Articles by James Grainger

Technology

Argentina backs US embargo on Cuba, breaking with decades of policy

Argentina voted on Wednesday at the United Nations (UN) General Assembly in favour of the embargo that the United States has maintained on Cuba since 1960. The decision by President Javier Milei’s government represents a significant change in foreign policy. The decision formally ends more than three decades of consistent votes by Argentina in support of the annual resolution calling for an end to the US embargo on the Caribbean nation. For 33 consecutive years, the United Nations has urged Washington to lift the restrictions, which have been condemned by most governments and humanitarian organisations as a violation of international law and a source of economic hardship for the Cuban population. The non-binding resolution, which has been passed each year since 1992, calls for "ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba." A total of 165 countries voted in favour of the resolution to lift the embargo, while it was rejected by the United States, Israel, Hungary, Ukraine, Paraguay, North Macedonia and, for the first time, Argentina. Several nations – notably Poland, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – abstained from Wednesday's vote over Cuba's support for Russia in its war with Ukraine. Washington's envoy to the UN, Mike Walz, strongly opposed the text. "Please stop repeating this propaganda that allows the regime to then go back and have an excuse for its own failures," the ambassador said in a debate Tuesday. Hitting back, Cuba's Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez labelled Walz's remarks "threatening, arrogant, deceitful and cynical." He called on the US to at least suspend or make humanitarian exceptions to the embargo due to the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which this week tore through Cuba and neighboring countries. Argentina’s change in position follows earlier controversy under former foreign minister Diana Mondino, who was sacked by Milei last year after Argentina retained its historic position in the annual UN vote. When Argentina voted in line with its historic stance, Milei released a statement stating that the nation "categorically opposes the Cuban dictatorship and will remain firm in promoting a foreign policy that condemns all regimes that perpetuate the violation of human rights and individual freedoms." Early in Milei’s tenure, the government had already hinted at a review of its traditional stance on Cuba and Venezuela, arguing that Argentina should “defend democracy consistently” and “avoid ideological alignments.” Those comments drew protests from regional allies and Cuban officials, who accused Buenos Aires of abandoning its historical non-interventionist diplomacy. Since taking office in December 2023, Milei has reorientated Argentina’s foreign policy in line with the United States and Israel, the nations he describes as his “pillars.” – TIMES/NA/AFP

5 days ago

Technology

Milei delays Cabinet changes after electoral triumph

Re-energised by his electoral upset in the midterm elections, President Javier Milei has announced that he may delay the Cabinet changes until December and the change of Congress. The decision will offer him respite from the requests of several officials pressing him to bring order to government infighting. “Congress will change on December 10 so I’ve got some time,” the President said in an interview Monday. According to reporting by the Noticias Argentinas news agency, up until the Friday before the election, several Cabinet members – among them Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos (in public) and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich (in private) – were seeking a clear definition and designation of roles from Milei. Milei did not provide further details, implying he will only implement obligatory modifications. On Tuesday, he swore in his new Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, after the advanced resignation of Gerardo Werthein. Come December, the President will have to make changes. Two officials will be taking up legislative posts. There is open talk of Security Secretary Alejandra Monteoliva succeeding Patricia Bullrich at the helm of the Security Ministry. Luis Petri will have to be replaced at the Defence Ministry, once a successor has been agreed with the official. Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni, at present, will also formally be leaving his post for the Buenos Aires City Legislature although his destiny, like that of top presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, seems uncertain. Nor is there any guarantee of continuity for the tandem of Francos and Interior Minister Lisandro Catalán, who will reportedly continue until December. Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, who has offered his resignation and bid farewell in the media, will also remain for now. Milei has hinted that figures from other political forces will come into consideration. “The Cabinet will be constructed in the light of the new Congress and the alliances which I have to seek in order to have my agenda approved. The important thing is to get the reforms through,” he said in the interview with the A24 news channel. Casa Rosada sources, quoted by Noticias Argentinas, said that “things have their logic and with the election results, everything is being reset.” Iron Triangle tensions After 9pm on election night, “tensions in the libertarian tribes intensified” as each party laid claim to the result, reported Noticias Argentinas. Milei was careful to credit all of his team during celebrations at the ruling party’s headquarters in Buenos Aires, but much of the focus has fallen on his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, who was in charge of the national campaign. It was Karina Milei who opted to preserve "purple purism" in the lists designed by the inland political strategist Eduardo ‘Lule’ Menem, who has been strongly criticised by the Fuerzas del Cielo organisation linked to Santiago Caputo. Libertarian influencers online has sought to credit Caputo, the other member of Milei’s “iron triangle” along with Karina, with swinging the result in La Libertad Avanza’s favour. Hours before the results were released, Karina was ahead of the game, making a rare appearance before the television cameras as she was escorted and seconded by Congress Speaker Martín Menem, the party’s vice-president. "We are very happy," she told the media, noting: "As the president and vice-president of the party, La Libertad Avanza was present in all 24 districts.” A government spokesperson said credit should be shared around. "The victory belongs to the team working for the last two years to have a party and assemble the lists," a spokesperson for Karina Milei told Noticias Argentinas. Still, on election night, in the corridors of the Hotel Libertador housing the La Libertad Avanza bunker, several were resentful of Santiago Caputo’s role. "We won despite many people. They moved around numbers which had nothing to do with reality," said one source. Milei will have to balance out the corners of what seems to be an inverted triangle, marking out the scope of each of its members and unifying the team once again if he wants to open dialogue with potential allies and deliver the reforms he has in mind.

