By Lindsey Hoshaw

Anuva Vinos founder Daniel Karlin speaks of his first Malbec as if it were a high school kiss. “I fell in love with Doña Paula, a 2004 Malbec. Wow, it completely blew me away.” That experience moved the Portland native to start his own distribution company, providing limited production wines to the US, Europe and locals for the last two years.

Through his online store, a wine club and private tastings, Anuva Vinos proffers boutique wine beyond the valleys of Mendoza. “I’d like to pave the way for small production Argentine wine makers – the guys people don’t know about,” Karlin said. Pinot Noir producer Mudai, for example, often creates only 3,500 bottles a season. The biggest producer for Anuva Vinos, Hom, markets 15,000 bottles a year. “There are so many wines that usually won’t make it back to Europe or the States.” So Karlin has intervened to make sure they do.

Karlin’s idea to market fine wines came during a trip to Mendoza in 2006. Karlin, then director of student exchange programme International Experience, arrived in wine country before his students to taste on his own. Sommelier Leandro Martinez handed Karlin a glass of the lemony Doña Paula, and there was an instant connection.

“I pretty much knew right away that I wanted to start a wine club,” Karlin said. He said the taste and experience of sipping Malbec in Mendoza was more complex than others he’d had. Shortly after, he gave up his role with the student exchange organisation to make room for his love of wine.

Thus far, his business is paving the way for a new consciousness that eschews rigid food and wine parings. “If you want to have white wine with a steak, have white wine with a steak, if you want a red wine with seafood, why not?” Karlin’s flexibility goes hand in hand with his multifarious wine selection – everything from sparkling whites to reserve blends. All of which, can be sampled during Anuva’s private tastings.

The selection of Torrontés, Malbec and Cabernet Sauvignon offered at the tastings are
among some of Anuva’s best. After tasting over 400 wines Karlin made sure a few of his favourites, a smoky Cavagnaro Reserve Malbec 2004 and a fruity Don Juan blend 2004, made the list. The full-bodied reserve Malbec offered at each tasting is often the most popular. Guests can enjoy evening tastings at Janio Restaurant, Piegari Piazza or Karlin’s private residence. For a more intimate environment, take advantage of this last offer, which also provides a chance to see a wine connoisseur in his element.

Part of Karlin’s charm is the way in which he views the parallel between wine drinkers and their vino. “Wine is just as complicated and interesting as people. There are so many characteristics that make a wine great or that make a person interesting. When you put them together you discover so much depth.”

Karlin’s philosophy about drinking wine emphasises the communal nature of the art. “Why does a bottle of wine pour four glasses?” he asked rhetorically. “Because it’s meant to be shared.” According to Karlin, wine acts as a ‘facilitator of conversation’, bringing people closer together.

The beauty of Anuva Vinos is the ease with which experts and novices alike can enjoy sophisticated yet hard to find wines in good company. The gems Karlin has discovered make clients feel like they’ve been handed a treasure trove of good luck. And the money you’ll save by not going to Mendoza is worth spending on a few savoury glasses of Argentina’s best wine.

Wine club members (US$195) receive a selection of 24 different wines throughout the year. Daily tastings (US$20) are offered at 4pm and 7pm and can be scheduled through the Anuva Vinos website. For more information call 4777 4661 or visit www.anuvavinos.com

In a journey that would make the Griswalds proud, Diego Percivaldi piloted his family station wagon on a 47 day trip from Argentina to Dearborn, Michigan.

The Percivaldi family traversed nearly 10,000 miles through 11 countries in their 1981 Ford Falcon in a quest to visit their car’s birthplace in Michigan. Unbeknownst to the intrepid travelers, to do that they needn’t have left Buenos Aires.

Thanks to a protectionist auto import policy during the 1960s, Falcons used to roam the streets of Argentina in large numbers. In an effort to promote the local economy the government declared that to be sold legally, a car had to be built locally. Ford followed the letter of the law if not the spirit, and shipped complete Falcon kits to Buenos Aires, bolting the pieces together in a factory in La Boca.

