JANUARY
WEEK 1 — Ex-president Néstor Kirchner is tipped to run for senator in Buenos Aires province while Santa Fe Peronist Senator Carlos Reutemann promises a presidential run if he fares well in midterm elections scheduled for October (but a run for whom — as a K proxy or opposition?). President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner feels faint (postponing a trip to Cuba) and well she might with her approval ratings barely 30 percent and investments frozen in a bleak economy amid global slump. Both Cabinet Chief Sergio Massa and Entre Ríos Governor Sergio Urribarri lean on Gualeguaychú activists protesting the Fray Bentos pulp mill to stop blocking access to Uruguay as the summer holidays begin.

W2 — CFK announces a farm aid package (along with a personal health bulletin) which falls short of calling a state of emergency for drought (never mind relaxing export duties), angering farmers into joining protesting Paraná Metal workers in Villa Constitución, Santa Fe. A 2008 official inflation figure of 7.2 percent (dismissed by CGT secretary-general Hugo Moyano as a serious base for collective wage bargaining) is announced on the same day transport is hiked 28 percent and utility rates rise by up to 300 percent for the top eight percent of consumers. Oliver Stone films in the Pink House.

W3 — CFK manages to find herself in Cuba on the historic day when Barack Obama becomes the first Afro-American president of the United States but she is far more thrilled over her photo opportunity with Fidel Castro. Then on to Venezuela whose leader Hugo Chávez has just gobbled up Sidor steel plant from Techint. A 2008 growth rate of 7.1 percent is announced but the government proposes to freeze wages below a 15 percent cap.

W4 — A bond swap among local investors (with 97 percent acceptance) rolls back some 13 billion pesos (or around a quarter of the Public Sector Borrowing Requirement) for five years as an initial gesture against default. Announcing reflationary plans to trade new cars and consumer durables for old (with the help of confiscated AFJP private pension funds), CFK expresses Schadenfreude over the global crisis but Argentine exports slump 28 percent. A farming emergency is finally declared after multi-billion losses to drought.

FEBRUARY
W5 — Economic pessimism deepens as industrial production falls 56 percent and car exports 60 percent. CFK praises Obama for seeking Peronist answers to the crisis of capitalism. The farmers are now offered almost everything except lower export duties but this does not save Lower House Majority Leader Agustín Rossi from being pelted with eggs on a rural stop (staged?). Former Buenos Aires Governor Felipe Sola presages the Unión-PRO alliance between dissident Peronists and City Mayor Mauricio Macri’s centre-right PRO (ex-president Eduardo Duhalde’s hand is seen behind this). Ex-Radical Vice-President Julio Cobos meets Radical party chairman Gerardo Morales for the first time since Cobos became CFK’s running-mate in 2007. Anticipating electoral fraud, the opposition presses for a single ballot to cut back on the need for thousands of scrutineers. The first wildcat subway strike of the year occurs as CFK promises an Oyster-style electronic transit card within three months. Aerolíneas Argentinas airline employees receive a 19.5 percent pay hike.

W6 — A mudslide levels the Salta town of Tartagal while CFK is dining with the King of Spain (she largely fudges on last year’s nationalization of Aerolíneas from Spanish ownership in her Madrid meetings). Unión-PRO under a triumvirate of Solá, Francisco de Narváez and Macri becomes a reality without defining top spot. INDEC statistics bureau claims 0.5 percent inflation for January but admits to economic contraction in the last quarter of 2008. Farmers defy general expectations by refraining from a sales boycott amid doubts it might cost public opinion support.

W7 — The Victory Front suffers a haemorrhage of four senators, including ex-governors Reutemann and Juan Carlos Romero (Salta) — post-K or anti-K? A wholly sterile meeting with Production Minister Débora Giorgi and leaks of confidential talks between Federal Planning Minister Julio De Vido and the Rural Society’s Hugo Biolcati provoke the farmers (still singled out as the straw men for the Kirchners to demonize in the election campaign) into a grain and meat sales boycott called on CFK’s 56th birthday — is the age of chivalry completely dead? Aldo Garrido, San Isidro’s Dixon of Dock Green, is slain on the beat, prompting the year’s first major uproar over crime and the replacement of Daniel Salcedo by Juan Carlos Paggi as Buenos Aires provincial police chief. Abroad Argentina is declared a “frontier market.”

W8 — As the confrontation between the government and the farming sector escalates (with rural activist Alfredo De Angeli overrunning an Entre Ríos bank), grain trade nationalization is widely rumoured — is this just pressure on farmers to sell nine million tons of withheld soy or is the government after another 32 billion dollars to counter capital flight (in more or less that volume) and fuel electioneering? The latter bills are steep — 16 billion more pesos in that week alone to finance a minimum pension of 770 pesos and a pay floor of 1,490 pesos for teachers. Farmers join the opposition in the Congress building and accuse the government of hogging windfalls for permanent elections. A report by the new Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta on instability in Latin America sparks the first minor spat with the US.

