Argentina

Mercosur meeting that promised incorporation of Bolivia to the group results in an invitation to Uruguay to ‘jump ship’

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Argentinian president Alberto Fernandez, who has spent the last weeks leading up to the current Mercosur virtual summit promising to work to incorporate Bolivia into the bloc as a member-in-full, took a complaint from the Uruguayan president and flippled into an invitation to leave the group.

Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou said, “It should not be a burden, we are not willing to make it a corset in which our country cannot move, that is why we have talked about flexibility,” in a speech referencing Argentina’s opposition to negotiations outside the group.

The speech was fiery and so was Fernandez’s response, “We don’t want to be anyone’s burden. For me, it is an honor to be part of Mercosur … If it is a burden, the easiest thing is to abandon ship.”

Uruguay is one of the four founding remembers of the 30-year-old group. Bolivia has been in observer status since the 1990s and its president announced at the summit, the country’s “immediate willingness to carry out the tasks necessary to assume full membership,” a step that requires the approval of Brazil.

The meeting will continue on April 22.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Argentina makes official its exit from the Lima Group

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Saying the group’s actions to isolate Venezuela in order to bring a peaceful resolution to the country’s crisis have led to nothing, the government of Alberto Fernadez has formally taken his country out of the Lima Group, a South and Central American group of nations plus Canada formed to address issues of hyperinflation, escalating starvation, disease, crime and mortality that have befallen Venezuela in the economic and political crisis that began under ex-president Hugo Chavez over a decade ago.

The exit was effective March 24, said a press release by the country’s Foreign Relations office. “Argentina will continue to maintain its commitment to stability in the region, and will seek to direct peaceful, democratic solutions that are respectful of the sovereignty and internal affairs of each State,” it concluded.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Prices of cars double in Argentina in just 2 years

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The Association of Automotive Dealerships in Argentina (ACARA) reported that their survey shows that the amount of money needed to buy a car has almost doubled, projecting an increase of 80% over 2018 prices by the end of 2021.

ACARA says inflation, wage delays, and rising prices for new cars make it difficult for car buyers in the country. A comparable VW costs 30% more in Argentina than it does in next-door Brazil.

By Milan Sime Martinic

Patagonian forest fires threaten protected areas in Argentina near Chile, many dead, missing

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Dozens of out-of-control fires have destroyed at least 1,200 hectares of area protected for its ancient trees in the Los Alerces National Park, 1,200 miles southwest of Buenos Aires.

Seven people were confirmed dead, 15 missing as fires burned homes in the region of the Valdivian forest in the pristine Andean pre-mountain range at the border with Chile, according to the Argentinian government.

by Milan Sime Martinic

Abortion legalized in Argentina

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Previously in the country abortion was only legal in rape cases and when the mother’s health was in danger, but now it’s legal as a choice until 14 weeks into a pregnancy. Just two years ago the Argentinian senate most recently voted against legalizing abortion. Abortion had been illegal in the country since 1921.

The senate vote was a split decision, 38-29-1, taken after a 12-hour debate. During the debate large crowds of campaigners on both sides of the issue assembled outside Congress in Buenos Aires.

The Latin Church opposed the Catholic country’s move, but Argentinian center-left President Alberto Fernández had made reintroducing the abortion bill one of his campaign promises, stating at one point “I’m Catholic but I have to legislate for everyone.”

The president also commented on the health facet of the issue, stating that 3000 women had died in the past 40 years due to clandestine abortion procedures, and almost 40,000 women each year make trips to the hospital as a result of such procedures.

The vote was also noteworthy because several Congresspeople, who had been undecided or who had voted against previous legalization bills, voted in favor of legalization this time. One such, Senator Silvina García Larraburu, stated “My vote is in favour of free women, of women who can decide according to their own conscience.”

Arguing for the other side, senator Inés Blas said, “The interruption of a pregnancy is a tragedy. It abruptly ends another developing life.”

The change in law was brought about largely by the country’s grassroots “green wave,” part of Argentina’s growing women’s movement. These activists have been working toward abortion legalization for 15 years and have introduced seven similar bills over that time to Congress without success.

In legalizing abortion on request, Argentinia follows in Latin America Cuba, Guyana, Puerto Rico, some Mexican States, and most recently Uruguay, who legalized abortion in 2012.

Many have noted that pro-abortion activists in other Latin American countries, where similar abortion laws exist, will see the Argentinian vote as a possible precedent for change.