FROM EIR DAILY ALERT
In Secret Talks, Wall Street Wants a Guarantee That Argentina Won’t Default
Aug. 27, 2018 (EIRNS)—Amidst intensifying rumors of a debt default, three envoys from Argentine President Mauricio Macri were deployed to a confidential Aug. 15 meeting in Manhattan with Wall Street bankers and investment fund managers to convince them that Argentina will not default, that Macri has the current volatile economic and political situation under control, and that he will win next year’s presidential elections with no challenge from former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
According to the daily Página 12 and Clarín, deputy chief of staff Mario Quintana, Central Bank Vice President Gustavo Cañonero and Finance Secretary Santiago Bausili were grilled at length, most importantly on how the government intends to secure financing to cover upcoming debt payments. Wall Street stopped lending long ago, and investors are dumping Argentine stocks, bonds and debt paper like hot potatoes.
The Argentines vowed that Macri has a “Plan B”—to either revise the current IMF standby agreement or get advances on future disbursements, Clarín reported. Respected economist Alfredo Zaiat reported in the Aug. 26 Página 12 that the government is leaking that it may also seek a credit line from the U.S. Federal Reserve or a U.S. Treasury bailout.
The Wall Street characters weren’t convinced, however, so now a chagrined Macri has to return in mid-September to offer his personal guarantees. Nor is the issue of former President Fernández de Kirchner settled. Quintana vowed that she will “eventually” be jailed on corruption charges, and that Macri and his candidates are best positioned for re-election. But given current financial upheaval and social revolt against Macri’s brutal austerity regime, and his plummeting popularity rating, the City of London and Wall Street aren’t reassured. Hence the escalating judicial persecution of Fernández on phony corruption charges, and the heightened threat to her life, expressed in the Aug. 25 editorial demand by the Anglophile daily La Nación that she be stripped of her “excessive” and “costly” security.
EIR is also investigating the Aug. 24 report by Clarín columnist Marcelo Bonelli that “the Trump Administration” has offered to provide information on bank accounts Fernández used to hide bribes she allegedly took when President. It may involve the same Department of Justice, FBI networks behind both Brazil’s notorious “Lava Jato” (Car Wash) anti-corruption drive and the ongoing coup attempt against the Trump Presidency.