MARCH
W9 — On the first day of the month CFK delivers a state of the nation speech which mostly boasts of the already outdated growth since 2003 but also hints at “new tools of state intervention” and unveils a broadcasting bill — in the legal area she prioritizes human rights over crimefighting. CFK makes a bold move towards a thaw with the farmers by personally joining Production Ministry talks, granting various concessions in the areas of beef and dairy production and regional economies (but not grain export duties) — both the farm leaders and the opposition clash between themselves in their reactions. Teacher strikes hit half the country and Merval share index has a bad week.

W10 — The CFK administration takes full advantage of Mayor Macri advancing City elections to follow his lead and call snap midterm elections for June 28, not October — CFK claims (not without reason) that the whole country benefits from the election year being halved but the government fears the crisis peaking by October. A Peronist defeat in Catamarca — a third of the vote as against 43 percent for Cobos-backed Radicals despite Néstor Kirchner actively campaigning — feeds the panic. Obama telephones; anti-corruption watchdog Manuel Garrido of the National Administrative Investigations Bureau quits; Massa puts more money and staff into human rights trials and crime concerns rise.

W11 — Congress approves the June 28 election date by a 136-109 vote amid an anti-crime rally. CFK provokes the farmers into renewed militancy when electioneering needs impel her to earmark 30 percent of soy export duties for the provinces — a seven-day grain and meat sales boycott is called. Néstor Kirchner wastes no time in transforming midterm parliamentary elections into a virtual recall referendum hinging on his personal performance in Buenos Aires province via picket leader Emilio Pérsico, who speaks of Cobos being president if Kirchner loses. The future media law is announced in more detail with its anti-Clarín purposes evident — pay per view soccer is already criticized but triple play is still allowed at this stage.

W12 — The Senate completes approval of the June 28 election date within 13 days of its announcement by a 42-26 vote. Administration rhetoric harps on governability being at stake in a virtual plebiscite, thus raising the bar to 51 percent from the 30 percent which would seem sufficient to best a fragmented opposition. De Narváez emerges as the top Buenos Aires province candidate for Unión-PRO, which thrives on this polarization, while in the city Elisa Carrió‘s Civic Coalition is to be headed by former Central Bank governor Alfonso Prat Gay. The farmers, who are called “coupmongers,” continue their sales boycott all week and Buenos Aires province teachers strike. CFK finally responds to anti-crime feeling by announcing a 400-million-peso plan deploying Border Guards and hiring 4,000 more policemen. Last but very far from least, Radical ex-president Raúl Alfonsín dies in his 82nd year in the closing hours of the month, changing the agenda entirely from the farm issue.

APRIL
W13 — Alfonsín receives the biggest state funeral since Juan Perón in 1974 with eulogies from all sides (even Néstor Kirchner) — the more dubious aspects of his career such as the 1993 Olivos Pact with Carlos Menem or undermining Fernando de la Rúa’s Radical leadership during the 1999-2001 Alliance administration are conveniently forgotten. The general effect is to revive Radical fortunes, who rise to 20 percent in the polls (thus temporarily ending the polarization in Buenos Aires province) — this also boosts Cobos (who is vice-president precisely because of Radical decline). CFK’s week takes her to the G20 summit in London (ironically for the 27th anniversary of the outbreak of the 1982 South Atlantic War), which agrees to inject a trillion dollars into the world economy.

W14 — First Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli and then various Greater Buenos Aires mayors are dragooned into the June 28 race and the concept of “testimonial candidacies” (with no intention of taking their seats but impossible to prevent legally before the fact) is born — Duhalde (about whom Macri expresses unease) calls it “grotesque.” But Unión-PRO continue to pack an opinion poll punch even if they trail Kirchner by five percent. The Radicals lift the lifelong ban against Cobos. Various farmers present their candidacies.

W15 — The Summit of the Americas in Trinidad (a meeting with Obama in his political honeymoon weeks continues to elude CFK) prevents Cobos as acting President from following up his momentum as Alfonsín’s heir but it is still fast becoming a three-horse race in Buenos Aires province. De Narváez hammers away at the crime issue, the subject of frequent protest marches, and Néstor Kirchner responds by advocating criminal code reform. Buenos Aires provincial taxman Santiago Montoya spurns a “testimonial candidacy” in San Isidro and is fired. Kirchner blocks a dengue fever state of alert being called before the elections, as sought by Health Minister Graciela Ocaña (at odds with the trade unions over the control of health care scheme money).