Ford Motor Company was one of the only manufacturers willing to shoulder the burden of establishing a production line in Argentina. With few other options for consumers, Falcons sold well and their numbers flourished. Known more for existing in large numbers than for their engineering or driving prowess, Falcons can still be found on side-streets and alleyways in various states of disrepair.

A less fortunate Ford Falcon in Argentina. (TodoFalcon.com.ar)

Before embarking on a cross continental journey, Diego’s 37 year old Falcon required extensive work. Over 3 years of preparation was necessary to bring the car back to vintage 80s condition with a rebuilt engine and refurbished luggage rack.

"If you don’t love cars, it’s impossible to travel with this car. The Ford Falcon, in Argentina, it’s very sentimental for all the Argentine people," Percivaldi told the Associate Press.

Sentimental icon? Perhaps to some here in Argentina, surely feared and loathed by the rest of the country.

In the 1970s the Falcon became an ominous symbol of the military junta. Special police in black Falcons roamed neighborhoods at night, searching for victims to disappear or simply execute in the street. With their windows darkened and license plates removed, the Falcons became a black menace rolling through towns abducting dissidents. When a Falcon appeared at your door it was rarely the bearer of good tidings.

Ford Motor Company executives surely must have felt the same way about Diego’s maroon Falcon when it arrived on their doorstep last week. Though normally welcoming of unannounced South American families in 30 year old cars, Diego was unable to get past the front desk of Ford’s headquarters.

There’s no shortage of Falcons in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (TodoFalcon.com.ar)

A Ford spokesman assured Diego that senior management would be notified of his presence and he will be advised if anything can be done for the family. In the meantime the Percivaldi family is finishing their vacation in Michigan before flying home to Buenos Aires.

Diego’s maroon Falcon is still sitting in Dearborn, waiting to be shipped the 10,000 miles back to it’s birthplace in La Boca.

Related:
Argentine man drives ‘81 Falcon nearly 10,000 miles to Ford headquarters in Dearborn (AP)
Ford Falcon (Argentina) (Wikipedia)
Argentina: Coming to terms with the past (BBC)
Todo Falcon

In a recent statement, the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) announced that skyrocketing food prices is putting unbearable pressure on the world’s poorest. With no respite to high prices in sight, the UN is cautioning that an additional 100m people are in danger of going hungry.

In response to the WFP’s estimate that 52m of the world’s chronically hungry already reside in Latin America and the Caribbean, a meeting of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA) was held in Caracas, Venezuela. There the presidents of Bolivia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, and the vice-president of Cuba agreed to an US$100m scheme to fight the consequences of rising food prices on the region’s poor.

The ‘Food Security Fund’ will be used for staples such as rice, beans and corn in a bid to offset global price rises. Additionally, they will encourage joint programmes for agricultural development, though specific details on how this will work have yet to be released.

"This food crisis is the biggest demonstration of the historic failure of the capitalist model." The countries of Latin America need to create their own food distribution networks "so we don’t fall into the hands of intermediaries and speculators, which stop millions from receiving food." Hugo Chavez, President, Venezuela

Venezuela itself has struggled with sporadic shortages of essential items such as milk, sugar and beef. Chávez has blamed local businesses for hoarding products, while critics claim the government-imposed price controls are at fault. Such price controls make it hard for certain businesses to turn a profit.

Source: Spiegel.de

The average price of food has risen by 56% worldwide over the past year. The price of wheat has increased by 92% and rice, the staple food of half the world, 96%. But what is causing these price increases? It clearly cannot be attributed to the fluctuations of the market as the world has not seen price-surges like this for 30 years.

One of the more contentious aspects of the issue is the impact that the increased use of biofuels such as ethanol is having, as industrialised nations attempt to combat the effects of climate change. As a result, over 20% of corn and rapeseed production in developed countries has been diverted away from food which, according to statistics from the US Department of Agriculture, lead to the price of corn doubling between 2005 and 2007.

