Roasting a hawk: Hunt for Argentine accounts in US and dollars to avoid implosion

Seeking resistance, dollars are his obsession. Under that requirement is understood the depth of the economic minister’s geopolitical alignment. Sergio Massa hosted Democratic Senator Bob Menendez Tuesday night at a barbecue area near his home in Rincon de Milberg.

It’s not just any American politician. Born in New Jersey, he is one of the most powerful figures in Congress and the chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee. He is a hawk at the table of Cuban legislators and a staunch critic of the regimes in Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua, which tend to promote Kirchnerism.

To the alarm of President Alberto Fernandez, Menendez is very close to Mauricio Claver-Caron, the former head of the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) until a few days ago. In an interview Nation, Claver defended Caron Fernandez, saying he was only interested in the bank to find work for his troops. “Argentina tried to export political cannibalism,” he denounced.

Menendez also wields power over Joe Biden’s White House. Many in America remember him exchanging threats with the president when representatives of Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela were invited to the last summit of the United States.

Massa turned him into a giant barbecue. Gifts were exchanged. Menendez and his representatives (Senators Rob Portman, Richard Burr and Ben Sasse) presented him with a plaque. Masa presented him with a metal sculpture of tango dancers. Tigrenz invited Menendez and his wife to dance lessons. There was casual talk, as Menendez described his time in the Galapagos because of environmental issues. Then he got to the point: dollars.

“It’s a lot better than a lot of people think”On the fifth floor of the Ministry of Economy, they say about automatic financial information exchange, Masa wants to be ready soon. It seeks access to data on Argentina’s undeclared accounts in the United States for about US$86,000 million. A source close to Massa indicated that technical agreements with the IRS and Treasury have already been finalized, making November a tentative month to seek political approval from the White House. Nation It has been verified that negotiations are indeed progressing.

But the obsession with dollars went beyond the meeting with Menendez, who also discussed the IDB and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). In that meeting, it was noted that the actions of Ilan Goldfage, director of the fund’s Western Hemisphere Department, to occupy the chair vacated by Claver-Carron depended on Jair Bolsonaro’s performance.

To add dollars, Massa expects more funding from the IDB, World Bank and CAF by the end of the year. This would be around 2.25 billion USD. In the coming days the industry will seek to speed up exports by launching a credit scheme to promote exports and will continue to adjust import permits (SIRA). “A monotributista asked for dollars per plane,” they denounce. Of course, lack of SIRA is already affecting production and raising complaints from manufacturing sectors.

Massa had lunch with 30 businessmen from the Chamber of Commerce for more than two and a half hours. President, Mario Grinman, Eduardo Urnekian, Jorge Aufiro, Alberto Grimoldi, Hernan Dietrich, among others. Grinman greeted the minister in his office with a joke. “I wanted to see the face of someone who had been in the electric chair for 180 days,” the businessman dismissed the economic minister. Later, Massave admitted that the Congress was “a spa” compared to the Palacio de Hacienda.

As always, along with other restaurateurs old and talented, Masa gave a sign of his economic purpose. He used the metaphor of a car like Hernan Lagunza. “I want to put the car in the garage on December 10 next year and do as little damage as possible.” said. It is difficult to imagine that this phrase contains a stabilization plan, the costs of which will be left to the next administration. Perhaps, without knowing it, they are also protecting Martin Guzmán in the Ministry of Economy. “Givers power points The targets failed. They sold the expected projects in the newspapers, which did not materialize”, they explain. However, Massa has goals, but they say they are intentional. “We speak from what has been done,” they add.

Massa has two major concerns: War, it will cause a global recession, and will keep inflation and energy prices high (which may again deduct dollars from the country), and domestic prices, but, above all, its impact on pockets and consumption. Last week the Trade Secretary, Matías Tombolini, after meetings with mass consumer companies, offered flexibility to import those joining the freeze with different exchange rates and no contacts. peace A potential deal with the textile industry is also green after the minister’s threat to open up imports due to garment prices. Those are similar demands to prepaid companies made by vice president Christina Kirchner.

“I’m here to vote on Sergio’s budget”, They say in the economy that Maximo Kirchner told someone close to the president that the relationship with the vice president and his mother is intact. Masa regularly talks with Cristina about geopolitics and the dynamics of the local economy. “Often”, They say. The reality is that Máximo Kirchner does not want to give a quorum, and Kirchnerism’s differentiating strategies in government with the Casa Rosada scratch more and more the car the economy minister has to drive.

Precisely, the CAC again spoke of the distrust created by political strife and the need for consensus. In fact, the G6 will make a new attempt to establish the issue of a plane ticket to former Spanish President Felipe Gonzalez to talk about consensus.

Massa reiterated that he does not want to be a candidate in 2023. He aired his disbelief that his wife, Malena Calmarini, did not want to relive the experience of another campaign. With the CAC, Massa spoke out against corruption in politics and among businessmen. He put imports on the table through precautionary measures, thereby bringing a Maserati into the country. They are conduits used by governments to morally question the incentives created by the exchange rate gap, a daughter of economic policy.

Bottom line, Massa believes there’s no need to expect. “Today’s candidate is tomorrow’s tougher”, generally speaking about PASO citing Horacio Rodríguez Lauretta’s progress by Patricia Bulrich. He believes that the resistance movement will thrive because of generations of frustration. So, his dream was not fulfilled. You want the car to be as wrecked as possible, and you need dollars for that.