W16 — Two female heavyweights join the metropolitan race — Deputy Mayor Gabriela Michetti quits (the rash of “testimonial candidacies” leaves her no choice) and Carrió takes a humble third spot on the Civic Coalition (CC) list. Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo starts the scare tactics of raising the 2001 meltdown spectre (even though no crisis is ever the same). All eyes are on Kirchner in Buenos Aires province rather than the final seat totals in Congress (objectively more important). Radical opinion is split between the CC and Cobos (neutral for now). Héctor Méndez returns to the presidency of the Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) as business becomes increasingly worried about the state equity invasion via the ANSeS stewardship of the AFJP private pension funds. Pressured by the CGT (while the rival CTA union grouping acts up), CFK reaffirms her labour alliance by asserting the International Labour Organization’s claim to G20 membership and huddles yet again with Brazil’s Lula.

Chaco provincial health minister Sandra Mendoza’s handling of dengue fever proves as dysfunctional as her marriage to Governor Jorge Capitanich.

W17 — At a May Day rally on the last day of the month, Moyano (increasingly resisted by other unions) demands a June 28 vote for the Kirchners from organized labour. Amid continuing economic slowdown the campaign theme remains “K or chaos” — or Cobos with the new Social and Civic Accord (ACS) uniting the Radicals, CC and the Socialists equated with the people who brought us 2001. Actress Nacha Guevara joins Kirchner’s list. As swine flu hits Argentina, De Narváez is dragged into the ephedrine-smuggling case via calls made to a cell phone of his by prime suspect Mario Segovia in 2006.

MAY
W18 — Kirchner runs for Buenos Aires province at the last minute, promising Peronist primaries for 2011, with Massa 4th on his list. In both Santa Fe and Córdoba provinces the Peronists present separate lists. UOM metal workers press for a 22 percent wage increase.

W19 — With the Victory Front a few percent ahead of Unión-PRO in the opinion polls, Scioli dubs the ACS the main challenge. Problems for Unión-PRO — Macri is seen to back up De Narváez far more vigorously than Solá while in the process muting PRO’s metropolitan campaign. At the same time the entry of ex-policeman Luis Patti into the race threatens to take law and order votes away from De Narváez. Despite the “K or chaos” notion, the day of Kirchner’s launch is total chaos with subway and taxi strikes. Chávez comes to town to lend some moral electoral support and CFK holds a rare press conference with him in El Calafate. Both civil servants and bank clerks win a 15 percent pay increase while Massuh pulp mill is salvaged.

W20 — “Testimonial candidacies” are approved by Electoral Judge Manuel Blanco after leaving the country in suspense half the week — any bans on Peronist candidacies have been counterproductive historically and Kirchner (granting interviews as never before) and Moyano both jump on the issue. Solá aptly describes testimonial candidacies as “legal but illegitimate.” PRO continues to give Buenos Aires province its best shot in a campaign where the television parodies of Gran Cuñado seem a more important factor than the real thing. Cobos admits to 2011 presidential dreams. In Santa Fe Reutemann denies any deal with Kirchner while Rossi is pelted with eggs for the second time this year. Business asks CFK to stand up to Chávez over his nationalization of three Techint steel plants in Venezuela — the President responds that she will respect both Venezuelan sovereignty and Argentina’s right to compensation. More labour unrest.

W21 — As the Bicentenary is launched a year early, the campaign turns uglier with Scioli subjected to a hail of eggs and stones in the farming town of Lobería (three arrests) — perhaps this is also a reaction to an excessive legalization of the campaign in Blanco’s court and also the weak, lacklustre campaigns run by both Michetti and De Narváez. Businessmen are further irked by Chávez telling Lula that Brazil is safe from any nationalization (“Just my little joke,” the Bolivarian says later) and demand that Venezuela be denied entry into Mercosur — CFK responds by rapping Techint for keeping its Venezuelan compensation money abroad. The government launches a 1.5-billion-dollar mortgage plan with ANSeS/AFJP money.

JUNE
W22 — Business now seems to be taking its turn as the presidential couple’s archenemy as corporate lobbies lean on Congress to block Venezuelan entry into Mercosur — Néstor Kirchner also blasts Techint and Edesur power utility is denied the right to pay out 65 million pesos in dividends. Amid continuing global capitalist crisis (which also sees Cuba welcomed back to the Organization of American States) General Motors asks for Chapter 11 worldwide and receives an injection of 70 million pesos from the CFK administration (ANSeS funds again) for its Rosario plant.

