🇦🇷Week of November 2

Títulos de deuda en caída y vuela el riesgo país (Página|12).12345

Attributed claim: TN: El índice había llegado a operar en mínimos a mitad de año, pero avanzó con fuerza en las últimas semanas.6

Pope Leo XIV is visiting Argentina, and President Javier Milei welcomed the trip with a message saying the country awaits him "with enormous joy." The visit has prompted authorities to widen street closures in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo starting today, with specific streets shut to traffic.12

A mass led by the pope is scheduled in Córdoba at the Escuela de Aviación Militar, and organizers have published how to reach the site and which access routes will be open. In Palermo, the expanded closures are tied directly to the papal visit.32

The pope's arrival comes during a period of social discontent in Argentina. A survey measured what Argentines expect from the visit, according to Infobae.4

Students, teachers, non-teaching staff and union representatives from the University of Buenos Aires marched from Plaza Houssay on Thursday, stopped at the Palacio Sarmiento and held a class outside the Palacio de Justicia. The protest, the Marcha de las Velas, pressed the government of President Javier Milei to comply with the University Financing Law.123

The UBA and university unions used the march to demand enforcement of the financing law, with the university returning to the issue of university funding. The demonstration drew students and teachers who called on the government to honor the law.324

Organizers announced the candlelight march in advance as a demand for compliance with the University Financing Law. The route ended at the courts, where participants held the class in front of the Palacio de Justicia.51

Paraguay intervened in Ueno Bank, one of the country's largest banks, freezing the savings of millions of clients. The bank had close to 3 million customers. The intervention followed a scandal that also led to the dismissal of the head of the Banco Central de Paraguay.123

The bank's collapse is tied to President Santiago Peña, and opposition figures are calling for a political trial against him. Paraguayans organized a vigil to demand their savings and a trial for Peña over the Ueno Bank case.456

Protests broke out in Asunción after the intervention and the freezing of accounts. La Nación reported that the scandal of a digital bank linked to the president threatens Paraguay's reputation as an investment hub.78

Argentina's country risk rose above 800 points for the first time in a year, and the dollar climbed alongside it. The Merval fell and Argentine assets came under selling pressure, with the market session described as a black Monday.123

Shares in one key sector have accumulated losses of up to 46 percent and are trading at their lowest levels of the year because of the rise in country risk. Santiago Llull and Bautista Santamarina analyzed the fall in Argentine assets, the country risk spike and the impact of the international context on external accounts in Ronda de Economistas on +Perfil.43

La Política Online attributed the selloff to fear of a return of Peronism. El Cronista wrote that Argentina will stay inside a cocktail shaker until it shows certainties.56

Attributed claim: La Política Online later reported that Milei created his own country risk measure and said it was below 100 points, while the same outlet reported the country risk approaching 600 points and squeezing Economy Minister Luis Caputo's financial program. The 100-point figure is Milei's own gauge, not the market measure that other outlets put above 800 points.789

Cristina Kirchner told The Washington Post she does not rule out a presidential candidacy in 2027, saying she would run once her political rights are restored. "When I recover my political rights, why not?" she said, according to accounts of the interview. She also criticized the courts over her conviction, calling the system corrupt, and gave details of her days under house arrest.123

Kirchner said she would face President Javier Milei in the 2027 race if she is allowed to run. She also predicted that Donald Trump will lose the United States elections. The interview was published by The Washington Post and picked up across Argentine outlets.234

Kirchner also questioned the economic direction of Milei's government in the same round of remarks. Her comments on a possible candidacy set off debate inside Peronism about how candidates should be chosen.56

Buenos Aires provincial government minister Carlos Bianco responded by defending the PASO primaries, saying "each sector of Peronism will propose its candidates" and that "the Peronist people will decide who represents them." His intervention came after word spread that Kirchner wants to run.6

Economy Minister Luis Caputo announced the suspension of tax authority ARCA's embargos on companies until May, part of a package of relief measures for firms and small and medium-sized enterprises. The Economy Ministry said the suspension of ARCA embargos for SMEs would run alongside three other measures intended to boost activity.123

The package also includes credits and the elimination of taxes, presented as financial relief for companies and SMEs. La Voz del Interior reported the government suspended embargos on SMEs until May 2027.43

Attributed claim: Página|12 reported that Caputo denied a crisis and announced the small measures minutes later to contain it, a characterization that differs from the government's framing of the announcements as steps to boost activity. The centre-right La Nación and centre outlets Infobae and Ambito presented the measures as relief for firms and SMEs without describing them as a response to a crisis.5124

Argentina's Consejo de la Magistratura is moving to fill vacancies in the federal judiciary, pushing 71 judge appointments to bring the total to 302. The council has made 238 changes in 231 days, and the appointments are being accelerated before the congressional seats turn over.123

The push comes as the council's balance of power shifts: Cristina Kirchner loses presence and La Libertad Avanza gains, according to Clarín. La Política Online reports that Cristina Kirchner kept two seats through a maneuver in the Senate, sending Wado de Pedro and a La Rioja figure.45

Attributed claim: Letra P reports alarm in the UCR because José Mayans offered Patricia Bullrich a share of the council posts. The dispute over the Senate seats is described as a fierce war for benches.67

Voters in Bariloche elected delegates to a constitutional convention, and the alliance between Río Negro Governor Alberto Weretilneck and local mayor Cortés won a majority of the seats, La Nación reported. The result was described as the first electoral test ahead of 2027. La Libertad Avanza finished third and, according to La Nación, was not competitive.123

The vote was held to reform Bariloche's Carta Orgánica, the municipal charter, Infobae reported. Polling stations closed and the count began, ANBariloche reported. Página|12 reported that Weretilneck celebrated in Bariloche.345

More than 200 police officers were deployed for the election and one person was detained for assault, the Río Negro provincial government reported.6

Patricia Bullrich now has as many deputies in Congress as the PRO, and Karina Milei assembled an operation to contain her, Perfil reported. Talks between Bullrich and Jorge Macri are unsettling the Milei camp, while the PRO carried a "Plan B" to Casa Rosada.12

La Política Online described Bullrich's approach to Jorge Macri as another challenge to the Milei brothers. Infobae framed the contest as a fight over the voter who says "yes, but", and elDiarioAR cast the standoff between Milei and Bullrich as one in which whoever blinks first loses.345

Attributed claim: The accounts differ on what the maneuvering means. Clarín, a centre-right outlet, presented the Macri-Bullrich conversations as a problem for the Mileis and tied them to a PRO strategy that reached the presidential palace, while La Política Online, a centre-left outlet, cast the same contacts as a fresh act of defiance by Bullrich against the Milei leadership.23

Perfil's count puts Bullrich's congressional bloc level with the PRO, the party founded by Mauricio Macri, and reports that Karina Milei, the president's sister, set up an operation aimed at holding Bullrich in check.1