The year 2024 will likely be remembered as President Javier Milei’s first year in office: a time of unprecedented cuts to the state, ground-up economic reforms, and social protest. 

To his supporters, many of his initiatives constituted a necessary move toward economic orthodoxy. To his opponents, they were an assault on hard-won rights.

As we head into 2025, the consequences of those reforms are still playing out. Some key questions are clear: when will Milei lift currency controls? Will La Libertad Avanza garner more congressional power in the 2025 legislative elections? And how will society react when the president launches his promised “deep chainsaw” mode of public sector cuts?

Nonetheless, national governance is not the only issue that defined the agenda in Argentina in 2024. From the men’s national football team victory at the 2024 Copa América and Michelin stars to the shocking death of former One Direction star Liam Payne, here are the 10 Argentine news stories that defined 2024.

State layoffs sparked protests

Milei’s “chainsaw” cuts affected thousands of state employees from multiple government offices and institutions, sparking protests across the country. Some cuts, including those to universities and hospitals, had the stated aim of eliminating Argentina’s budget deficit. 

In some cases, massive demonstrations accomplished their goal: in October, workers of Buenos Aires’ Bonaparte mental health hospital marched to protest its partial closure, which the Health Ministry had announced. Days later, the government reversed its decision. 

Other cuts appeared to be more ideologically-driven, as part of what Milei himself describes as the “cultural battle.” He dismantled policies and organisms working on memory and reparations for dictatorship victims, fighting gender-based violence, and soup kitchens. 

Meanwhile, an army of pro-Milei trolls with a murky relationship to the government has unleashed online and offline violence against his opponents and internal dissenting voices alike.

Dengue cases spiked amid a plague of mosquitos

In the first months of 2024, Argentina suffered a dengue outbreak of record-breaking proportions, with cases spiking by more than 2,500% year-on-year in the first seven weeks.

As the sickness surged, Buenos Aires was besieged by a plague of mosquitos that formed clouds in the subway and left porteños scrambling for the nearest can of Off. Many were out of luck: a repellent shortage struck the entire country.

By April, there had been over 250,000 confirmed cases of dengue and 151 deaths, according to the Health Ministry. Mosquitoes started hatching earlier and reaching cooler regions than before, scientists warned.

The Pan American Health Organization said it was the Americas’ worst dengue season to date. Cautious Argentines are already stocking up ahead of the 2025 dengue season.

Four lesbians were burned alive

In May, the brutal arson attack on two lesbian couples sleeping in their shared room was the harrowing embodiment of activists’ fears about rising anti-LGBTQIA+ rhetoric. Three of the four women died from their injuries.

Witnesses described the attacker pushing the women back into the fire and shouting homophobic slurs at them after throwing a Molotov cocktail into their room. Despite this, the presiding judge ruled the attack was not a hate crime. 

In the immediate aftermath, Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni claimed that “lesbicide” wasn’t a word.

On December 16, a judge ruled that the sole survivor was entitled to housing aid, exhorting the City of Buenos Aires to guarantee protections to avoid the economic insecurity that endangered her life and ended those of her partner and her closest friends. 

She has the support of an embattled community in increasingly dangerous times, but her profound loss has the marks of systemic discrimination and a lack of policies for vulnerable queer people.

Madres, including Cortiñas, passed away

In a rough year for human rights, it was particularly hard to see several Mothers and Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo pass away. Some, like Rosa Báez de Duarte and Mirta Baravalle, died without ever finding their loved ones. We also lost Herenia Sánchez, Irma Scrivo de Morresi, Nelly Tacchi, Laura Conte, and Holocaust survivor Sara Rus. But one such brave woman will be particularly missed.

Wherever there was a fight for human rights, she was there. Nora Cortiñas was a founding member of Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, after her son Gustavo was disappeared by the dictatorship in 1977. Since then, her decades of tireless commitment transcended her advocacy for human rights, and Cortiñas became, simply, Norita.

She would show up at every protest, courthouse, or police precinct where injustice had to be resisted. She marched for legal abortion, against massive layoffs, and for public hospital workers. When she passed away in May at 94, the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo called her an “undisputed leader of the human rights movement in Argentina.”

She was more than that. Norita was Argentina’s moral beacon — and a true hero for everyone at the Buenos Aires Herald.

Argentina won the Copa América

When the dust settled after the Qatar 2022 celebrations, fans were left asking: with Lionel Messi finally crowned and Argentina’s footballing supremacy confirmed, what would come next? 

It would almost have been fitting for the Scaloneta narrative to wrap up in the 2024 Copa América victory, with Argentina’s 1-0 victory against Colombia. Argentine fans waved goodbye to Ángel Di María and cried with Messi as injuries took him out of the final. Instead, the would-be farewell tournament became the start of something new, with the next generation raring to take on the mantle. 

An unstoppable Lautaro Martínez, an inspired Alexis Mac Allister and a rock-solid Cristian Romero proved the team can win without Messi. The 2024 Copa America left most fans less worried about the end of Messi’s career and more eager for the 2026 World Cup. 