W23 — The ephedrine-smuggling smear against De Narváez starts to backfire (the judge pressing the charges has 36 impeachment counts against him and Cobos expresses solidarity with the Peronist candidate) and a poll in the newspaper La Nación shows Unión-PRO in the lead (by around three percent) for the first time. De Narváez is also helped by polarization as the ACS starts slipping back to its support levels prior to Alfonsín’s death. INDEC give a scandalously low May inflation figure of 0.3 percent. Swine flu is declared pandemic worldwide. Neurosurgeon Hilda Molina is allowed to leave Cuba (arriving here on Flag Day).

W24 — As the Buenos Aires province race becomes too close to call (Córdoba and Mendoza are also looking close), Kirchner persists with the ephedrine boomerang, blasting both Clarín and “disloyal” Cobos. A court ban on Patti (accused of human rights violations during the 1976-83 military dictatorship) helps De Narváez. The ACS try to climb back into what looks increasingly like a Peronist primary by attacking both De Narváez and Reutemann as crypto-Kirchnerites. The lame metropolitan campaign takes a decisive shift when leftist Fernando “Pino” Solanas makes the most of a debate between City candidates and starts becoming a favoured alternative for the anti-Kirchner centre-left.

W25 — In the last week of an increasingly negative campaign the election hinges on the 10 million-plus voters of Buenos Aires province more than ever with the opposition increasingly expressing fraud fears and pessimism as to sufficient scrutineer recruitment — turnout is also deemed crucial. At the the same Unión-PRO seems to blow a huge hole in its own credibility when De Narváez comes out in favour of the nationalization of YPF and utilities at almost the same time Macri advocates the reprivatization of Aerolíneas and the pension funds. Méndez defines Argentina’s problems as political rather than economic. INDEC insist that Argentina is still growing. Even in the final runup of the campaign, two US figures manage to intrude into the news — Michael Jackson (for dying) and South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford (for being too much alive with his lurid affair here).

W26 — The final election results on June 28 could hardly be worse for the Kirchners with defeat in the key Buenos Aires province stronghold and their Santa Cruz homeland alike — the Victory Front drops into two digits in the 257-seat Lower House with the loss of 19 seats although it clings on to half the Senate, Husband Néstor takes it hard, resigning the next day as Justicialist (Peronist) Party chairman in favour of Scioli but Cristina denies any defeat whatsoever, pointing to the Victory Front as the single leading party with 31 percent nationwide. The final result in BA province is 34.5 percent for Unión-PRO, 32 percent for Kirchner and 21.5 percent for the ACS (the 400,000 votes for Kirchner-leaning leftist Martín Sabbatella make the difference). Kirchner narrowly wins in Greater Buenos Aires but suffers a rural landslide against him (which is nationwide). In the City Michetti falters, winning with only 31 percent to 24 percent for Solanas (19.5 percent for the CC). The big winner nationwide is Cobos (the only landslide of the night apart from some northern Peronist provinces like Tucumán), sweeping Mendoza with half the vote as against a quarter for the Peronists. Reutemann struggles to squeak ahead of the Socialists in Santa Fe and Luis Juez wins in Córdoba. A swine flu emergency is declared immediately after the elections as Ocaña resigns, replaced as health minister by Tucumán’s Juan Luis Manzur.

JULY
W27 — By Independence Day CFK has moved away from pre-electoral “coffers” hardball and post-electoral denial to dialogue, an offer the opposition can hardly refuse — while not even farmers are barred from talks, this dialogue is to centre on electoral reform (on ice since a 2002 reform was repealed in 2006). Opinions are divided as to whether this is buying time — on whose side is time anyway? By then there has already been a major Cabinet shuffle — with Transport Secretary Ricardo Jaime the first scapegoat on July 1, Justice Minister Aníbal Fernández (replaced by Julio Alak) displaces Massa as Cabinet Chief and ANSeS chief Amado Boudou is the new economy minister instead of the colourless Carlos Fernández (Mariano Recalde is the new Aerolíneas chief). Boudou promises a return to international capital markets from the word go. Moyano quickly reasserts CGT authority by ousting a Manzur watchdog from supervision of health care schemes.

W28 — Interior Minister Florencio Randazzo dutifully calls for political reform talks with 50 parties, 10 at a time, but nobody accepts the agenda limitation with everything (even grain export duties) up for negotiation while the ACS quickly asserts a right to a one-on-one. Carrio boycotts the talks, insisting on a Congress venue, and the CC is quickly divided over the issue. At the same time (according to the rigid compartmentalization of political talks with parties and socio-economic talks with the economy’s sectors), there are unproductive meetings with business and labour representatives (curiously excluding Boudou) — the farmers shun a call from Aníbal Fernández. Shrugging off challenges to his CGT authority from union rivals, Moyano obtains a 17 percent pay increase for his teamsters. Controversial Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno is confirmed in his post by Boudou — an official June inflation figure of 0.4 percent reflects slowdown as much as INDEC myth-making. The swine flu death toll reaches 137.

