Argentina

Wales are playing a week later than other nations, with all last weekend’s games played outside World Rugby’s international window.

The window is a designated three-week period, which starts this weekend, where international matches take precedence over club fixtures and all players are made available.

The likes of Ireland, Scotland and England chose to stage matches a week before the window opened.

The extra games are organised to raise revenue for governing bodies with the success of the fixture depending on how many tickets are sold.

The Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) has opted to play their extra match on the weekend after the window closes. They take on the Springboks on Saturday, 29 November when no other international matches are taking place.

The match in Cardiff clashes with league fixtures in the United Rugby Championship (URC) which will involve sides from Wales and South Africa.

Both Test teams are set to also be without players who play for clubs in England and France, while the Springboks also have players involved with sides in Japan.

No one anticipated last Sunday midterm election result in Argentina. Not even the executive, that faced a dire situation on the way to the election. Unexpectedly, Donald Trump himself came to President Milei’s rescue and the election´s results surprised everyone in the Argentine political spectrum.

The political campaign couldn´t be worse for the incumbent. First, in early September it lost a provincial election in key Buenos Aires province (home to 40% of Argentines). Second, Milei’s sister and top political advisor was accused of bribery. Third, his top candidate for national lawmaker at, again, the crucial Buenos Aires province had to step down amid accusations of being funded by a suspected narcotrafficker. Fourth, even though Milei has been very successful in slashing inflation, from over 200% annually to around 20%, this came with a hefty price. He cut subsidies to poor families and utilities, increase interest rates and open the economy to imports. According to the World Bank, economic activity plummeted a 1.7% in Milei’s first year in office while projections for 2025 economic growth hover around 3% to 4%. Finally, the Argentine peso faced strong devaluation pressures for several weeks prior the election that dried good part of Central Bank´s reserves.

It was at this point that Trump stepped in. He gave a 20bn US$ bailout that kept the peso´s devaluation under control during the crucial days previous to the election. He even offered to increase the economic assistance to 40bn depending on the elections’ result. Trump defied internal criticism, both from Democrats and Republicans for giving money to record high foreign debt defaulter Argentina.  

Astonishingly, the election’s result couldn´t be better for the government. It won at the national level with over 40% of the votes while the Peronist got 35%. It won in all but 8 of the 24 provinces, including Peronist stronghold, Buenos Aires province. It has greatly increased the president´s party congressional power, giving him the chance to defend his presidential decrees and vetoes and even advancing crucial legislation with the help of allies. Key among Milei´s projects is the reform of the 1974 labour law. This law repeatedly resisted reform attempts by pro market administrations in the past and has been blamed for Argentina´s far from successful private sector performance.

At the same time, the election has weakened the Peronists presidential aspirations since this voting could not produce a clear leader in their political arc. The same goes for other opposition candidates with presidential ambitions. In sum, this election has infused new life to the Milei administration and gave him the chance to pursue his agenda with renewed strength.

The other big winner is Donald Trump. He has successfully influenced an election in one of Latin America’s largest country. From here on, Argentina’s alliance with the US will only deepened. In the mind of those who voted Milei for president and were now doubting whether to cast their ballots for him again, the US support acted as a huge catalyst in making up their minds. The group of those seeking a profound alliance with the US in Argentina (traditionally an anti-American country, as Latino Barometer polls has shown across the years) has only grew.

Nevertheless, one important pitfall lies ahead: Argentina’s relations with China. China is currently Argentina’s major trading partner while the US ranks fourth after Brazil and the EU. Former Brazilian president and Trump ally Jair Bolsonaro faced the same situation: he tried at first to sever its economic ties with Beijing, only to find massive opposition from exporters at home. Will political affinity trump (no pun intended!) trade interests? The Argentine case will act as a litmus test of the future of the relationship between the US, Latin America and China.

BUENOS AIRES, Oct. 30 (UPI) — The Incentive Regime for Large Investments, or RIGI, is one of the main pillars of Argentine President Javier Milei’s economic plan. A recent report from the Rosario Board of Trade said projected investments under the program total $33.9 billion over a period of five to 10 years.

Of that amount, 46.5%, or $15.7 billion).already has been approved across eight projects. The most recent addition is one by Canada’s McEwen Copper, which plans to invest $2.7 billion in the Los Azules copper mine.

The remaining 53.5% is still under review, with only one project valued at $273 million rejected so far. It is the “Mariana” project by China’s Ganfeng Lithium, which began to produce lithium chloride in Salta earlier this year.

“Energy and mining are the leading sectors among RIGI applications. Together they account for 98.3% of the total so far, with 64.8% in mining and 33.5% in energy. Rounding out the total are investments in port infrastructure and steelmaking, each representing about 0.9% of all applications,” the report said.

The RIGI aims to provide stable conditions and a viable tax framework so that both foreign and Argentine investments can develop in a more favorable environment.

“Argentina is a country that has repeatedly failed to honor its commitments,” said Gonzalo Brest, tax and legal partner at KPMG Argentina. That’s why the measure seeks to address a longstanding problem in the country related to the lack of investor confidence, he said.

The RIGI’s benefits operate on two levels. One is exchange-rate, tax and customs stability for 30 years The state cannot alter the regime granted under RIGI during that period.

“That provides a degree of certainty that’s necessary for long-term investment,” Brest said.

In addition, significant tax reductions are available.

“That doesn’t mean they won’t pay taxes, but they’ll pay them at a much more reasonable level,” Brest said.

“RIGI addresses two of Argentina’s longstanding problems. One is the lack of investor confidence, and the other is a heavy tax burden. Now those conditions are reduced and maintained for 30 years,” he said.

Brest noted that the approved projects represent major investments, as each exceeds $200 million, (the minimum amount required to qualify.

“Most of the approved projects are in sectors that are strategic for the country,” he said.

“RIGI is a framework that covers many sectors of the economy, but the projects submitted so far focus mainly on three: energy, mining and oil and gas,” he added.

