Economist.com Cities Guide: Buenos Aires Briefing - June 2005

News this month

Strange bedfellows

Two of the capital's leading politicians have formed a right-wing coalition against President Néstor Kirchner. The union took months to seal, due to the contrasting politics and personalities of Ricardo López Murphy and Mauricio Macri. Mr López Murphy, a dissident from the Radical Civic Union (one of Argentina's largest traditional parties), received the most votes of any non-Peronist candidate in the presidential elections of 2003. Mr Macri, the scion of a wealthy local family, is politically closer to the Peronist movement. His main public role has been as president of Boca Juniors, Argentina's biggest football club.

The two men were forced together by circumstance. Alone, neither has enough support to prevent Mr Kirchner from using October's national congressional elections as a vote of confidence on his term. Mr Macri will run for a position as national deputy for the city of Buenos Aires, while Mr López Murphy will try to break the Peronists' stranglehold on the surrounding province, by running for a national senate seat. Between them, the two districts account for almost half the country's population. The coalition also hopes to build a national presence, with the possible addition of the governor of Neuquén province, Jorge Sobisch. But there may be some growing pains yet: while Mr Macri gets on well with Mr Sobisch, Mr López Murphy apparently cannot stand him.

Cornucopia, courtesy of the state

The provincial government has introduced a “social basket” of basic consumer goods to help poor families. The basket, which costs about $5, includes 15 basic household products and is sold in 7,600 small stores and supermarkets. The low price was made possible by bulk bargaining. The initiative is part of a wider intervention against rising prices that has included negotiations with manufacturers to set temporary price caps, and a call from President Kirchner to boycott oil companies that raise their prices.

In recent months inflation has risen at the highest rate since the strong recovery that followed Argentina's economic collapse in 2002. Figures published in May also reveal growing poverty in Buenos Aires: more than one in four children come from families unable to pay for basic needs; in the surrounding industrial belt, the proportion is over 60%.

Student takeovers

Protests about the state of schools in Buenos Aires are becoming more common. In a recent incident, court authorities intervened to evict demonstrators from a run-down school in the wealthy Barrio Norte district. Days later, another school was occupied during a similar protest in the district of Once.

Teachers and students at the city's secondary schools and universities are demanding higher spending on education. But the national government says it has expanded the education budget, and claims the unrest is politically motivated. The demonstrations, which often spill out onto the streets, have added to Buenos Aires's traffic problems: recent months have seen an average of ten roadblocks a day.

Looking for answers, rioting instead

Relatives and friends of the 193 people killed last December in a fire at the República Cromañón nightclub rioted in May after Omar Chabán, the club's manager, was granted bail. The demonstration left windows smashed at the Palace of Justice, and led to fights between protestors and police. The crowd was eventually broken up by tear gas.

Mr Chabán is blamed by many for the nightclub's overcrowding and poor safety measures, which made the fire so deadly. The decision to grant bail angered even Mr Kirchner, who called it a “blow to Argentine society”. But higher courts have confirmed the decision, and Mr Chabán is likely to be freed this month. Also facing charges are members of the rock band that was due to play on the night of the fire, and inspectors overseeing the city's clubs. But with the legal debate focused on whether to grant bail to the defendants, and on attempts by victims' families to replace the judges leading investigations, the prospect of justice seems far off.

Adding some plus sizes

In response to growing concern over anorexia and bulimia in local teenagers, the government of Buenos Aires has given fashion retailers six months to stock up on all sizes in its clothing lines for young women, including large sizes. Many chain-stores sell garments that range only from “extra-small” to no larger than “medium”. (The idea that these sizes may be delicately euphemistic was apparently lost on the regulators.) Offending retailers will be liable to fines of up to US$170,000 and closure if they re-offend. Although the statistics are sketchy, Argentina is reckoned to have one of the highest rates of eating disorders in the world, rivalled only by Japan and India.

Catch if you can

June 2005

Wynton Marsalis

June 14th & 15th 2005

Wynton Marsalis is one of the most acclaimed jazz trumpeters of his generation. He is visiting Buenos Aires this month as part of a South American tour that includes Montevideo, São Paulo and Caracas. A consummate performer, Mr Marsalis has also been one of the leading promoters of the form through his compositions and his role as artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Centre in New York.

Among the numerous awards he has received are a Pulitzer Prize for music—the first to be awarded to a jazz musician—for his epic oratorio on slavery, “Blood on the Fields”, and designation as a “Messenger of Peace” by the United Nations. Mr Marsalis is also an accomplished classical musician, but the repertoire for his concerts at the stately Colón opera house will be strictly jazz-based, backed by the Lincoln Centre Jazz Orchestra.

Teatro Colón, Libertad 621, Tribunales. Tel: +54 (11) 4811-3348. See Mozarteum Argentino's website.

More from the Buenos Aires cultural calendar