Latin America’s two primary economic powerhouses, Argentina and Brazil, are not members of ALBA, but Brazilian president Luiz Inácio da Silva has previously defended biofuel production. He denies that it is the primary cause of rising prices, instead blaming rising oil prices. Brazil has had an ethanol production plan since the 1970s, and nowadays is the world’s largest exporter of sugar-based ethanol. All gasoline sold in Brazil must contain at least 20% ethanol. Similarly, gasoline sold in Colombian cities of over 500,000 people must contain at least 10% ethanol, and Venezuela has similar plans for the future, so the continent’s demand is high.

US president George Bush has been keen to reduce the US’ dependence on foreign oil by finding alternative energy sources, and signed the Energy and Security Act in 2007, which requires US fuel producers ‘to use at least 36bn gallons of biofuel by 2022’. This is nearly a fivefold increase on current levels. This has meant an agricultural shift away from food production, leading to a reduction of US food exports and an increase in food imports.

Argentina and Brazil have responded to the price rises in a similar way to other food-producing nations around the world by cutting or stopping food exports in order to curb domestic inflation and ensure supplies for their own populations. Brazil recently temporarily suspended rice exports, as the commodity’s price passed $25 per hundredweight on the futures market, whilst Argentina suspended supplies of wheat to its primary importer, Brazil. The US Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. has expressed concern at such protectionism, remarking that food price controls and consumption subsidies ‘create fiscal burdens and economic distortions’.

These comments come in spite of the heavily-subsidised nature of the US’ ethanol industry. According to a December 2007 article in The Economist: “The ethanol program is the product of government subsidies. There are over 200 different kinds, as well as a 54 cents-a-gallon tariff on imported ethanol.” Essentially this prices Brazilian ethanol, which is made from sugarcane rather than corn and is more energy efficient, out of what would otherwise be a competitive market.

In an attempt to ease the current burden on world stocks, the UN has asked for donor countries to pledge an additional US$755m to meet the existing food aid targets of the WFP. Additionally, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation has requested US$1.7bn for seeds and inputs to assist farmers in poorer countries grow more food.

In addition, United States president George Bush has announced he is seeking Congress approval to offer US$770m in international food aid. This amount would include US$620m in direct food aid shipments and US$150m for long term schemes to assist farmers in developing nations. However there have been some critics of the plan, who point out the money will not be available until the next fiscal year in October.

Related:
Assessing the Global Food Crisis (BBC)
Summit Struggles for Consensus on Global Food Crisis (Guardian.co.uk)

Recently, American Airlines began charging $15 for the first checked bag, $25 for the second. Many analysts are saying to expect more surcharges from other carriers soon.

And now there’s a new report from Congress that flight delays are costing the airlines, and passengers, billions of dollars.

How long are we waiting for flights? Overall it’s a staggering number. Last year Americans wasted a total of 320 million hours waiting for their plane.

“20 percent of total flying time is spent waiting on delays… 20 percent.
It’s no wonder the airlines are constantly figuring out new ways to nickle and dime passengers like paying for checked in baggage.” Sen Charles Schumer (D) New York

In 2007 a staggering 320 million passenger hours were lost thanks to delays. Delays cost the airlines 19 billion dollars last year. By one estimate 740 million gallons of fuel were wasted idling on the tarmac or flying in holding patterns.

With rising fuel costs are likely to bring on more surcharges, the news for passengers isn’t likely to improve.

Just as American Airlines cut its fleet by 50 planes, other airlines will soon be mothballing planes too.
It is expected that seat capacity will drop by up to 20 %

“We’ve laid a lot of aircraft down in the desert. Were’ going to continue to do more.” James May, President Air Transport Association.

All that adds up to fewer flights, fuller planes and less convenience for travelers.

Jazz is often called the United States’ only original art form – a music that was born in New Orleans, grew up in Chicago, and reached maturity in New York. Yet, for the last 50 years, jazz has become an increasingly international idiom, boasting significant players from every continent of the world.

As a city with a decidedly international outlook, Buenos Aires has long had a vibrant jazz culture. Some like the great Ástor Piazzolla have blended jazz and the city’s native music, tango, into an unmistakable Argentine sound; while others have stayed closer to the traditional beat, allowing Argentina to enter into the music in less direct ways.