The BCR report said that of the $11.3 billion invested in energy projects, $6.9 billion corresponds to a natural gas liquefaction project by Southern Energy, which is owned by Pan American Energy and Golar LNG. The project involves Norwegian and Argentine capital.

Another venture, the Vaca Muerta Oleoducto Sur project, unites the country’s leading energy companies with an investment of $2.5 billion.

Together, the two projects account for 83% of RIGI energy investments.

Santiago Liaudat, a researcher at the National University of La Plata, said the purpose of the program is largely to draw outside investors and spur sales overseas.

“The goal is to create the argument that RIGI will generate favorable conditions for foreign investment, job creation and export growth. It is argued that Argentina’s legal uncertainty, instability and excessive regulation are the reasons foreign investment does not come to the country,” he said.

Liaudat said some of those arguments are valid and justify a special incentive regime, but he wasn’t so sure about creating jobs.

“But there is no guarantee that RIGI will generate local jobs. In fact, it does not specify anywhere that investment must be accompanied by job creation,” he said.

He also argued that the initiative does not include any incentives for investment to create demand for capital or intermediate goods within the country.

“It could be an investment that simply imports everything it needs for its production process. As a result, it creates unfair competition for Argentina’s industrial sector,” he said.

“These actors, who are part of RIGI, could import technology, capital goods and intermediate goods without paying taxes. This regime would have the unintended effect of harming Argentina’s productive network. Far from promoting job creation, it could affect local employment,” he said.

“Large capital, all large foreign capital — since there are few companies in Argentina capable of investing more than $1 billion — will enjoy exceptional investment conditions at the expense of Argentine capital that cannot benefit from those same advantages,” he said.

On Sunday, Argentinians voted in midterm elections that attracted an uncommonly high level of international attention. This was in part due to the potential $40bn bailout promised to cash-strapped Buenos Aires by Washington. Ahead of the vote, United States President Donald Trump had made clear the cash injection was contingent upon the election results.

And Trump’s far-right buddy Javier Milei, the equally uniquely coiffed president of Argentina, did not fail to deliver. Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, pulled off a rather startling win, scoring more than 40 percent of the votes cast, according to early results. Half of the seats in Argentina’s lower Chamber of Deputies and a third of the seats in the Senate were up for grabs.

Trump naturally wasted no time in appropriating the electoral feat as a personal victory, claiming that Milei “had a lot of help from us. He had a lot of help.”

Before the election, Trump explained that his generous gesture to Milei – made even as the US president was overseeing sweeping cuts to healthcare and other services at home – was his own way of “helping a great philosophy take over a great country”.

US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent similarly contended that the “bridge” the US was extending to Milei was in the hopes “that Argentina can be great again”.

Call it MAGA – the South American version.

But as is the case with the US itself, it’s not quite clear when, precisely, in history Argentina was ever so “great”. Of course, there were the good old days of the US-backed Dirty War when a right-wing military dictatorship murdered and disappeared tens of thousands of suspected leftists, many of them dropped from aircraft into the ocean or Rio de la Plata.

As historian Greg Grandin documented in his biography of eternal US diplomat Henry Kissinger, the statesman advised the junta’s foreign minister, Admiral Cesar Augusto Guzzetti, in 1976: “If there are things that have to be done, you should do them quickly.”

Another great “philosophy”.

Now, Trump stands poised to preside over a renewed era of US influence in the South American nation. And while the days of dropping bodies from airplanes may be over, there is still plenty of room for right-wing brutality.

Milei, who self-defines as an “anarcho-capitalist” and who assumed the presidency in 2023, made a charming habit of wielding a chainsaw at political rallies to symbolise his approach to governance – which has been to slash spending on healthcare, education and other public services while overseeing mass layoffs and pension cuts.

In the first six months of Milei’s austerity programme, poverty in Argentina soared to nearly 53 percent. Inflation has dropped, but so has purchasing power, and surveys indicate that most Argentines do not earn enough to pay their monthly expenses. Sunday’s legislative win – pardon, Trump’s victory – was crucial to maintaining the “chainsaw” strategy, which anyway has worked out just fine for certain elite sectors of the Argentinian populace.

Until now, Milei’s party commanded less than 15 percent of the seats in Congress. This meant that the president was forced to govern at the mercy of an opposition that insisted on overturning his vetoes on things like increasing benefits for people with disabilities and restoring congressional funding for paediatric healthcare and universities.

Naturally, Milei’s sociopathic efforts are near and dear to Trump’s heart, and the US head of state has repeatedly come out in his defence: “Everybody knows he’s doing the right thing. But you have a radical-left sick culture that’s a very dangerous group of people, and they’re trying to make him look bad.”

To be sure, it takes a hell of a “radical-left sick culture” to say that children should have healthcare or that folks with disabilities should be lent a hand.

Incidentally, Milei’s government has effectively done its part to increase the number of Argentinians with disabilities by, inter alia, wantonly firing rubber bullets and tear gas at pensioners and other demonstrators protesting against violent austerity measures. In March, 33-year-old Jonathan Navarro was blinded in one eye by a rubber bullet while protesting on behalf of his father and other retirees.

For his part, Trump, who no doubt sympathises with the need for militarised responses to peaceful demonstrators, recently graciously joked with Milei about the possibility of sending Tomahawk missiles to Argentina: “You need them for your opposition, I guess.” Trump and Milei also see eye to eye on the subject of Israel, and in August, the Argentinian president proposed a $1m initiative to boost relations between Latin America and the genocidal state.

The list of similarities goes on. Trump has never been one to look down on corruption or nepotism – as long as he’s the one benefitting – and Milei wasted no time in appointing his own sister as secretary-general to the presidency. Karina Milei has played the starring role in one of various scandals to have rocked her brother’s administration – scandals that were supposedly threatening to jeopardise his party’s performance in Sunday’s midterms.

In August, leaked audio recordings featured Diego Spagnuolo, who at the time was the head of Argentina’s National Disability Agency, discussing bribes allegedly pocketed by Karina Milei in exchange for pharmaceutical contracts concerning the procurement of medications for people with disabilities.

