BUENOS AIRES BRIEFING January 2005

News this month

Many to blame

A horrendous fire that broke out at the República Cromañón nightclub (in the Once district) during the early hours of December 31st killed 190 people and injured some 700. One third of the victims were under 18 years old. The fire was started by flares thrown by concert-goers, despite protests from the performing rock band. It is not clear whether the culprits survived the blaze. Traumatised locals are now figuring out who is to blame. Police have arrested Omar Chabán, the club's owner. The venue was packed with some 4,000 people—roughly three times its legally permitted capacity; the emergency exits were bolted shut; and the soundproofing filled the club with poisonous smoke when ignited.

Aníbal Ibarra, the mayor of Buenos Aires, has also come under attack. But he claims it's the fire brigade's responsibility to enforce safety regulations. An official report earlier this year revealed that only 38 of the city's 256 registered clubs met safety regulations, yet little action was taken. In 2003, Mr Ibarra disbanded the group of inspectors responsible for enforcing the regulations, arguing that they were corrupt. They were replaced with only 200 new inspectors to cover the city's 200,000 businesses.

It's my party

Leading figures of the ruling Peronist party are fighting for control of Buenos Aires province. A truce between the party's two leading groups was broken by Felipe Solá, the provincial governor, who launched a faction within the party in December. The move was criticised by Eduardo Duhalde, a former provincial governor and interim Argentine president from 2002 to 2003. In January Mr Duhalde's supporters, who hold sway in the provincial legislature, passed a budget severely restricting Mr Solá's room for manoeuvre. In response, Mr Solá threatened to veto the budget and rule by executive decree.

Mr Duhalde, a party boss in the heavily populated rustbelt around the capital, now plans to launch a faction called “Loyalty” at a rally in early February. The main battle between factions will be the internal elections of national congressional candidates for the October polls. President Néstor Kirchner and his wife (who tops provincial opinion surveys) may complicate matters. Mr Kirchner would welcome the end of Mr Duhalde's provincial control but cannot afford to antagonise him—so he has not shown more than lukewarm support for Mr Solá.

'Tis the season

A rash of strikes hit the capital in December. The first was staged by communications workers who blocked telephone-operator services and threatened to close down the country's entire communications network. In response, the telephone companies agreed to a 20% wage increase.

Elsewhere, commuters were stranded when subway workers walked out at the beginning of December (afterwards their employer agreed to increase wages). And the province's schoolchildren missed the last two weeks of classes when teachers went on strike over their pay.

Just as subway services returned to normal, a protest by refuse collectors left piles of rubbish on the streets, and workers lit a rubbish pyre outside the city council building. But the most dramatic action was taken by employees of Argentina's Congress, who occupied both the Chamber of Deputies and Senate, preventing the passage of several bills until after the summer recess.

Once more, with feeling

Buenos Aires' provincial authorities have issued an ambitious series of new measures to force residents to pay their taxes. A force of 3,000 collectors is tracking down about 35,000 debtors who owe more than $300m. Pre-recorded messages are being left on their mobile phones, urging them to pay up or risk prosecution. Authorities plan to confiscate the contents of safety-deposit boxes rented by 7,500 of the worst offenders and are seeking bank-account information for all 35,000 debtors. Most controversially, the province posted the names of big debtors on the internet. Among them are Juan Carlos Blumberg, a famous anti-crime campaigner, and Chrystian Colombo, a former cabinet chief.

Meanwhile, debtors who tried to flee the city were confronted by tax inspectors in the capital's ferry terminal and on routes to Uruguay. “If these people have money to go to Uruguay, they also must have a few pesos to pay the taxes they owe,” declared Felipe Solá, the provincial governor. When the Uruguayan tourism minister complained that his country was being unfairly singled out, Mr Solá told him to “mind his own business”. The net has since been expanded to encompass the capital's airports and routes to Brazil and the province's coastal resorts.

Controversial art

An exhibition by León Ferrari, a leading Argentine artist, has enraged the city's devout Catholics. As well as containing many less controversial works, the show includes crucifixes inserted in pop-up toasters, statues of the Virgin Mary in an electric blender and pornographic additions to religious images. Buenos Aires cardinal Jorge Bergoglio said the show was blasphemous, but others went further. One group entering the gallery halls destroyed several works to cries of “Long live king Christ!”

The courts intervened on December 18th, closing the show in response to a complaint by “Christ the priest”, a fundamentalist Catholic group. That sparked demonstrations in favour of Mr Ferrari led by human-rights groups—including the Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo—and local cultural luminaries. The decision was reversed on January 4th, following an appeal by city authorities which argued that the show's closure infringed free speech.

The protests have only served to raise Mr Ferrari's profile even higher. Before his exhibition was closed, it had been visited by almost 30,000 spectators; large crowds continued to visit after its reopening. The broken works are now part of the display. Mr Ferrari says they serve as an example of the church's “intolerance”.

Catch if you can
January 2005

Horacio Coppola

Until February 27th 2005

One of Argentina's great photographers, Horacio Coppola was born in Buenos Aires in 1906. Last year he was honoured by the city for being an illustrious citizen.

His career was launched by his illustrations for the works of Jorge Luís Borges (who was his friend). Afterwards, Mr Coppola toured Europe, working with photographers from the Bauhaus school in Berlin until it was closed by the Nazis in 1933. The 60 photos in the retrospective are from a time before photographs were seen as works of art. But their power is clear. They eloquently chart changes in the capital, particularly during the 1920s and 1930s, as it lost its provincial air and became a bustling city.

Centro Cultural Borges, Corner of Viamonte and San Martín, Centre. Open: Mon-Sat 10am-9pm, Sun 12pm-9pm. Tel: (54-11) 5555-5359.