Javi’s first Midterms…
The Argentine president, Javier Milei, seems to think that Argentina no longer needs International Relations; a bank will do just fine. Milei has often said that there are only two strategic partners for Argentina: Israel and the US. The problem with his theory is that they are not Argentina’s trade partners. That would be Brazil and China. Anyway the week of his mid-terms Milei fired the Minister for International Relations Gerardo Werthein (of the Werthein Group and Calwaro Capital) replacing him with a different banker, the JP Morgan executive Pablo Quirno. Is the Argentine Chancellery to be run by a bank for the United States? It certainly looks that way!
Almost a dozen private jets were lined up on the asphalt in the Buenos Aires Aeroparque Airport the week of the October 26th National mid-term elections. Rumour has it many of them held executives from JP Morgan Bank including the CEO Jamie Dimon who lined up with Javier Milei for a photo in the Embassy district Decorative Arts Museum, right next to the airport.
There were two events that week for this elite group including a grand gala in the famous Teatro Colón. That’s Colón the genocidal Genoan, not the lower intestine. In the Colón opera house in Buenos Aires were also present the former secretary of state (and war-hawk) Condoleezza Rice as well as the inventor of Britain’s “New Labour” former prime-minister of the United Kingdom Tony Blair. Blair is also somewhat of a Warlord as he brought the UK into the second Iraq War with the US on false evidence of non-existent weapons of mass destruction.
The second event was more select. Presidents and bankers only please! At the Decorative Arts Museum in the photo were Toto Caputo the Minister for Economics, Pablo Quirno the new Foreign Minister designate, and two other executives of the JP Morgan Bank Facundo Gómez Minujin and Alfonso Aguirre. The only person not currently working for JP Morgan bank might be president Milei himself; three of the four are current executives of JP Morgan, including Dimon who is the CEO. The two ministers bought and sold shares and companies all across South America for the same bank. Who knows whether they’ve completely quit their roles.
The arrival of the bank in town just before the elections (Sunday 26th of October) is hardly coincidental. Nor is the announcement that same week, by Donald Trump and the US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, of a $40Billion swap line —$20,000 million direct from the US Treasury and $20,000 million privatised to large banks— including JP Morgan of course. This politically motivated helpline comes in the form of currency swaps contingent on certain financial, business and mineral rights plus election success on Sunday. Milei got 41% but Trump thinks that’s enough. It also requires a few anti-trade and finance measures disconnecting Argentina’s economy from the largest economy on the planet —by PPP— China. Let’s just say the cash comes with strings attached and, in Argentina, we may never know the intricate details of the collateral, funding, or the niceties of the fee charges imposed by JP Morgan for the swap line.
Could it be that Dimon is here doing a little investment banking in mines, land, real-estate, or soon-to-be privatised water, oil, or transport companies? Are there some juicy mergers and acquisitions on the chopping board? Maybe some state asset privatizations, maybe he has some investors lined up for the right price. Or, just maybe, Jamie stopped by in his private jet, to take tea with a weak president to wish him well in the elections? Milei has been oddly absent of late in the election preparations. The previous one was a bit of a disaster. He looks like he could use some caffeine or maybe some stronger stimulants (which has been his wont).
When Milei came to power as president he was in a weak position with a two year old party “La Libertad Avanza” (LLA). With very little other power to count on he leaned strongly on his partner El Blanco Macri, the former president. At that time his party held only one pillar of government —the Executive Branch— consisting of himself, his curious sister (Karina) and a few others. Milei had little or no power in either the legal or the legislative branches. The latter was in play with this mid-term election. As the Argentine elite —some prone to the occasional bout of corruption— has successfully manipulate and de-fanged the legal branch (decades ago). Milei had little or no opposition there either. He left Tribunales as he found it, defunct, but not without trying to put in two of his own judges (by presidential emergency decree). This was yet another autocratic move that demonstrated his disdain for his nation’s constitution. Many of these same elite, including former presidents are (not) facing legal proceedings in the same defunct supreme court and in other infinitely slow courts across the nation.
This leaves Javier Milei at loggerheads with only a single (legislative) branch of government, one that can face up to his destruction of the Argentine state and to his shrinking the Argentine economy, drowning it in more debt in dollars. There is a small hope they can help the courts by combat a slew of corruption cases piling up against his family, mainly his sister Karina. She has been given a ministerial title (General Secretary to the President), was recently caught with her hands deep in the cookie jar stealing money from state purchases of medicines for disabled Argentinians —she’s nice that way! Then there was the small matter of Milei’s own $Libra cryptocurrency thievery which wiped two to three hundred million dollars in value from crypto-investors in an illegal rug pull which seems to have been orchestrated by his own partners in crime.
Karina and Milei’s Vice President Villarruel —the later is known in Argentina for advocating repeatedly to get torturers and state terrorist out of jail (she’s nice that way too)— have been spending a not-so-small fortune buying votes from less than scrupulous legislators including one that was caught by border guards with a quarter of a million in undeclared cash crossing into neighbouring Paraguay. At least the Paraguayans put that guy in jail for a few weeks.
The Mid-term elections were a cliff-hanging test of the ability of the Argentine electorate to stomach corruption. They have been rather tolerant for the last half century we shall see whether they have had enough or have they forgotten what happened with Toto Caputo’s mates the last time they tried to rescue the nation by taking on debt? Hint: there was a large increase in expensive national debt and a somewhat similar bulge in the profits of banks; followed by a sharp change of government after Toto was fired and Macri’s PRO party was promptly voted out!
But maybe no, memory, it seems is just too much to ask? Many of Milei’s voters were too young to vote when Toto Caputo added about $50 Billion to Argentina’s national debt the last time. As it happened that Sunday night four out of ten that voted chose the coalition Karina Milei had put together. Milei’s coalition has an inspiring hawk logo that looks a bit like it is just about to pounce on a rat, then doesn’t! It was is made up of Milei’s small party, a few hangers on and a significant merger of former President Macri’s which used to be the, larger, PRO party. The branding paid off at least for JP Morgan. In Argentina it can be profitable and politically advisable to feign amnesia at least until the shit hits the fan, then best run for the helicopter.
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