Today, clubs, record labels, and underground jam sessions are cropping up all over Buenos Aires. In the hopes of giving a rounded impression of just what propels the jazz world here, The Argentimes looked at three very different places where the music is alive, growing, and taking risks.

The Recording Session

It’s the second six-hour day of recording and guitarist Ale Demogli and his quintet are putting the finishing touches on what will shortly become the album ‘Just Songs’. “It’s good man, but I’m tired,” Demogli says as the band takes a break between takes at the elegant Sound Rec studio in Villa Crespo.

Sound Rec is about as upscale a venue as you could expect to come across in Buenos Aires. Gleaming hardwood floors and trimmings adorn the interior, and an immaculate 7-foot Steinway grand sits in the centre recording room. There’s no clutter – just high-end audio equipment and clean lines. Yet, it’s not sterile. With a cosy couch and ample leather chairs, it looks like it could be the loft apartment of a very wealthy minimalist composer with a passion for oak.

Demogli and the rest of the quintet – Fernando Pugliese on piano, Mariano Sivori on bass, Oscar Giunta on drums, and Pablo Ledesma on saxophones – move back into the recording studio for what will be their penultimate track. Giunta, Sivori, and Ledesma all have separate soundproof rooms.

“The drums and sax are the loudest instruments, and the bass is the most delicate,” explains Axel Dross, the recording and mixing engineer who also worked with Demogli on his last album, ‘3.30’.

In the centre room, the Steinway shares space along with a soundproof fortress of eggshell-foam-covered walls that has been set up for Demogli and his guitar.

“If you have confidence, play it louder,” Dross says to the bassist Sivori, after the band has finished one of its takes.

“There are problems in the form, in the B we entered late,” the drummer Giunta adds, as the quintet prepares to begin playing again.

As the afternoon wears on, the process begins to take its toll. At 7:15pm before recording the last track, everyone stares out into the centre room where a man is suspending himself upside-down between two chairs. After a moment, we realise that it’s Demogli, a long-time yoga practitioner, preparing himself for the final push.

As the band prepares to start, Dross’s voice interrupts, “there’s an alien in the studio.” A tall English photographer scurries out of the centre room with a little red in her cheeks.

The band begins to play. After the first take, everyone seems satisfied, but Demogli insists on a second. After the second, the consensus seems to be to close, but again Demogli calls for another, determined to get it right.

“I can’t play anymore,” Ledesma says.

“Demogli, it’s a quarter to eight,” Dross pipes in.

But with the studio rented until eight o’clock sharp and the album not quite perfect, Demogli insists on more. A tired Ledesma squeaks awkwardly through the beginning of the melody, but rights himself as the band goes into the solos. By the middle of the song, the quintet is sharp as ever, ending with the kind of energetic flourish that comes with that triumphant step over the finish line. The band piles into the sound booth to relax, chat, and sip mate. “Difficult, difficult,” says the pianist Pugliese.

Sound Rec
Serrano 194
4855-5049
www.soundrec.com

The Jam

“Just ring the bell, tell them that you’re with me and everything will be okay,” read the email my friend sent me about the house in Nuñez. I’d never been to an underground jam session before and the prospect of knocking on the front door of strange house was a little scary and a little exhilarating.

The entry proved easy, and on the inside I found a packed house of twenty-somethings arranged across what normally serves as a living room floor. The area under the stairs had been turned into a full-service bar, and, with a fernet-and-coke in hand, I leaned against the back wall for a night of music.

The room had surprisingly good acoustics for an improvised performance space, complete with well-adjusted amplification that brought the bass to an audible rumble even as the sax dominated the small room.

The people there all looked like students, post-students, or would-be-students – intellectual-types who passed their Friday nights at a dimly-lit jazz hideaway rather than at a trendy club in Palermo Hollywood.

With the quartet – Leo Paganini on sax, Ariel Naon on bass, Rodriguez Reparaz on drums, and JP de Mendonça on guitar – at full-tilt, the music couldn’t help but be the focus of the room. This was a listening space after all, but a rather casual one – a place for musicians to feel free and work out the kinks.

A couple at my feet, interested in each other more than the quartet’s rendition of Wayne Shorter’s ‘JuJu’, locked lips; others splayed out on couches exchanged a few words over the music’s propulsive dance.