Anyway, only a “radical-left sick culture” would have been bothered by such an arrangement.

Now that the midterm elections appear to have breathed new life into Milei’s unhinged free-market experiment, impoverished Argentinians certainly have a lot to lose. But Washington has much to gain, as Trump made clear in his victory speech after the results were released: “We’ve made a lot of money based on that election because the bonds have gone up. Their whole debt rating has gone up.”

The president went on to add that the US was “not in that for the money, per se”. Remember those words as Argentina is chain-sawed to greatness again.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial policy.

Argentina’s President Javier Milei sang to his supporters after early results showed he had won the country’s midterm elections, bolstering his push for radical economic reforms closely watched by the US.

Argentinian President Javier Milei’s party has pulled off a stunning win in the country’s legislative elections, according to early results, boosting his ability to push forward with his radical overhaul of the economy, including free-market reforms and deep austerity measures.

Milei’s party, La Libertad Avanza, scored 40.84 percent of the votes cast for members of Congress on Sunday, compared with 31.64 percent for the opposition Peronist coalition, early results showed.

The results were based on a count of more than 90 percent of ballots cast.

The midterm elections were the first national test of Milei’s support since he won office two years ago, and will help him maintain the support of United States President Donald Trump, whose administration recently provided Argentina with a hefty financial bailout but has threatened to pull away if the libertarian leader did not do well.

At La Libertad Avanza’s headquarters on Sunday, Milei hailed the party’s victory as a “turning point” for the country and promised to charge ahead with his reforms.

Beaming as his supporters cheered, he seized on the results as evidence that Argentina had turned the page on decades of Peronism that had brought the country infamy for repeatedly defaulting on its sovereign debt.

“The Argentinian people left decadence behind and opted for progress,” Milei said, thanking “all those who supported the ideas of freedom to make Argentina great again”.

Milei’s party triples seat count

In Sunday’s elections, half of the seats in the lower Chamber of Deputies, or 127 seats, and one-third of the upper Senate, or 24 seats, were up for grabs.

Milei said his party has now tripled its seat count, winning 101 seats in the lower house, up from 37, and 20 seats in the Senate, up from six.

The most surprising results of Sunday’s election were in Buenos Aires province, where Milei’s party clawed its way back from defeat in last month’s local elections to run neck-and-neck with the Peronists.

The province has long been a political stronghold for the Peronists, and the win for Milei’s party marked a dramatic political shift.

The strong showing in Sunday’s election ensures Milei will have enough support in Congress to uphold presidential vetoes, prevent an impeachment effort, and see through his ambitious plans for tax and labour reforms in the coming months.

To support Milei, the Trump administration offered a bailout potentially worth $40bn, including a $20bn currency swap, which is already signed, and a proposed $20bn debt investment facility.

Trump has threatened to pull away if his populist ally performed poorly, warning that “if he doesn’t win, we’re not going to waste our time, because you have somebody whose philosophy has no chance of making Argentina great again”.

There was no immediate comment from the White House on Milei’s win.

‘Unobjectionable, unquestionable’

Al Jazeera’s Teresa Bo, reporting from Buenos Aires, said that Trump’s interest in Milei may have influenced the decisions of some of the voters.

“Certainly, the United States played a crucial role in the last stage leading to this election,” she said. “People here listened, and in a way, it may have convinced many to vote for Javier Milei’s party.”

The results were a surprise, she said, “after the president’s party lost by 14 points in the province of Buenos Aires last month to the Peronist opposition after one of the harshest austerity plans in this country’s history”.

Analysts said the stronger-than-expected showing could reflect fear of renewed economic turmoil if the country abandoned Milei’s policies, which, while painful at times, have succeeded in drastically slowing inflation.

Gustavo Cordoba, the director of the Zuban Cordoba polling firm, told the Reuters news agency that he was shocked by the results and thought they reflected public wariness over a possible return to the economic crises of past governments.

“Many people were willing to give the government another chance,” he said. “We’ll see how much time Argentine society gives the Argentine government. But the triumph is unobjectionable, unquestionable.”

Milei, a key ideological ally of Trump who has slashed state spending and liberalised Argentina’s economy after decades of budget deficits and protectionism, had a lot riding on Sunday’s elections.

Milei’s government has been scrambling to avert a currency crisis ever since the defeat by the Peronist opposition in a provincial election last month panicked markets and prompted a selloff in the peso – a move that led to the US Treasury’s extraordinary intervention.

A series of scandals – including bribery allegations against Milei’s powerful sister, Karina Milei – hurt the president’s image as an anticorruption crusader and hit a nerve among voters reeling from his harsh austerity measures.

Although the budget cuts have significantly driven down inflation, from an annual high of 289 percent in April 2024 to just 32 percent last month, many Argentinians are still struggling to make ends meet.

Price rises have outpaced salaries and pensions since Milei cut cost-of-living increases. Households pay more for electricity and public transport since Milei cut subsidies. The unemployment rate is now higher than when the libertarian president took office.

For Trump followers, his offer of a 20 to 40 billion economic assistance to Argentina came as a shock. For a government that emphasizes not spending American tax payers’ money abroad the record high foreign debt defaulter and agrobusiness competitor Argentina is a puzzling choice.

However, there are profound reasons for this outcome. In what follows, I will try to explain them. The first two motives are the most obvious ones, but I promise that the following two are the ones that are not that apparent though interesting to read.

The first reason, and more obvious one, is the ideological congruence between the executives. The Argentine president Milei shares Trump’s anti woke ideology, it has always been a Trump supporter and shares with him a deep-seated rejection for leftist governments and ideologies. However, whereas Trump is an economic nationalist, Milei brands himself as an “anarcho-capitalist” that profoundly believes that the powers of free market should reign without interference in order for economies and societies to succeed.