W29 — More dialogue in the coldest week of the year as the Kirchners try to talk their way out of trouble. CFK meets with a magnanimous Macri (who politely presses metropolitan police and subway demands) and various governors, including Santa Fe’s Socialist Hermes Binner. Randazzo meets Unión-PRO leaders, who prioritize poverty, agriculture and INDEC overhaul over political reform. Ironically enough, this consensus approach is dividing the opposition more than the previous confrontation. Boudou takes INDEC under his wing, proposing academic and consumer monitoring all the way back to 1999 (implicitly blaming Carlos Menem) but appointing Norberto “Moreno is here to stay” Itzcovich as technical director dims any hope of serious reform. However Boudou also proposes to remove the root cause of INDEC fabrications by moving away from CER index-linked bonds. Farmers meet AEA businessmen but the pressures on Moyano delay calling the Social and Economic Council. Education Minister Juan Carlos Tedesco is kicked upstairs to a newly created think tank, being replaced by Alberto Sileoni.

W30 — Deadlock between the farming sector and the government is fully reflected by the two totally different press conferences after the meeting — while Giorgi describes the farmers as the ungrateful recipients of 5.6 billion dollars worth of state subsidies (with no mention of the billions levied in export duties, whose relaxation is possibly being held back as a bargaining-chip), the farming leaders reiterate their numerous complaints. Their verbal aggression mounts at the annual Palermo Rural Society farm show when a “predatory state” is accused of presiding over growing poverty, despite milking farmers. Uncertain as to their renewal (due by August 24), CFK decrees that the “superpowers” to reallocate spending may not exceed five percent of the budget. Macri’s nominee to head the Metropolitan Police, Jorge Palacios, is already running into trouble over Jewish criticism of his probe of the 1994 AMIA terrorist bomb attack. The Kirchners continue to attack Techint. The minimum wage goes up from 1,240 to 1,500 pesos. Some 30 inches of snow fall in Ushuaia.

AUGUST
W31 — Pope Benedict XVI’s words on the “scandal” of poverty strike a raw nerve in the week of Saint Cajetan’s Day (the patron saint of the poor). Even if Kirchner expresses agreement, nobody can agree on the scale of poverty, which ranges from INDEC’s 14 percent to nearly 40 percent in Church eyes. The post-electoral dialogue proves increasingly sterile but nobody wants a crisis by challenging the process. In the first burst of austerity delayed by the elections, the gas and power bills of the most affluent ninth of the population rise by up to 400 percent, as the state attempts to retreat from unsustainable subsidies. At the same time 2.5 billion dollars worth of Boden 2012 bonds are redeemed and farmers are granted half a billion pesos in drought relief. The CGT regains the supervision of health care schemes to the tune of 2.5 billion pesos.

W32 — In the boldest post-electoral counteroffensive yet, the Kirchners offer the multitudes free soccer television viewing by scrapping the 1991-2014 contract between TSC (part of the Clarín group) and AFA football association, outbidding the previous 260 million pesos with 600 million pesos of state largesse (around 60 percent of public advertising) — the move pits legal security against ending an always dubious monopoly (Carrió curses both houses).       

An expensive week for the government because further billions are pledged —a co-operative job creation plan worth 1.5 billion pesos, a pension increase (raising the floor from 770 to 827 pesos) and the reversal of the previous week’s gas and power hikes, costing a further half billion pesos. The co-operative plan to create 100,000 jobs is widely criticized by the opposition as a source of future political patronage and as a pre-emptive strike against a CC-CTA initiative to introduce a universal child benefit. But the CFK administration can breathe a sigh of relief when the “superpowers” clear the Lower House with a 136-100 vote. There is growing impatience with dialogue with both Solanas and Reutemann joining Carrió in shunning the process. A CFK visit to Venezuela yields trade agreements of over a billion dollars. Former Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández denounces bugging.

W33 — A decade of “free soccer” for television viewers is formalized between the government and AFA with national team coach Diego Maradona also present, thus ending “kidnapped goals” — all-out war with Clarín now ensues. The “superpowers” bill delegating various prerogatives to the executive branch (including export duties) clears the Senate 38-30 votes, its passage speeded in the committee stage by an inept signature (in dissent) by Reutemann’s party colleague Roxana Latorre (with whom he promptly parts company). Reutemann and Duhalde try to prod each other into a presidential run. The CC announces plans to form a single national party. The sentences for the 194-death Cromañon rock club inferno five years ago are issued (only three of them heavy).

