Heatwave!

With Buenos Aires, Argentina, currently sweltering through a humidity worsened heatwave that has the temperature sensation hitting 40º and the electricity system overload from all the aircon units causing regular blackouts in the city, IKN sends out a message to friends stuck in the horridness.

Go Palito!

It's raining golfballs in Buenos Aires

This photo shows the size of the hailstorms that hit part of the Gran Buenos Aires region yesterday afternoon. Between 20 and 30 people were taken to hospital with cuts to the head, an untold number of cars parked outside lost their windscreens and now have pockmarked roofs, all the et ceteras you can imagine.

Here's Clarín on the story in Spanish (with a video linked too).

Gay Tango Hits Buenos Aires

My fave story from last weekend is found here, as Clarin reports on the 42-hour "Queer Tango Marathon" that started Friday evening and ran for 42 hours until Sunday afternoon. The event was sponsored by the National Institute Against Discrimination (INADI), Argentina's Ministry of Justice and Buenos Aires City's Ministry of Culture.

As one of the dancers, Jorge Casi, explained, "In the same way that people in a marathon run 42km, our Queer Tango Marathon lasts 42 hours and is looking to demonstrate that in a modern society, in the tango roles can be reversed and space given to a new style that does not discard the traditional, but adds other variants."

I dunno what Gardel or Discépolo would make of it all, but from this seat in the world and added to the recent homosexual marriages granted in Argentina, it seems as though Buenos Aires is leading South America out of its homophobia with style and grace. A cheer.

Mark Sanford, Maria Belen Shapur and Bunge (BG)

It turns out that this South Carolina dude Sanford was doing things with a certain Maria Belen Shapur, who works for soybean people Bunge (BG) in their Buenos Aires office. The good news for Argentina is that right now its GDP is clicking up a notch or two thanks to the number of gringo journalists suddenly swarming round the Palermo barrio of town. A friend lives a couple of doors away from the alleged lair of Shapur and says the road is currently blocked due to linguistically challenged hacks and their photographers.

Meanwhile, sombrero tip to RG over at mexfiles for this screenshot photo of Sanford on Fox News yesterday....subliminal advertising, anyone?

God Bless the moral leadership you guys up there offer....an example to us all.

Photo of the Day

This 88m by 34m (288ft by 111ft) mural unveiled today in Buenos Aires on its main city centre trunk road '9 de Julio' (close to the Obelisk, to give some idea).

The display is for International Women's Day and the photo of a woman sleeping in a doorway will stay in place until May. Photo courtesy this report in Clarin.

From a Porteño viewpoint: Macri

It's been a long time, August in fact, since we had one of these. But better late than never, I suppose. The Porteño (resident of Buenos Aires city) in question happens to be a very close friend and we're always passing mails and commenting between ourselves.

So when Porteño (we'll use that moniker) saw the Mauricio Macri video in the preceding post this morning he sent me a mail with his views on Macri and entourage that's well worth putting through the Ottotrans™ and sharing on the blog (permission has been granted). As mentioned already today, Macri is one of these "love him or hate him" characters down there. Enjoy.

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Lord, how these people make me angry. I hate him (Macri). I'd even say that I hate him more than Menem. At least Carlos had charisma. This guy has less charisma than a Korean's fringe (Ottonote; translated directly just for fun. All he's trying to say in a true Porteño tone is that Macri has no personality), he's more boring than De La Rua*. Macri is a total product of political marketing. With some small discourse and big-spending campaign he can even position his friend De Narváez** as a political candidate. The mainstream media fully support him; Clarín, La Nación, TN are always promoting Mauricio Macri and Francisco de Narváez.

Speaking of De Narváez, five or six years ago he bought Juan Perón's personal library and still hasn't read one of the books. He said it himself, no kidding.

But back to Mauricio: I still don't understand how nobody realizes that the guy is a packaged product. But he's also a dangerous package. Up to now all that he's done is:

• Raised Buenos Aires property taxes an average of 300%
• Increased road tolls
• Increased the number of parking meters and their charges
• Attempted to cut gross salaries.
• Added stamp duty to house sales
• Added tax to credit cards
• Sold construction materials to out-of-city centre residential projects (known as "countrys")
• Stopped education grants and scholarships
• Cut health spending
• Destroyed the Colon Opera House
• Created a disaster in the hospitals system
• Sacked local gov't people that protest and ignored the corrupt
• His government functionaries are resigning en masse
• His execution of the city budget plans is the worst in 30 years

The saddest thing of all is that he appears in the media six hours a day transmitting an image of direction and management. I'm telling you that even Telerman (Ottonote, the previous mayor of Buenos Aires, known for his relaxed attitude) did more than him. At least Telerman fixed pavements and gave out domestic refuse containers without raising taxes.

I could go on and on about this idiot but I'd get boring. The Duhalde/Macri/De Narvaez association scares me, frankly, but it looks like it's going to be the future.

Firma y sello, El Porteño

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*President at the time of the 2001 crisis. Famous for being dust dry.

**Explanation from Porteño himself: "Francisco de Narváez is a businessman who made his fortune in the 1990s. After the 2002 crisis he started in politics with a discourse based on crime/security. In the same way as Mauricio he spends a lot of money on propaganda and has smart people as political advisors. His slogan is very good; "Knowledge brings safety". Thus he pushes his "grand project, the "safety map". His speeches are aimed at the typical scared middle class."

The Queen of Argentine Politics isn't its President

Macri being all serious and politico

Mauricio Macri is Mayor of the city of Buenos Aires. In the patchwork quilt* that is Argentine politics he's regarded as a right-wing defender of the middle classes and his position is one of "love him or hate him" in the city and the wider country.

But along with all the baggage he brings (he's son of a rich magnate, he was president of futbol club Boca Jrs for a long time, he was kidnapped when young and held to ransom etc) he's also convinced himself along the way that he can sing, even taking professional lessons back in 2007 to top up his.....errr...ability.

And now we get to the crunch. At his recent 50th birthday party, Macri got up on stage to perform "Somebody To Love" by his favourite band, Queen. So sit back, relax and treat yourself to two minutes and forty seconds of the Mayor of one of the largest cities in the world and early frontrunner as the next President doing his very own Freddie Mercury impression.

*as mentioned previously, it's very difficult to use classic left-right labels in Argentina mainly due to its strange Peronist history. The definition above is a rough approximiation and no more.