5 days ago

Technology

Voters hand Milei belated birthday present, post-mortem for Peronism overdue

Forced as he was by Argentina’s electoral calendar, President Javier Milei put his “chainsaw” austerity approach and deregulatory reform drive to the test on Sunday. The results indicate that voters are at the least content with what they see, despite the hardships they have faced. At the very least, the results tell us that they don’t want to go back to get to the future. Milei, who turned 55 this week, received a belated birthday present in Sunday’s midterm elections. He went into the election off the back of a string of negative headlines and prior to the vote, analysts and experts had been talking up a vote share of around 30 percent on average, 35 percent perhaps. Argentina’s outspoken economist managed to outdo that, surpassing 40 percent nationwide of the vote for lower house deputies. Of course, it’s not the first time Milei has overshot expectations. His entire political career has been this way. Doubted only to overperform. Sunday night had echoes of his famous run-off triumph in late 2023, when he blew his rival Sergio Massa out of the water and ejected the Peronists from power. Whatever electoral test is put in front of Milei, he seems to overcome it and end up celebrating it from the Hotel Libertador. There’s no doubt, this result emboldens Milei. Improved representation in Congress will stop his opponents from blocking his reforms at every turn. He will have a stronger hand when it comes to negotiating with Argentina’s powerful provincial governors. Whatever ambitions Milei had for the remainder of his term in office will have been raised a little. Then there’s the United States government. It’s difficult to tell just how much the unprecedented support Milei has received from Donald Trump and Scott Bessent helped him at the ballot box, but before the vote, the US president had implied the financial aid would be conditional. It’s safe to say those conditions have been met and while we might not see Washington splashing cash to defend the peso again anytime soon, bilateral ties can only strengthen from here. But as with so many elections nowadays, perhaps the focus tonight shouldn’t just be on Milei – it should be on Argentina’s opposition too. Milei managed to achieve this victory off the back of two years of punishing austerity, in midterm elections when ruling parties nearly always perform poorly. It’s an astounding feat. The stage was set for the Peronists to perform, but the looks on the faces of Fuerza Patria’s candidates on Sunday night said everything. Since Milei took office, Peronism has been lacking a leader. The process of renewal, a necessity dating back to that 2023 run-off loss, has never really begun. The desire to cling to Cristina Fernández de Kirchner must be avoided – too many voters are avowed anti-CFK. Though she will undoubtedly present her own view on the debacle in the days to come, most likely posted via social media from her flat in Recoleta where she remains under house arrest, her message should not be given the priority it once did. Milei claimed in his victory speech that two-thirds of voters don’t want a return to Kirchnerism and by extension Peronism. That allegation deserves deeper investigation but the shadow of the ‘Anti-K’ vote hangs over its current ‘leader’ Axel Kicillof. The tack to polarisation, perhaps inspired by CFK herself, has clearly worked for Milei at the ballot box. Argentina’s most influential political force is failing to find answers. For the last two years it has been rudderless, projecting unity but delivering anything but. Peronism must undergo a serious post-mortem if it is to really seek renewal and be competitive in 2027. Time is on its side and a lot can happen in two years, but Milei is clearly already ahead – and far more out in front than anyone realised.