W34 — The media bill follows “free soccer” as the logical next stage in the anti-Clarín onslaught. This bill proposes to reform the military dictatorship’s 1980 broadcasting law, divesting monopolies by forcing groups to downsize to 10 licences and establishing state mechanisms of control. In the confident expectation of leftist support, the government refuses to wait until the next Congress in December. Despite only 30 percent approval, the CFK presidency still looks in control with dangers of an economic crisis receding and the foreign debt being serviced. CFK vetoes tax breaks within the drought legislation, thus sparking a new eight-day sales boycott from the farmers (meanwhile Aníbal Fernández lures ex-Kirchnerite María del Carmen Alarcón back into the fold from farming sector ranks). The IMF pays a visit for virtually the first time in three years but Article IV monitoring and INDEC antics still look incompatible. Italy’s Telecom is ordered out as monopolistic, due to its Telefónica holding. Reutemann blurts out an “Up yours” in questions about his presidential plans and Kirchner insists on his peculiar thesis that the June 28 electoral message was for a “deeper model.” Palacios resigns his aspirations to head the Metropolitan Police.

SEPTEMBER
W35 — The government takes on the farming sector and the media at the same time. Scioli is forced to ditch his Agriculture Minister Emilio Monzó for talking to the camp (raising the possibility of Scioli no longer being “testimonial” but forced into Congress). Meanwhile the media bill is rushed through its public hearing stage in a single week — the most common criticisms concern the role granted to telephone companies and the absence of Congress alongside the state on the watchdog board, apart from the breach of acquired rights . The issue of the 158 percent increase in the presidential couple’s personal fortunes last year is raised. The success of the government’s capital repatriation scheme is announced but the final total is 32 billion pesos, not the target 30 billion dollars, and even that only achieved by including other tax moratoria.

W36 — With the arrest of pharmaceutical dealer Néstor Lorenzo, the scandal of the “medicine mafia” (the sale of dud medicine to union-run health care schemes) explodes, landing veteran bank clerks union leader Juan José Zanola in almost immediate trouble — both the triple murder in General Rodríguez 13 months previously and the 2007 CFK presidential campaign (where some of the money ended) are dragged in. All opposition leaders (apart from Carrió and Reutemann) meet with Cobos to block the media bill and pledge its review by the new Congress as from December (and perhaps with a view to uniting generally). On the same afternoon 200 AFIP tax inspectors descend on Clarín. The dispute at the Kraft biscuit factory (with the unlikely origin of swine flu precautions in July) turns into blockades of the key Pan-American Highway.

W37 — The media bill is approved in the Lower House by a 147-4 vote after flouting various rules — just three days after CFK makes the necessary concessions to wean away the centre-left from opposition ranks, excluding the telephone companies and including three parliamentarians in a watchdog expanded from five to seven members. But presidential popularity is now falling below 25 percent. The Bicentennial 2010 budget is submitted to Congress, forecasting 2.5 percent growth and six percent inflation for this year. Corrientes gubernatorial elections prove a three-cornered race with Radical Ricardo Colombi topping cousin Arturo, the sitting governor, 36 to 31 percent with 30 percent for Peronist Fabián Ríos.

W38 — CFK spends the week at the G20 summit in Pittsburgh and the United Nations Annual General Assembly in New York (where she raps Iran over the AMIA attack) while Boudou talks to holdouts from the 2003-5 bond swap and to Paris Club holdouts. But back home the agenda is anything but US-friendly as the dispute between US-owned Kraft company and militant shop stewards (also at odds with the CGT and veteran food workers union leader Rodolfo Daer) explodes with the forcible S25 eviction of occupying workers with 65 arrests and dozens of injuries. No wonder the new US Ambassador Vilma Martínez includes investor rights in her first message. A similar situation prevails in the subways where shop stewards oppose their UTA transport workers union (dominated by bus-drivers) — the “medicine mafia” scandal does not help to bolster union authority. Meanwhile there is considerable commuter ire over the general official passivity towards road blockades. Scioli creates an uproar in BA province by upping land and port taxation to balance his budget.
W39 — Undeterred by eviction, the extremists at Kraft (accused of sabotage) continue their battle with student and picket support (the CTA also act up). Meanwhile the government is shifting its stance since the eviction — the Labour Ministry starts siding with the workers and Cabinet Chief Fernández snubs Ambassador Martínez. The Kraft issue overshadows the progress of the media bill through the Senate, where bill opponent Guillermo Jenefes (Victory Front-Jujuy) turns into another Latorre, speeding its passage by signing in dissent. Farmers are finally given an Agriculture Minister (Julián Domínguez), thus meeting one of their 22 demands. The CC becomes a single party and Binner comfortably wins the Santa Fe municipal elections, not only retaining Rosario but ousting the Peronists in the provincial capital of Santa Fe.

