerolineas Argentinas back into profit. Then this nationalisation isn’t just about making a profit. Okay there is the nationalistic sentiment – something Argentines have in bucket loads - that goes hand-in-hand with having a national airline. And with a majority of Argentines actually favouring the government taking control of the airline, it would make political sense for under-pressure President Cristina Kirchner to do something that for once wouldn’t have half the nation up in arms. However I think in a country like Argentina, a country that is so immense in its geographic dimensions, with numerous far-away provinces that depend upon a direct link to the capital, needs a national airline. An airline that is more concerned with servicing these far-away communities than with make a profit at the end of the year. www.thomasonlatinamerica.blogspot.com
Any general overview of Latin American... more
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"Representatives from across South America will sign agreements on Sunday setting up a new regional bank, the Banco del Sur or Southern Bank."
They are doing this to supersede the World Bank and IMF.
Do you think this is a good idea?"Representatives from across South America will sign agreements on Sunday setting... more
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Argentina's current first lady, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has secured victory in the country's presidential election. With ballots counted at almost all polling stations, Mrs Kirchner had an unassailable 44.9% lead. Argentina's current first lady, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, has secured... more
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The presidency of Argentina was handed from husband to wife Sunday, as first lady Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner crushed 13 opposition candidates on the promise of adhering to the political principles that made President Nestor Kirchner one of Latin America's most popular leaders.The presidency of Argentina was handed from husband to wife Sunday, as first lady... more
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khsing
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added this
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4 years ago
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