The quartet finished its set and, shortly thereafter, a jam session commenced. A whole new cast of musicians took the stage, with guitars trading off solos and the drumming chair changing hands several times.

Paganini hopped off the bandstand only to be drafted into work as a bartender. The rest of the quartet greeted friends and checked out the music that was now roiling the place.

By 2:30am the music had stopped. “They’re worried about the neighbours complaining,” Paganini explained. I left but the house was still full. Maybe after a pause, the music would start up again with a smaller crowd and less amplification.

On this night though, I wouldn’t find out. Trudging back along the tree-lined streets the music still hummed.

The Clubs

Clubs are the central showcases of the jazz world, the places where players earn the majority of their usually humble incomes, and the venues where the public is let in on the process. Seeing a jazz group in a concert hall or an outdoor festival pales by comparison to seeing one in the right club setting. It’s an intimate music, and a good club allows a listener to feel part of the improvisatory process.

Buenos Aires has plenty of jazz clubs. There’s Perro Andaluz and Kebaytina in San Telmo, Notorious in Barrio Norte, and Virasoro Bar in Palermo. Clubs like No Avestruz and Eter Club feature jazz acts several nights a week. Bookstores like Clasica y Moderna host jazz groups with regularity.
All of these places are valuable venues, but if I had one night to see jazz in the world’s pre-eminent tango town, there’s no doubt that I would go to Thelonious. Begun in 2000, by musician brothers Ezequiel and Lucas Cutaia, Thelonious has quickly become the most important jazz club in the city. The Cutaia Brothers champion daring jazz that is solidly based in the music’s tradition, attracting a group of highly educated, forward-looking musicians who make up the core of the new Argentina jazz.

The musicians who play at Thelonious are a distinct jazz community. Many of them studied in the US at Berklee College of Music in Boston, or at instrument specific institutions in New York, Chicago, or Los Angeles; they revere the jazz tradition but also look to local musical idioms like tango and folkloric music for inspiration; they play in each other’s groups, forming a network of small combos and big bands with many members in common. The musicians who play at Thelonious also hang out there. On any night, you’re bound to find musicians in the audience, checking out what their fellow musician’s are up to.

There are several small attributes that most good jazz clubs share – limited or no food service (you don’t want a waiter bugging you in the middle of a solo), intimacy, and isolation (a basement or second-floor location is usually a lot quieter than a store-front venue). Thelonious has all of these attributes along with its own bit of high-ceilinged, funky-chandeliered quirkiness.

Throughout jazz history, musical movements have had certain clubs that have fostered their existence – be it Minton’s Playhouse in Harlem helping give birth to bop, or the Half Note in the West Village serving as home turf for the avant-garde. The new Argentine jazz isn’t quite a movement – although the next few years could see it develop into one – but it’s clear that Thelonious is the place in which the music is happening and growing.

Thelonious may be at the centre of the Buenos Aires jazz world, but it is by no means the only club at which creative music is happening. Notorious, the city’s most luxurious jazz club, is a bit stuffy; it’s expensive, has a decidedly older clientele than Thelonious, and features an annoyingly loud coffee grinder along with the music – but it also hosts some of the very best jazz acts in Argentina. It’s not a place to hang-out like Thelonious, but much of its programming is beyond reproach.

Eter Club – a small, new venue in the suburban neighbourhood of Villa del Parque – deserves more notoriety. Eter hosts a Thursday night jam session that attracts many of the same young, engaged musicians that play at the private jam session house. On other nights, Eter hosts both jazz and other varieties of music. For groups that haven’t quite made it to the level of notoriety necessary to pack Thelonious, Eter is a crucial space for nurturing talent.

When I arrived in Buenos Aires, I expected the jazz scene to be quaint and imitative. What I found was a serious jazz culture that was determined to leave its mark. Buenos Aires may never be the jazz hotbed that New York or Chicago is, but it is nonetheless becoming a vital force on the international jazz scene. In the recording studios, jam sessions, and clubs of Buenos Aires there is a creative music that is pulsing with the rhythm of the streets and the soul of Argentine musicians who have made a foreign music into something that is very much their own.