Oct 27, 2025

Technology

President Javier Milei thanks ‘10 million Argentines’ as he revels in election win

President Javier Milei thanked Argentines for their support on Sunday night as he celebrated a strong performance for his party in key midterm elections. In a speech at his party’s election night headquarters in Buenos Aires, Milei thanked the “10 million Argentines” who voted for La Libertad Avanza and its allies in the national legislative vote. Hailing the ballot as a "turning point," the La Libertad Avanza leader hailed a "historic day" that will allow his government to "move forward on the path of reform." “Now the construction of a great Argentina begins,” he declared to applause from supporters. The President described the results as "confirmation of the mandate" he received from voters in the 2023 election. "From La Quiaca to Ushuaia, the people confirmed their desire to change the destiny of the country." He argued that "two out of three Argentines do not want to return to the past." Milei, 55, thanked all the members of his Cabinet by name and, in particular, praised ex-PRO party members Patricia Bullrich and Luis Petri, his ministers of security and defence respectively, who “joined forces” with him in 2023 ahead of the presidential run-off that took him to power. He described his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina MIlei, and top advisor, Santiago Caputo, as the “architects” of the success. A delighted Milei, who said he was here to “put an end to populism,” praised the first-ever “marvellous” use of the single ballot paper (BUP) system, introduced for this vote, which he said had put an end to electoral tricks. Noting that La Libertad Avanza’s caucus will go from “37 deputies to 101 deputies” and from “seven senators to ten,” Milei said there are “dozens of deputies from other parties with whom we can reach basic agreements.” He also called on provincial governors to work with him to return Argentina to greatness and vowed a deep reform push lies ahead. “Starting December 10, we will have the most reformist Congress in history,” he declared. “In many provinces, the second largest force was not Kirchnerism [i.e. Peronism/Fuerza Patria] but the provincial ruling party," he noted, inviting "the vast majority of governors to discuss these agreements together." In a victory that will help to dispel fears of political weakness, Milei's government received strong support from voters on Sunday night. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, results showed that La Libertad Avanza had taken more than 40 percent of votes nationwide, around nine points ahead of its closest rival, the opposition Fuerza Patria coalition and the Peronist force’s provincial allies. The big surprise of the night came in Buenos Aires Province, a traditional Peronist stronghold, where the LLA list headed by Diego Santilli managed to reverse a scenario that seemed impossible. The ruling party won by a slight margin in a district where, just a month and a half ago, it had lost the local elections by a margin of 14 points. The victory was the jewel in the crown for La Libertad Avanza, which was the only national force to run in all regions and won in 16 of the 24 provinces. Final results are yet to be confirmed, but La Libertad Avanza is expected to become the first minority force in the lower house, with around 110 lawmakers including allies. Peronism will likely have around 98 deputies. The ruling party will be able to negotiate greater support on some issues by working with other minority caucuses.

Oct 27, 2025

Technology

Decisive win for Milei’s La Libertad Avanza in key midterm election

President Javier Milei won a decisive victory in Sunday's midterm elections, boosting his flagging reform agenda and jumpstarting the second half of his term in office. Milei's La Libertad Avanza (LLA) rebounded from a series of setbacks to take 40.84 percent of the votes cast for members of the lower house Chamber of Deputies and upper house Senate, according to official results based on 90 percent of votes counted. According to partial results, the opposition Fuerza Patria (Peronist) coalition had around 31.64 percent. In third place was Provincias Unidas, a centrist bloc that seeks to break with polarisation and took around seven percent of the vote. The results hand Milei a strengthened hand in Congress, close to the third it needs in both chambers to shield presidential vetoes from being overturned. However, LLLA will have to forge alliances with other forces to advance larger structural reforms. "God bless Argentina," Milei's spokesman Manuel Adorni wrote on X. As the initial results were released, hundreds of Milei’s supporters gathered outside the Hotel Libertador in Buenos Aires, his party’s headquarters for elections. "I am very happy and excited. I did not expect such a large number," said Facundo Campos, a 38-year-old marketing consultant, as he cheered Milei’s performance. "I shouted as if it were the winning goal in Argentina's last World Cup victory," he added. The elections were the first national test of Milei's support since he won office two years ago on a promise to revive the long-ailing Argentine economy through a series of painful reforms. Around alf of the seats in the Chamber of Deputies and one-third of the Senate seats were up for grabs on Sunday. The run-up to the election was marked by a run on the national currency, the peso, that forced Milei to seek a bailout from US President Donald Trump. Washington promised an unprecedented US$40-billion package of aid, but the assistance came with a warning from Trump to Argentines that he would not "be generous" if Sunday's election did not go Milei's way. – TIMES/AFP

Oct 27, 2025