Secondly, next Sunday Milei will face a crucial midterm election. In a last September legislative vote in the crucial Buenos Aires province (that accounts for 40% of Argentina’s population) he lost against his arch rivals, the Peronist Party. The Peronist coalition, that governed Argentina for the most part of the last 25 years, held a leftist ideology that privileged bilateral relations with China over the US and that is a staunch critic of Trump’s policies. The following Monday, the Argentine peso faced very strong devaluation pressures that ended up drying up the Central Bank’s reserves.

Third, the US grand strategy has been under a deep transformation, at least since Obama`s presidency. It has been progressively withdrawing from the Middle East while focusing more on China. It has also demanded the Europeans (and also its allies in East Asians) to up their defence spending. This relative withdrawal is somewhat compensated by an increase of attention in its own neighbourhood, the Americas. It is under this lens that we can understand the recent US military actions against the Maduro regime in Venezuela, the suspension of economic aid to leftist governed Colombia and the huge tariffs applied to also leftist governed Brazil. Being Mexico also governed by a (somewhat pragmatic) leftist party and having in Chilean President Boric a staunch critic of Trump`s policies, the US is left with very few friends in the region. Right now, the only welcoming ally from a large country in the Americas is Argentina`s Milei.

Fourth, from the Argentine side, a change in the strategic outlook in part of its elites is also paving the way for an alliance with the US. The current Argentine executive, in its quest to achieve macroeconomic stability has as its most coveted goal the dollarization of the economy. This is the endpoint of the pro market economic reforms under way. At the same time, the Milei government supports the US and Israel in a fashion unseen in Argentine history. Worldwide, there are not many countries supporting the Trump agenda as thoroughly as Argentina.

There are strong indications that the deepening of the alliance between the US and Argentina is under way. However, near future events might change this course. Next month there will be presidential elections in Chile, while Colombia and Brazil will have theirs in May and October respectively. A win by the opposition in any of these countries will devalued the strategic relevance that Argentina holds right now. Secondly, will Trump successors double in an alliance with a country that has never been considered strategic for US interests? Finally, there is the question of Milei`s political future in Argentina. Good part of his ambitions and of Argentina’s grand strategy will be risked in next elections.

When “Kiss of the Spider Woman” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January, it was in the shadow of President Trump’s return to office.

Just days earlier, Trump had begun his term with a wave of executive orders to expand the country’s immigration detention infrastructure, fast-track deportations, remove protections preventing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials from targeting schools and churches, and a declaration that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes.

Referencing these developments ahead of the screening in Park City, Utah, writer-director Bill Condon told the audience: “That’s a sentiment I think you’ll see the movie has a different point of view on.”

Released in theaters Oct. 10, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” is set in the final year of Argentina’s Dirty War, the violent military dictatorship that spanned from 1976-1983. The story begins in the confines of a Buenos Aires prison, where newfound cellmates Valentin Arregui Paz (Diego Luna) and Luis Molina (Tonatiuh) find they have little in common. Arregui is a principled revolutionary dedicated to his cause, while Molina is a gay, flamboyant window dresser who’s been arrested for public indecency.

Undeterred by their differences, Molina punctuates the bleak existence of their imprisonment — one marked by torture and deprivation — by recounting the plot of “The Kiss of the Spider Woman,” a fictional Golden Age musical starring his favorite actress, Ingrid Luna (Jennifer Lopez), casting himself and Arregui as her co-stars. Transported from their dreary cell to the bright, indulgent universe of the musical, their main conflicts become a quest for love and honor, rather than a fight for their basic human rights.

When Argentinian author Manuel Puig began writing the celebrated novel, “Kiss of the Spider Woman,” in 1974, it was just a year into his self-imposed exile to Mexico as his native Argentina lurched toward authoritarianism. By the time the book was released in 1976, a military junta had seized control of the government. The next seven years were marked by the forced disappearance of an estimated 20,000-30,000 people, many of whom were kidnapped and taken to clandestine detention camps to be tortured and killed. Among those targeted were artists, journalists, student activists, members of the LGBTQ+ community and anyone deemed “subversive” by the regime.

Initially banned in Argentina, Puig’s novel has been adapted and reimagined multiple times, including as an Oscar-winning film in 1985 and a Tony Award-winning musical in 1993. With each iteration, the central elements have remained unchanged. And yet, as the 2025 adaptation arrived in theaters this month, this queer, Latino-led story of two prisoners fighting the claustrophobia of life under fascism feels at once like a minor miracle, and a startling wake-up call.

Tonatiuh, left, and Diego Luna in the movie “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

(Sundance Institute)

In the months since the film’s Sundance premiere, the parallels between the fraught political climate of 1970s Argentina and that of our present have only become more pronounced.

Under Trump, an endless stream of escalating violence from masked federal agents has become our new normal. ICE officers have been filmed apprehending people outside of immigration court; firing pepper balls, rubber bullets and tear gas at journalists, protesters and clergymen; and, earlier this month, they descended from Black Hawk helicopters, using flash-bang grenades to clear a Chicago apartment building in a militarized raid that had men, women and children zip-tied and removed from their homes. As the country’s immigrant detention population reaches record highs, widespread reports of abuse, neglect and sexual harassment, particularly against LGBTQ+ detainees, have emerged from facilities across the U.S.

Amidst these headlines are people just like Molina and Arregui — activists, artists and human beings — finding their own ways to survive and resist an increasingly paranoid and repressive government. And while Arregui’s instinct is to remain unwavering in his cause, Molina’s is to retreat into the glamorous, over-the-top world of the “Spider Woman.”

In dazzling musical numbers expertly performed by Lopez, who delivers each song and dance with all the magnetism of a true Old Hollywood icon, both the prisoners and the audience can’t help but be drawn further and further into her Technicolor web.

Jennifer Lopez and Tonatiuh in the movie “Kiss of the Spider Woman.”

(Roadside Attractions)

It might be easy to write these moments off as nothing more than a superficial distraction, as Arregui does early on, and characterize musicals as shallow and cliche. At first, Molina is happy to admit that’s why he loves them, but the truth is more complicated.