Thelonious
Salguero 1884, 1st Floor (Corner of Güemes)
Palermo
4829-1562
www.theloniousclub.com.ar

LONDON: An airline passenger was threatened with arrest for wearing a T-shirt showing a cartoon robot brandishing a futuristic gun.

IT consultant Brad Jayakody was stopped at security checks at Heathrow’s infamous Terminal 5 and ordered to remove his ‘offensive’ Transformers T-shirt.

The 30-year-old Londoner was set to fly to Dusseldorf in Germany on business when he was confronted by security staff.

Mr Jayakody said the first guard started joking with him about the French Connection T-shirt which depicts a Transformers character on it.

"Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I’m not allowed to fly," he told the London Daily Mail.

"It’s a 40ft tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I’m going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun? "

Mr Jayakody decided to be cooperative when the supervisor arrived and reluctantly took off the T-shirt, replacing it with another less controversial shirt he lucky held in his carry on luggage.

A spokesman for Heathrow operator BAA said: "If a T-shirt had a rude word or a bomb on it, for example, a passenger may be asked to remove it.

"We are investigating what happened to see if it came under this category.

"If it’s offensive, we don’t want other passengers upset."

He added that no official record of the incident was made and Mr Jayakody: "certainly didn’t make a formal complaint at the time."

Related:
Gun T-shirt ‘was a security risk’ (BBC)

A bishop is in hot water for claiming people who do not care about climate change are as bad as a notorious rapist who imprisoned his daughter for 24 years.

The Bishop of Stafford, Gordon Mursell, said that by failing to face up to the truth about global warming, we were denying our children a future - just like Josef Fritzl who fathered seven of his daughter Elizabeth’s children while she was locked in a cellar.

His shocking claims were made in a letter distributed in parish magazines throughout the Diocese of Lichfield, in which Bishop Mursell wrote: "Josef Fritzl represents merely the most extreme form of a very common philosophy of life: I will do what makes me happy, and if that causes others to suffer, hard luck.

"In fact you could argue that, by our refusal to face the truth about climate change, we are as guilty as he is - we are in effect locking our children and grandchildren into a world with no future and throwing away the key.

"We are right to be disgusted at these crimes. But mere disgust is too convenient. There are lessons for all of us to learn."

Mr Mursell struggled to clarify his comments when interviewed on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme saying: "I don’t wish to shock people unnecessarily and I am in no way trying to imply that people who ignore climate change are child abusers - of course not.

"I am simply trying to use an analogy to get people to wake up to the consequences of what we are failing to do, because if we don’t there won’t be a future for our children either.

"The problem with climate change is - as I heard Prince Charles arguing very eloquently a couple of weeks ago - that it is terribly hard to get people to see the seriousness of it, because the consequences are not faced just by the person failing to take action now.

"Fritzl is a revolting person and it is hard to imagine a more monstrous crime.

"I think we have to try to find ways to get people to see the consequences of our failure to act on climate change. If we don’t face those, all I am saying is we are destroying the future of our children just as he did.

"Could you not argue that if there is no future for our children and grandchildren, we will have been guilty of committing the most appalling crimes as well?"

Emma Sherdley has worked at an all-female driving school in West Yorkshire, northern England, for the past 12-months but until recently was a married father-of-two called Andrew.

But as she is mid-way through gender changing treatment and has the necessary legal documentation she was accepted to teach at the Laugh ‘n’ Pass school.

Laugh-n-Pass Instructor Emma Sherdley

Yet one client has threatened to sue after the 42-year-old arrived to teach his wife the right way to handle a gear-stick.

“You have sent me a man. Send me a proper female. How dare you send a man with a deep voice,” he told manager Joanne Dixon.

The man, a Muslim from Sheffield said he was offended by Miss Sherdley’s sexuality and claimed the company deliberately sent a man disguised as a woman.

“His attitude and behaviour was outrageous and has upset me and Emma and everyone else who works here,” Miss Dixon told the London Evening Standard.

“We are not racist. We are not sexist – If anyone was being so it was that man.”