Only time will tell if Messi’s influence remains talismanic even with him outside the pitch, but Lionel Scaloni’s team proved it is more than the sum of its individual players.

Colapinto satisfied our need for speed

Argentina has always been a petrolhead country, but without representation for over 20 years, the nation’s long-standing love affair with the world’s premiere racing series had dimmed.

Then, Franco Colapinto came along. The 21-year-old flipped the table with his magnetic charisma and blistering pace, captivating a generation of fans.

“I wasn’t aware Argentines were so passionate about Formula 1 to this day,” Cora Reuteman told the Herald. The daughter of Carlos Reutemann, the last Argentine to win a race in the series, couldn’t believe the following Franco Colapinto’s performances had received.

Announced as a Williams driver in August, he debuted in September and quickly impressed, earning his first points in Azerbaijan. In October, over 15,000 fans travelled to Brazil to see him race, and Williams Racing mechanics had to beg the Argentine racer to go out and say hi to keep them quiet. 

The fairytale is over for now, since Colapinto is without a seat for 2025, but his performances awoke a dormant love, and sparked the motoring world’s interest in Argentina.

Alberto Fernández was accused of beating his first lady

In August, Argentines were appalled when former first lady Fabiola Yáñez accused her former partner, ex-President Alberto Fernández, of gender-based violence. The news was shocking in itself, but especially because Fernández had pushed feminist policies during his government. 

Photos of Yáñez’s bruises were leaked and published by the press, and Prosecutor Ramiro González indicted Fernández for aggravated bodily harm and violent threats. Fernández has denied the allegations, claiming the bruises in Yañez’s photos were the result of a beauty treatment. In an interview from Madrid, Yañez described her relationship with the president as one of isolation and control.  

The former president’s attorneys unsuccessfully demanded Judge Julián Ercolini be excluded from the case. Fernández is currently scheduled to give a statement on February 4.

Cristina Kirchner made a political comeback

After six years in elected office — two as a senator and four as vice president — Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s first year as regular citizen was anything but uneventful. 

It was not clear what she would do after the end of the Alberto Fernández administration. There was speculation that the corruption charges she was facing could force her to step back from active political commitments. The Federal Cassation Chamber upheld a conviction against her in the “Vialidad” case in November. The Supreme Court also determined that she must stand trial in the Memorandum with Iran and Hotesur-Los Sauces cases. 

Kirchner nonetheless managed to take the reins of the Peronist Justicialista Party, cementing her place as the main opposition figure to the government. La Rioja Governor Ricardo Quintela attempted to challenge her for party leadership, only to run into a lack of support, which prevented him from even running. 

Milei also seems to have chosen her as his rival, saying that he wants to “put the final nail in the coffin of Kirchnerism, with Cristina inside.” The 2025 midterms could be a showdown between legislative tickets led by Kirchner and whichever LLA candidate the president ends up backing. 

Liam Payne died in Buenos Aires

Liam Payne’s death in Argentina, which was first reported in English by the Herald, shocked fans around the world. The former One Direction member died on October 16 at the age of 31, when he fell from the balcony of his room at CasaSur hotel in Palermo. 

Five people have been charged. Two are facing pre-trial detention for providing drugs to Payne within the 48 hours prior to his death: hotel employee Ezequiel Pereyra and restaurant waiter Braian Paiz. Businessman Rogelio Nores has been charged with culpable homicide on the grounds that his alleged negligence led to Payne’s tragic end. Hotel manager Gilda Martín and head receptionist Esteban Grassi face the same charge for failing to keep a clearly vulnerable Payne in a safe place. 

The toxicology report shows that 72 hours before his death, Payne had consumed alcohol, cocaine and prescription antidepressants. The Prosecutor’s office says there were no signs of self-harm. Payne died of the injuries he suffered in the fall.

The 2024 Michelin guide gave Argentine cuisine stars

Argentina’s culinary culture has grown by leaps and bounds in recent years, and the nation has received significant validation in the form of recognition from the prestigious 2024 Michelin Guide. Seven restaurants were formally awarded their stars. Among them were Don Julio and Trescha, both in Buenos Aires, as well as Zonda, Casa Vigil, Brindillas, and Azafrán, each in Mendoza. Aramburu, an upscale eatery in Recoleta, was the lone restaurant to earn two — a rating reserved for restaurants that offer “high quality cuisine worth a detour.”

Seven others were recognized with a Bib Gourmand distinction for quality food at moderate prices. They include Anafe, Bis Bistró, Caseros, La Alacena Trattoria, Mengano, Reliquia, and República del Fuego, all in Buenos Aires. 

“We’re seeing the fruits of a ten- to fifteen-year project to activate Argentina’s gastronomic industry,” celebrity chef Narda Lepes told the Herald in August of 2023. “The [Michelin] guide drives a lot of tourism. Professionally, it’s like getting your degree, but for the whole country.”

On to 2025

While some of these stories were a long time coming, others were bolts from the blue. At the Buenos Aires Herald, we’ll keep reporting on these topics — and all the surprises that 2025 has in store — with the rigor, quality and depth that’s the hallmark of our journalism. Happy New Year!