During Argentina’s dictatorship, discrimination and attacks by paramilitary groups against LGBTQ+ people became more and more frequent. Molina accepts the role society has cast him in, allowing himself to be the “monster,” the “deviant” or the “sissy” that people want him to be, while retreating mentally into the world of classic films and pop culture. For him, their beauty is a salve — an opportunity to abandon reality and cast himself in a role that doesn’t actually exist for him.

Though he never explicitly claims an identity, it’s made clear that he doesn’t just love “La Luna” — he wants to be her. And in their first feature lead role, the queer, L.A.-born actor Tonatiuh embodies all of Molina’s contradictions — his bluster, his pain, his radiance — to heart-wrenching effect.

As Molina and Arregui grow closer, the boundaries between reality and fantasy begin to melt, and their formerly rigid perceptions collapse along with them. Arregui takes on some of Molina’s idealism, and the musical he once saw as a tired cliche becomes something invaluable: a sliver of joy that can’t be taken from him. A cynic convinced of the world’s brokenness, he realizes that revolutions need hope too.

In the film’s final act, while the world around Molina hasn’t changed, he has. Still trapped within the confines of a society that is doing its best to crush him, he adopts Arregui’s integrity and realizes that he has a choice: “I learned about dignity in that most undignified place,” he says in the film. “I had always believed nothing could ever change for me, and I felt sorry for myself. But I can’t live like that now.”

Like the film within the film, “Kiss of the Spider Woman” isn’t an escape. It’s a lifeline — and a reminder that, even in the darkest of times, art has the power to transport us, sustain us and embolden us to be brave.

The central bank said deal was part of a comprehensive strategy to help it respond to forex and capital markets volatility.

The Central Bank of the Argentinian Republic (BCRA) said it has signed a $20bn exchange rate stabilisation agreement with the United States Treasury Department, six days ahead of a key midterm election.

The central bank’s statement on Monday said the agreement sets forth terms for bilateral currency swap operations between the US and Argentina, but it provided no technical details.

The central bank said: “Such operations will allow the BCRA to expand its set of monetary and exchange rate policy instruments, including the liquidity of its international reserves”.

The Argentinian peso closed at a record low, down 1.7 percent on the day to end at 1,475 per dollar.

The BCRA said the pact was part of a comprehensive strategy to enhance its ability to respond to foreign exchange and capital markets volatility.

The US Treasury did not immediately respond to a request for details on the new swap line and has not issued its own statement about the arrangement.

US Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent said last week that the arrangement would be backed by International Monetary Fund Special Drawing Rights held in the Treasury’s Exchange Stabilization Fund that will be converted to dollars.

Bessent has said that the US would not put additional conditions on Argentina beyond President Javier Milei’s government continuing to pursue its fiscal austerity and economic reform programmes to foster more private-sector growth.

He has announced several US purchases of pesos in recent weeks, but has declined to disclose details.

Midterm vote

Argentinian Minister of Economy Luis Caputo said last week that he hoped the swap deal framework would be finalised before the October 26 midterm parliamentary vote, in which Milei’s party will seek to grow its minority presence in the legislature.

Milei, who has sought to solve Argentina’s economic woes through fiscal spending cuts and dramatically shrinking the size of government, has been handed a string of recent political defeats.

US President Donald Trump said last week that the US would not “waste our time” with Argentina if Milei’s party loses in the midterm vote. The comment briefly shocked local markets until Bessent clarified that continued US support depended on “good policies”, not necessarily the vote result.

He added that a positive result for Milei’s party would help block any policy repeal efforts.

From the air, it looks like a city erased. Entire neighbourhoods have vanished from the map two years since Israel’s relentless bombardment of Gaza began. What were once homes, schools, hospitals, factories and power plants have been reduced to debris and dust. Thousands of Palestinians are now returning to ruins or rubble in a place that has lost the very fabric of daily life.

Economists estimate the cost of rebuilding at tens of billions of dollars – far beyond the capacity of Gaza’s shattered economy.

What is behind the $20bn lifeline to Argentina?

Plus, the European Union invests $13bn in South Africa.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s libertarian leader is lavishing praise on President Trump ahead of his first White House visit on Tuesday. It’s a tactic that has helped transform President Javier Milei ’s cash-strapped country into one of the Trump administration’s closest allies.

The effusive declarations are nothing new for Milei — whose dramatic cuts to state spending and attacks on “woke leftists” have won him a following among U.S. conservatives.

“Your commitment to life, freedom and peace has restored hope to the world,” Milei wrote on social media Monday, congratulating the U.S. president on securing a ceasefire deal in Gaza, where a truce is holding after a devastating, two-year Israel-Hamas war.

“It is an honor to consider you not only an ally in the defense of those values, but also a dear friend and an example of leadership that inspires all those who believe in freedom,” he said.

The Trump-Milei bromance has already paid off for Argentina — most recently, to the tune of a $20 billion bailout.

Experts say Milei comes to the White House with two clear objectives. One is to negotiate U.S. tariff exemptions or reductions for Argentine products.

The other is to see how the United States will implement a $20 billion currency swap line to prop up Argentina’s peso and replenish its depleted foreign currency reserves ahead of crucial midterm elections later this month.

In a crisis, turning to Trump

The Trump administration made a highly unusual decision to intervene in Argentina’s currency market after Milei’s party suffered a landslide loss in a local election last month.

Along with setbacks in the opposition-dominated Congress, the party’s crushing defeat created a crisis of confidence as voters in Buenos Aires Province registered their frustration with rising unemployment, contracting economic activity and brewing corruption scandals.

Alarmed that this could herald the end of popular support for Milei’s free-market program, investors dumped Argentine bonds and sold off the peso.

Argentina’s Treasury began hemorrhaging precious dollar reserves at a feverish pace, trying shore up the currency and keep its exchange rate within the trading band set as part of the country’s recent $20 billion deal with the International Monetary Fund.

But as the peso continued to slide, Milei grew desperate.

He met with Trump on Sept. 23 while in New York City for the United Nations General Assembly. A flurry of back-slapping, hand-shaking and mutual flattery between the two quickly gave way to U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent publicly promising Argentina a lifeline of $20 billion.