Miss Sherdley, an experienced instructor, said that no other learners had complained about being taught by her and she tried not to let the ‘hurtful, offensive and deeply upsetting’ abuse affect her.

Miss Sherdley said: “I always knew as a child that I was a woman stuck in a man’s body.

“I tried hard to be a man, getting married and having children but it never worked and never would.

“For the past six years I have been what is correctly called “transitioned”. I still have to undergo final surgery but legally I am a woman.

“That is what my birth certificate says and that is what the gender recognition certificate proves. For that prejudiced and biased man to threaten to sue me and the driving school is totally and utterly wrong.”

There are currently 32 female pupils on the books at the school which has been open for ten years and boasts a successful pass rate.

“We say each of our female instructors promise to be friendly, professional and patient – that is exactly what Emma is,” added Miss Dixon.

“For her to be subjected to abuse and threats is simply intolerable.”

Related:
Laugh-n-Pass

Officials reported that some veterans from the Falklands’ War of 1982 threatened to sue the government after the islands, called Las Malvinas in Spanish, were called by their British name – the Falklands Islands, in the text book.

Argentina’s former dictatorship began an unsuccessful takeover of the islands in 1982 and a 73-day war left 650 Argentines and 250 British soldiers dead. The subject is still highly contentious with both sides claiming the islands for themselves.

Argentina stepped up its efforts this month saying it would not give up hope of regaining the islands. President Cristina Kirchner said that the veterans who lost their lives during the war must not be forgotten. The fate of these problematic islands remains to be seen.

The resignation of economy minister Martín Lousteau marks the first major departure of the Kirchner government and increases worries regarding the government’s ability to repair the country’s growing economic problems.

The 37-year-old minister was the architect of the recent tax hikes on soybeans and other crops, which lead to widespread food shortage after a 21-day strike from farmers who claimed they were robbed of any profit.

Lousteau quietly handed in his resignation late on 24th April after appearing sidelined in the ongoing negotiations with the farmers over the tax increases.

Carlos Fernández, head of AFIP tax agency, was quickly announced as Lousteau’s successor. The Peronist is a close ally of the Kirchners and served as the chief of economy in the Province of Buenos Aires during Néstor Kirchner’s presidency.

Lousteau joined the Kirchner government as a breath of fresh air and one of few new faces in a cabinet mostly containing officials from the previous administration of Néstor Kirchner, current president Cristina’s husband. He was viewed as an independent minister and one not afraid of renewing policies.

Soaring inflation

Whilst departure is seen as a direct consequence of the heated debate over the tax hike, it is also believed to be closely connected with the increasing inflation.

Argentina’s economy has grown 8% in each of the last five years since the economic crash in 2001. But high inflation has become a major challenge for the government.

It is believed Lousteau clashed with the Domestic Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno over the design of a new consumer price index, a project aimed at restoring credibility to the INDEC national statistics office.

Many accuse the government of manipulating INDEC inflation data to under-report real inflation. Inflation was 8.5% in 2007, but many private analysts put the true figure at at least twice that.

Also ex-president Néstor Kirchner has publicly shown his disapproval over the young minister. “There should be no more talk about cooling the economy,” he said in a speech – a comment directly aimed at Lousteau’s recommendation a few days earlier that the government try decelerate growth as an anti-inflationary measure.

Centre-left opposition leader Elisa Carrío has later publicly announced her disapproval of the ex-president speaking on behalf of the government.

“It was obvious that there was only one power in Argentina and that person was Néstor Kirchner… This means Kirchner will directly intervene in the Economy Ministry; (it is) a tremendous endorsement of Moreno (and) a weakening of Cristina,” she said.

Ever since Néstor stepped down as president he has maintained a strong influence over his wife’s government.

Second presidents

In the past, Argentina had strong economy ministers – dubbed second presidents – who clashed with presidents over policy. However, the post has become less independent for historical reasons as all major crises’ has originated due to a failing economy.

Lousteau was one of few independent figures in the Kirchner government. His departure is a sign that the government is not ready for a change and unfortunately not willing to face it’s growing economic problems.