Buenos Aires Herald 
Kirchnerite political group La Cámpora has accused the International Monetary Fund of violating Argentina’s economic sovereignty after the international lender described a recent pension law as “unforeseen” in yesterday’s statement green-lighting the fourth review of its deal with Argentina.
“Argentines can vote for whoever they want, but the country’s economy is decided by the IMF: today’s statement makes that quite clear,” La Cámpora wrote in a public letter on Monday. “Democracy? Fine, thanks.”
The statement by the IMF addressed the pension moratorium that Congress approved in February. “Early actions will be taken to address the fiscal costs of the unforeseen approval of the pension moratorium,” the Fund said.
In its letter, published shortly after the IMF’s statement, La Cámpora wrote: “It’d be great if Kristalina Georgieva [head of the IMF] could explain to us their definition of ‘unforeseen’, because, in our humble opinion, it has to do with timing.”
Pension moratoriums allow workers of retirement age to receive a pension even if they do not have 30 years of social security contributions through formal employment by buying back years of contributions. In February, Congress approved a law that will let 800,000 citizens receive a pension.
La Cámpora’s letter highlighted that, while it took 73 days for the IMF and former President Mauricio Macri to agree on the 2018 loan, it took more than 300 days for the moratorium bill affecting 800,000 Argentines to be approved.
“The history of the IMF in our country is always the same one, with inflation or deflation: they want to make sure we lose our sovereignty,” they concluded.
La Cámpora is led, among others, by Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s son, Máximo Kirchner, a congressman who has disagreed publicly with Alberto Fernández on the government’s renegotiations with the IMF since 2021.