Markets cheered, and investors breathed a sigh of relief.

Timing is everything

In the days that followed, Argentine Economy Minister Luis Caputo spent hours in meetings in Washington trying to seal the deal.

Reassurance came last Thursday, when Bessent announced that the U.S. would allow Argentina to exchange up to $20 billion worth of pesos for an equal sum in dollars. Saying that the success of Milei’s program was “of systemic importance,” Bessent added that the U.S. Treasury directly purchased an unspecified amount of pesos.

For the Trump administration, the timing was awkward as it struggles to manage the optics of bailing out a nine-time serial defaulter in the middle of a U.S. government shutdown that has led to mass layoffs.

But for Argentina, it came in the nick of time.

Aware of how a weak currency could threaten his flagship achievement of taming inflation and hurt his popularity, Milei hopes to stave off what many economists see as an inescapable currency devaluation until after the the Oct. 26 midterm elections.

A devaluation of the peso would likely fuel a resurgence in inflation.

“Milei is going to the U.S. in a moment of desperation now,” said Marcelo J. García, political analyst and Director for the Americas at the Horizon Engage political risk consultancy firm.

“He needs to recreate market expectations and show that his program can be sustainable,” García added. “The government is trying to win some time to make it to the midterms without major course corrections, like devaluing or floating the peso.”

No strings attached

Milei was vague when pressed for details on his talks with Trump, expected later on Tuesday. Officials say he would have a two-hour meeting with the U.S. president, followed by a working lunch with other top officials.

He was also expected to participate in a ceremony at the White House honoring Charlie Kirk, the prominent right-wing political activist who was fatally shot last month. Milei often crossed paths with Kirk on the speaking circuit of the ascendant global right.

“We don’t have a single-issue agenda, but rather a multi-issue agenda,” Milei told El Observador radio in Buenos Aires Monday. “Things that are already finalized will be announced, and things that still need to be finalized will remain pending.”

It’s not clear what strings, if any, the Trump administration has attached to the currency swap deal, which Democratic lawmakers and other critics have slammed as an example of Trump rewarding loyalists at the expense of American taxpayers.

There has been no word on how Argentina, the IMF’s largest debtor, will end up paying the U.S. back for this $20 billion, which comes on top of IMF’s own loan for the same amount in April. And that one came on top of an earlier IMF loan for $40 billion.

Despite all the help, Milei’s government already missed the IMF’s early targets for rebuilding currency reserves.

“The U.S. should be concerned that Argentina has had to return for $20 billion so quickly after getting $14 billion upfront from the IMF,” said Brad Setser, a former Treasury official now at the Council on Foreign Relations.

“I worry that this may prove to just be a short-term bridge and won’t leave Argentina better equipped” to tackle its problems, he added.

But in the radio interview before his flight, Milei was upbeat. He gushed about U.S. support saving Argentina from “the local franchise of 21st-century socialism” and waxed poetic about Argentina’s economic potential.

“There will be an avalanche of dollars,” Milei said. “We’ll have dollars pouring out of our ears.”

Debre writes for the Associated Press.

Lionel Messi scored twice in Inter Miami’s 4-0 MLS win over Atlanta United, a day after being rested by Argentina for their friendly against Venezuela.

Argentina captain Messi, 38, was called up for Friday’s match against Venezuela at the Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, home of NFL side the Miami Dolphins, and Tuesday’s game against Puerto Rico, which has been relocated from Chicago to Fort Lauderdale.

With the MLS continuing during the international break it was not clear if Messi would play for Inter Miami on Saturday in their penultimate regular season match.

The eight-time Ballon d’Or winner trained with Argentina during the week but watched Friday’s match – which Argentina won 1-0 – from the stands, with national boss Lionel Scaloni saying he wanted to see Lautaro Martinez and Julian Alvarez play together.

Miami boss Javier Mascherano said they asked for Messi to leave the national set-up to play in their home match and he started against Atlanta, curling in his opener in the 39th minute and adding his second in the 87th to take him to the top of the MLS scoring charts with 26 goals.

He also assisted Jordi Alba’s second-half strike, while Luis Suarez scored Miami’s other goal.

“Yesterday, before the match, I talked to [Argentina manager Lionel] Scaloni, and he said no, that he was not going to use him, that he was going to sit him down. And I spoke to Leo to see if he could play,” said Mascherano.

“It was his decision, and clearly he saw the opportunity that if he wasn’t going to play against Venezuela yesterday, we could use him. Leo, of course, was ready to do it.

“He is a very special player, he’s an icon, and even though he didn’t train last week with us, we saw what he did today. He has helped us to win, he managed to score. That for him was important.”

Inter are already guaranteed a play-off spot and sit third in the eastern conference, tied on points with second-placed FC Cincinnati.

Oct. 10 (UPI) — The United States has finalized a $20 billion financial support framework with Argentina, making good on President Donald Trump‘s pledge to help the struggling country, led by ally President Javier Milei, despite growing opposition to the move from both Democrats and Republicans.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced the deal Thursday on X, saying it followed four days of “intensive meetings” in Washington, D.C., with Argentina’s Minister of Economy Luis Caputo.

The deal, which includes a $20 billion currency swap and the direct purchase of Argentine pesos, was completed with Argentina’s central bank, said Bessent, adding that his department is prepared to “immediately” take all measures needed to stabilize the South American country’s markets.

“Argentina faces a moment of acute illiquidity,” he said in the statement.

“The Trump administration is resolute in our support for allies of the United States, and to that end, we also discussed Argentina’s investment incentives, and U.S. tools to powerfully support investment in our strategic partners.”

Milei, Argentina’s libertarian leader, is a staunch supporter of Trump and attended his inauguration in January.

Last month on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, the American president in a press conference alongside Milei endorsed him for a second term.

Trump also told reporters that the United States was “going to help them” but that it wouldn’t be a bailout.

Caputo expressed his “deepest gratitude” to Bessent online following the announcement.