OCTOBER
W40 — The media bill clears the Senate by a 44-24 vote during the weekend and is signed into law at once — the solid majority, a convincing show of strength for 2011, includes both co-opted legislators like Dora Sánchez of Corrientes (blackmailed via federal revenue-sharing) and aggrieved rightwing victims of press exposure like former Catamarca governor Ramón Saadi. With the broadcasting media potentially under control, government fire now turns on newspapers via Papel Prensa newsprint company. Moyano backs the Kraft wildcat leader Ramón Bogado. Boudou attends the IMF AGM in Istanbul but the Kirchners continue to depend on leftwing support. Ricardo Colombi duly wins the Corrientes runoff with 62 percent of the vote. Mercedes Sosa dies at 74.

W41 — With CFK visiting India, the 2010 budget clears the Lower House by 136 votes to 88 (with two Unión-PRO deputies co-opted) — accompanying amendment of the fiscal responsibility law allows the provinces to borrow. Macri’s woes mount as one Ciro James (a policeman snooping in the City Hall Education Ministry) adds to the odium of Palacios. With the media bill safely through, Néstor Kirchner uses Peronist Loyalty Day (at least three different rallies) to launch political reform as the next step. An agreement to rehire most Kraft workers takes the edge off the dispute after seven weeks but violence surfaces elsewhere — it is the turn of Radical party chairman Gerardo Morales to be at the receiving-end of eggs (from pickets in Jujuy) while Ambassador Martínez is heckled in Mendoza. The ephedrine judge is impeached and suspended. Maradona’s team qualifies for the World Cup with enormous difficulty.

W42 — Ciro James (suspected of being a government mole or double agent) keeps Macri (and the opposition in general) on the defensive. The details of political reform are spelled out: primaries on the Santa Fe model (making it hard for the Socialists to oppose), a ban on private campaign funding (which hurts De Narváez and Macri) and high thresholds to weed out minor parties. The government is hit by various minor scandals: Social Welfare Ministry official-cum-picket Emilio Pérsico’s son using a ministry van to transport hash, Recalde adding an Aerolíneas flight to see Argentina qualify for the World Cup in Montevideo and APE health care supervisor Hugo Sola having to resign in the “medicine mafia” scandal. Boudou formally returns to the bond swap holdouts after repeal of the Padlock Law making that impossible.

W43 — CFK regains the initiative by decreeing a 180-peso child benefit before the new Congress can pass it as an opposition bill. This benefits some six million children at a price of 10 billion pesos — will the old end up paying for the young via the confiscated AFJP private pension funds? The political reform bill goes to Congress amid hopes that the Radicals (who benefit from the threshold clauses weeding out new and minor parties) will be game for another Olivos Pact — this bill could even prove to be better for Cobos than the unpopular Kirchner, who could suffer from forcing everybody to vote in primaries (nevertheless K2011 posters surface all over town). A civilian, PRO ex-deputy Eugenio Burzaco, is named to head the Metropolitan Police as from December. Carrió opposes a bill imposing the collection to DNA samples to detect cases of illegal adoption of the children of the missing during the 1976-83 military dictatorship.

NOVEMBER
W44 — Teamsters could hardly choose a worse time to block newspaper plants with IAPA Inter-American Press Association holding its conference here. Not the only upheaval with pickets blocking the 9 de Julio avenue to demand their co-op job cut and wildcat subway strikes — some administration members choose to interpret the general chaos as conspiracy. Congress is active, passing the DNA law (154-32), re-opening the 2005 bond swap (165-28) and slapping a new electronics tax. Former national soccer team player Fernando Cáceres is shot in the head, triggering fresh outrage over crime.

W45 — With her popularity now down possibly below 20 percent, CFK cries destabilization with Carrió comparing the situation to 1975, picket Raúl Castells calling for snap elections and (perhaps above all) that formidable television troika of Marcelo Tinelli, Susana Giménez and Mirtha Legrand turning against her but the economic collapse to add the critical edge to crisis looks further away than ever and she enjoys full CGT support. Moyano and picket leader Luis D’Elía unite forces for once to stage an N20 rally in her defence but the President (who has just cried destabilization) calls it off — probably wisely enough since there is protest fatigue in the capital. Cobos raps the media law at the IAPA assembly and promises review next year. Kirchner’s resignation as chairman is rejected by the Justicialist Party and remains in suspense until this day.