“I eagerly anticipate our meeting next week, where I am confident our teams will continue to collaborate with the same spirit of determination and partnership to advance our mutual objectives,” Caputo said on X.

Trump and Milei are scheduled to meet Tuesday.

The announcement has been met with criticism from both sides of the political aisle as well as farmers.

Eight senators on Thursday introduced the No Argentina Bailout Act to prohibit Treasury funds from bailing out Argentina’s financial markets.

“It’s inexplicable that President Trump is propping up a foreign government, while he shuts down our own,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., ranking member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, said in a statement.

“Trump promised ‘America First,’ but he’s putting himself and his billionaire buddies first and sticking american with the bill.”

Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa similarly complained about the deal on X.

“Why would USA help bail out Argentina while they take American soybean producers’ biggest market??? We shld use leverage at every turn to help hurting farm economy Family farmers shld be top of mind in negotiations by representatives of USA,” he said.

The American Soybean Association has voiced opposition to the bailout since Bessent first announced negotiations with Argentina mid-last month.

The ASA was upset that Trump’s tariffs had seen U.S. soybean farmers secure zero sales to China this crop cycle, while Argentine ships soybeans to the Asian nation.

“The frustration is overwhelming,” ASA President Caleb Ragland said in a statement.

“U.S. soybean prices are falling, harvest is underway and farmers read headlines not about securing a trade agreement with China, but that the U.S. government is extending $20 billion in economic support to Argentina while that country drops its soybean export taxes to sell 20 shiploads of Argentine soybeans to China in just two days.”

The congressional setback arrives as Milei’s political party faces slumping popularity headed into a midterm election.

Argentina’s struggling President Javier Milei has suffered a new setback as Congress overturned his vetoes of laws increasing funding for public universities and for paediatric care.

On Thursday, senators invalidated both vetoes, which had already been rejected by the Chamber of Deputies, bringing to three the number of laws upheld by Congress despite vehement opposition from the budget-slashing Milei.

Milei, who has implemented deep austerity policies to reduce the size of government, had said the new spending would jeopardise Argentina’s fiscal balance.

The Senate’s vote comes as the United States-backed Milei struggles to end a run on the national currency, the Argentinian peso, in the run-up to the crucial October 26 midterm elections.

The 54-year-old right-winger, in power since December 2023, has been on the ropes since his party’s trouncing by the centre-left in Buenos Aires provincial polls last month.

Those elections, seen as a bellwether ahead of the midterms, shredded his aura of political invincibility and sent markets into a tailspin.

“There’s a sensation of disenchantment and anger with the impact of the cutbacks,” said Sebastian Halperin, a political consultant in Buenos Aires.

He added that Milei had failed to build alliances with governors who influence how their province’s legislators vote in Congress.

Last week, the US government announced it was in talks with Argentina on a $20bn swap line aimed at shoring up the peso.

US President Donald Trump sought to buoy his close ally at talks in New York last week, saying: “He’s doing a fantastic job.”

The two are expected to meet in October as Milei seeks to secure a credit swap line from the US.

Analysts say, however, the president still needs a strong result in the midterms to avoid compromising the progress he has made in steadying Argentina’s economy.

After rallying briefly, the peso slumped again this week over market uncertainty about the amount and extent of the US financial help on offer.

Protesters in cities around the world have condemned Israel’s interception of the humanitarian flotilla bound for Gaza and the detention of activists in international waters.

Police in Peru say they have arrested the main suspects in the murders of two women and a girl whose torture was streamed live on social media in Argentina, prompting outrage and mass protests.

Drug gang suspected in torture and murder of two young women, and a 15-year-old girl, in crime that shocks Argentina.

Clashes have erupted between demonstrators and police as thousands protested in Argentina’s capital, Buenos Aires, to demand justice over the torture and killing of two young women and a teenager, which was livestreamed on social media by a purported drug gang.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets on Saturday to denounce the killings that shocked Argentinians after it was revealed that the murders were perpetrated live on the Instagram platform and watched by 45 members of a private account, officials said.

The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutierrez were found buried on Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.

Investigators said the victims, thinking they were going to a party, were lured into a van on September 19, allegedly as part of a plan to “punish” them for violating gang code and to serve as a warning to others.

Police discovered a video of the triple murder after a suspect in the disappearance of the three revealed it under questioning, according to Javier Alonso, the security minister for the Buenos Aires province.

In the footage, a gang leader is heard saying: “This is what happens to those who steal drugs from me.”

Argentinian media reported that the torturers cut off fingers, pulled out nails, and beat and suffocated the victims.

While most of the protesters who took part in the demonstration on Saturday marched peacefully, some confronted police who responded by aggressively pushing them away using their batons and shields, according to video clips and images posted by the La Izquierda Diario online news site.

As they marched towards the Argentinian parliament with thousands of supporters, family members of the victims held a banner with their names, “Lara, Brenda, Morena”, and placards with the images of the three.

“Women must be protected more than ever,” Brenda’s father, Leonel del Castillo, was quoted by the AFP news agency as telling reporters at the protest. He had earlier said he had not been able to identify his daughter’s body due to the torture she had endured.

“It was a narco-femicide!” read a sign at the protest. Another declared, “Our lives are not disposable!”

The protesters also banged on drums as they marched and denounced the “inaction” of the administration of President Javier Milei against what they called the growing “narco” influence in the country.

An image posted on social media showed protesters burning an image of Milei and other political allies of his administration.

Antonio del Castillo, the grandfather of the slain 20-year-old cousins, was in tears, calling his granddaughters’ killers “bloodthirsty”.

“You wouldn’t do what they did to them to an animal,” he said.

On Friday, Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich announced the arrest of a fifth suspect in the case, bringing the total to three men and two women. The fifth suspect, accused of offering logistical support in the killing by providing a vehicle involved in the crime, was arrested in the Bolivian border city of Villazon .

Authorities have also released a photograph of the alleged mastermind, a 20-year-old Peruvian, who remains at large.

Meta, the parent company of Instagram, has disputed that the livestream occurred on its platform, according to the AFP, citing a company spokesperson.

“I give credit to my boys – we didn’t give up. And to the coach (Rassie Erasmus) as well,” said South Africa captain Siya Kolisi.

“We played fearlessly. We didn’t want to hold back. We knew what we needed to do and we believed in ourselves – that was the most important thing out there.”

South Africa made a strong start at the Wellington Regional Stadium but were denied a try following a brilliant Jordie Barrett tackle on Cheslin Kolbe.

RG Snyman did go over for South Africa, only to have the effort ruled out.

New Zealand responded through debutant Leroy Carter, who scored after a well-worked move.

South Africa drew level when Kolbe intercepted a pass in his own half before sprinting clear.

A Damian McKenzie penalty restored New Zealand’s lead but, from there on, it was all South Africa.

Kolbe scored his second try early in second half before Manie Libbok’s penalty.

Damian Willemse powered over the line to extend the Springboks’ lead following a poor New Zealand line-out, and Kwagga Smith, Snyman and Andre Esterhuizen added further tries.

“That’s a tough one to swallow,” said New Zealand captain Scott Barrett.

“The Springboks certainly showed up and took a real improvement from last week, and we just didn’t adjust. There’s a lot of areas where we can get better.”

In the remaining two rounds South Africa play Argentina and New Zealand take on Australia.

“We’ve got the right to fight for the Rugby Championship,” said Kolisi. “It’s open now and that’s what matters to us.”

Argentina’s markets have tumbled, with the peso currency at a historic low, after a heavy defeat for President Javier Milei’s party at the hands of the Peronist opposition at local elections stoked worries about the government’s ability to implement its economic reform agenda.

On Monday, the peso was last down almost 5 percent against the US dollar at 1,434 per greenback while the benchmark stock index fell 10.5 percent, and an index of Argentine stocks traded on United States exchanges lost more than 15 percent. Some of the country’s international bonds saw their biggest falls since they began trading in 2020 after a $65bn restructuring deal.

The resounding victory for the Peronists signalled a tough battle for Milei in national midterm elections on October 26, when his party is aiming to secure enough seats to avoid overrides to presidential vetoes.

The government now faces the difficult choice of whether to allow the peso to depreciate ahead of next month’s midterms or spend its foreign exchange reserves to intervene in the FX market, according to Pramol Dhawan, head of EM portfolio management at Pimco.

“Opting for intervention would likely prove counterproductive, as it risks derailing the IMF programme and diminishing the country’s prospects for future market access to refinance external debt,” Dhawan said via email, referring to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). “The more resources the government allocates to defending the currency, the fewer will be available to meet obligations to bondholders — thereby increasing the risk of default.”

He said early indications that the government may double down on the current strategy “would be a strategic misstep”.

The 13-point gap in the Buenos Aires Province (PBA) election in favour of the opposition Peronists was much wider than polls anticipated and what the market had priced in. The government setback at the polls adds to recent headwinds for a market that had until recently outperformed its Latin American peers.

“We had our reservations about the market being too complacent regarding the Buenos Aires election results. The foreign exchange market will undoubtedly be under the spotlight, as any instability there can have a ripple effect on Argentine assets,” said Shamaila Khan, head of fixed income for emerging markets and Asia Pacific at UBS, in response to emailed questions.

“However, it’s important to note that simply using reserves to prop up the currency isn’t likely to provide much reassurance to the market,” she added. “The midterm elections, in my opinion, carry more weight and their outcome will significantly influence how Argentine assets perform in the coming months.”

The bond market selloff saw the country’s 2035 issue fall 6.25 cents, on track for its largest daily drop since its post-restructuring issuance in 2020.

Based on official counts, the Peronists won 47.3 percent of the vote across the province, while the candidate of Milei’s party took 33.7 percent, with 99.98 percent of the votes counted.

Argentina – one of the big reform stories across emerging markets since Milei became president in December 2023 – has seen its markets come under heavy pressure over the last month following a corruption scandal involving Milei’s sister and political gatekeeper Karina Milei where she has been accused of accepting bribes for government contracts..

The government defeat also comes after the IMF approved a $20bn programme in April, of which some $15bn has already been disbursed. The IMF has eagerly backed the reform programme of Milei’s government to the point that its director, Kristalina Georgieva, had to clarify remarks earlier this year in which she invited Argentines to stay the course with the reforms.

The IMF did not respond to questions on whether this vote result would change its relationship with the Milei administration or alter the programme.

Market selloff

Argentina’s main equity index has dropped around 20 percent since the government corruption scandal broke, its international government bonds have sold off, and pressure on the recently unpegged peso has forced authorities to start intervening in the FX market.

“The result was much worse than the market expected – Milei took quite a big beating, so now he has to come up with something,” said Viktor Szabo, portfolio manager at Aberdeen Investments.

Morgan Stanley had warned in the run-up to the vote that the international bonds could fall up to 10 points if a Milei drubbing dented his agenda for radical reform. On Monday, the outcome saw the bank pull its ‘like’ stance on the bonds.

Barclays analyst Ivan Stambulsky pointed to comments from Economy Minister Luis Caputo on Sunday that the country’s FX regime won’t change.

“We’re likely to see strong pressure on the FX and declining reserves as the Ministry of Economy intervenes,” Stambulsky said. “If FX sales persist, markets will likely start wondering what will happen if the economic team is forced to let the currency depreciate before the October mid-terms.”

Some analysts, however, predicted other parts of the country were unlikely to vote as strongly against Milei as in Buenos Aires province given it is a traditional Peronist stronghold.

They also expected the Milei government to stick to its programme of fiscal discipline despite economic woes.

“The Province of Buenos Aires midterm election delivered a very negative result for the Milei administration, casting doubt on its ability to deliver a positive outcome in October’s national vote and risking the reform agenda in the second half of the term,” said JPMorgan in a Sunday client note.

“The policy mix adopted in the coming days and weeks to address elevated political risk will be pivotal in shaping medium-term inflation expectations — and, ultimately, the success of the stabilisation programme.”