National Securities Commission (CNV) chairman Eduardo Hecker is bounced for refusing to blacken Papel Prensa’s name. In other labour news, subway strikes continue but Moyano stands by his UTA pals and Metrovías company is blamed. INDEC’s 0.8 percent October inflation figure is closer than usual to private estimates

W46 — Macri is more battered than ever with interim Metropolitan Police chief Osvaldo Chamorro out (for spying on City Hall Cabinet Chief Horacio Rodríguez Larreta among others) and Palacios in handcuffs — all this while Macri is in Spain. “Worse than Watergate,” concludes Aníbal Fernández and a paranoid Macri hits back, alleging epic government corruption. The political reform bill passes the Lower House with a 136-99 vote and the Padlock Law is finally repealed 45-10 in the Senate (58-1 for the DNA bill). Ricardo Colombi, who had just won election in Corrientes by campaigning against the Kirchners, abruptly converts to the “Kirchner 2011” cause in exchange for federal revenue-sharing. The SIGEN comptroller shares Hecker’s fate for not persecuting Papel Prensa. A new car theft-murder in Wilde sparks four straight days of anti-crime demonstrations. CFK meets with colleagues Shimon Peres (Israel) and Lula.

W47 — A riotous week for control of the streets with presidential popularity now measured at 18 percent — the Kirchners are uncomfortable with their foes to the left. Economic emergency legislation (maintained throughout six years of the Kirchner success story) is renewed by a 38-23 vote in the Senate where an opposition walkout whips political reform through the committee stage. Ausol highway tolls company is placed under federal trusteeship for a minor default. Boudou is his master’s voice (Moreno) in demanding a Papel Prensa probe (which the government should not need as a 27-percent stakeholder with constant access to the books). A decree adds 25 billion pesos to the 2008-9 budget overnight. CFK (who ends the week in Rome) announces a 350-peso Christmas bonus for all pensions under 1,500 pesos. Crime stays a prime issue with a new car theft slaying. Widespread flooding.

DECEMBER
W48 — The opposition sticks together and retains control as the new deputies are sworn in, achieving a quorum of 148 of the 257 seats under Pinky and chairing 25 of the 45 committees in the future Lower House — the Victory Front is now down to 87 seats plus 17 allies. Presidential vetoes are threatened for the future. But immediately after this opposition triumph, the Radicals struggle to put together a helm under their new party chairman Ernesto Sanz. The Senate passes the political reform bill 42-24. Zanola is arrested in the medical scam. Pickets are active.

W49 — Farmers stage a protest rally in Palermo with business support but only 20,000 present — crime is almost more the issue even for farm leaders, thanks in large part to the incredible police incompetence in failing to find the missing Pomar family (victims of a car crash just 40 metres off the road) for nearly a month. Media Secretary Enrique Albistur resigns and Scioli loses his brother José as chief-of-staff plus his health minister Claudio Zin to the “medicine mafia” scandal (officially denied). But on the opposition side Macri is also forced into a change — the trenchant Abel Posse replaces Mariano Narodowski (the employer of Ciro James) as City Hall education minister. Burzaco makes his start as top cop in the City.

W50 — Mixed messages — the overacted response to visiting Washington State Department Arturo Valenzuela’s quoted doubts about “legal security” along with earmarking 6.5 billion dollars of Central Bank reserves to the Bicentennial Fund to reassure overseas creditors (while at the same time CFK shuns Valenzuela for Teamster Day). Aníbal Fernández responds to the newly hostile Congress with an onslaught against the judicial branch, questioning its rights to intervene in the disputed elections of the airline cabin crew (AAA) union. Death threats against CFK are reported. Pickets are as active as ever.

W51 — Just before Christmas Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide acquits the presidential couple of any irregularity in the steep rise in their fortune — this may indeed be ethically rather than legally dubious with the financial and real estate speculation leading up to it “perfectly” (and also shamelessly) demonstrated, in the words of Néstor Kirchner. An olive (Olivos?) branch to business and the judiciary in Christmas week — a dinner in Olivos and YPF and other investment announcements (often rehashed rather than new) for the former and admitting defeat over the AAA elections for the latter. Evidently the Kirchners wish to grope their way back to the growth path which has given them all their success against the political gridlock to come. Posse quits after only 12 days, thus ending a bad year for Macri who becomes the last important politician of the year to be the target of eggs (his popularity not much over 20 percent). Teamsters block Esso (“democracy in action,” says CFK). The General Rodríguez slaying moves to Quilmes with possible implications for former Quilmes Mayor Aníbal Fernández.

W52 — While the Supreme Court demands an explanation of the Bicentennial Fund, prosecutors refrain from appealing Oyarbide’s Kirchner acquittal of the previous week. CFK ends her year with the CGT. Blood samples are taken from the children of Clarín owner Ernestina Herrera de Noble under the DNA law. Floods in San Antonio de Areco with farmers and the government swapping blame.