The mayor of Buenos Aires declared that the Zoo will be closing this year. After 140 years the Buenos Aires Zoo in the Palermo Neighborhood will close, and be replaced with a more modern interactive Eco-park. 2,500 animals will be transferred to reserves all over the country, and 50 of them will remain at the zoo because there are either too old or too sick to be moved. The animals that remain will not be on display to the public.
The Zoo is closing for a variety of reasons, the mayor said that it because “This situation of captivity is degrading for the animals, it’s not the way to take care of them,” but the zoo had also been losing money for a couple of years, and was not being maintained like it should have been. This is major progress for animal rights activists, and I think the Eco-Park model is interesting and has the potential to replace zoos one day. This change is very progressive and I hope to be able to visit the Buenos Aires Eco-Park while I am in Argentina. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/23/buenos-aires-zoo-close-animals-captivity-argentina Recently, there has been some perceived tension between the two most powerful argentine leaders in the world. President Macri gave a donation of 16,666,000 pesos (about 1.2 million USD) to a charity foundation that is backed by the pope called Scholas Occurentes. The donation was returned to Macri with a note from the pope that read "I don't like the 666." 666 being a satanic symbol. This sparked some controversy. And despite the numerous statements given by officials at the Vatican saying that it was a completely friendly and courteous exchange, critics of Macri have spun the story into a feud between the President and the Pope. Public interactions between the Pope and high ranking government officials are fairly new to me. It may have something to do with the fact that Pope Francis is from Buenos Aires, or it may just be a more relaxed separation of church and state, I think it is probably both, but President Marci and previous presidents have had a lot more interaction with Pope Francis in the past few months than any american president that I am aware of. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jun/14/pope-francis-mauricio-macri-argentina-charity-donation-666 In 1994, a jewish neighborhood was bombed in Buenos Aires, 85 people died. More than two decades later there is still controversy around the event. Alberto Nisman, the lead investigator on the attack committed suicide by firearm in his home last year. The case was ruled a suicide and it was terrible, but no red flags were raised.
This week was a big week for Argentina financially. For the first time in over a decade the Argentine government sold bonds to investors. Current President, Mauricio Macri was able to restructure Argentina’s economic state, negotiate with investors, and pay back holdout investors who were owed money from Argentina’s default in 2002.
Emily Thornberry refused to promise protection to the falkland islands in the ongoing territory dispute with Argentina. Recently a UN council ruling granted Argentina control over 35% more territory in the atlantic ocean, the new territory surrounds the British controlled Falkland Islands. This whole new development is stirring up old controversy and conflict from the Falkland Islands war, which Great Britain won against Argentina thus gaining control of the Islands.
Inflation is the highest it has been in over fourteen years in Argentina. This is mainly due to subsidy cuts made by Mauricio Macri. He ran on the promise to tame inflation, and here he is just a few months after his election with 19.2% inflation from one quarter!
Argentine civilians are not happy and there have been a series of violent riots in Buenos Aires in the last couple of days. Macri continues to cut subsidies and state jobs in a "Hail Mary" attempt to get ahead of inflation. He may finally be doing what is necessary, or he may be crippling an already broken economy. Only time can tell. Compared to Argentina's economic problems the "Great Recession" was a time of great prosperity and progress. http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/argentinas-capital-reports-highest-inflation-14-years-39076760 Argentina’s former president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, went and testified in court about accusations of corruption this week. She was accused of selling US dollars at an artificial unreasonably low rate. The judge that is presiding over the case, Claudio Bonadio, says that her actions cost the Argentinian government almost five and a half billion dollars, and allowed those involved to make a lot of money.
Kirchner has publicly denied any misconduct. In fact she was able to turn her court date into a publicity stunt. She was met by a crowd of thousands of supporters when she entered the courthouse, and when she came back out she gave a speech. Standing on the back of a flatbed truck she rallied the crowd into a frenzy. By the end they were chanting “Macri (Argentina’s current president)! Trash! You are the dictatorship!” Kirchner was able to spin a corruption allegation into a means of putting herself back onto the political stage of Argentina. This kind of thing never really happens in the United States. I guess the closest thing to this would be a political rally for a candidate in the election. In Argentina however, people seem to be much more overt and outspoken about their own political views. This article is proof of that in my opinion. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/apr/13/argentina-president-cristina-fernandez-kirchner-fraud-investigation Scientists found DNA evidence of a 12,000 year old giant armadillo in Argentina. This huge armored mammal named Deodicurus once lived in parts of Argentina, up to as far north as the Carolinas in the US. Deodicurus was ten feet long, and weighed approximately the same as a small car. It had a hard shell that covered it’s entire body and protected it from predators, but it also had a large tail that was used as a club.
Deodicurus was a member of a group called glyptodonts, which includes modern-day armadillos. Researchers were able to deduce that the Deodicurus belongs to the same genus as an armadillo from the analysis of mitochondrial DNA, not nucleic DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is exponentially harder to extract but it holds different information and last longer. This discovery is not only interesting but it is proof of science advancing around the world. Not too long ago nobody knew what mitochondrial DNA was, and now scientists are making discoveries and drawing conclusions based on its analysis. Archeology is a fascinating field, and I am glad to hear that there are breakthroughs being made in Argentina. The UN council decided to expand Argentina’s territory in the south atlantic last week. The new expansion increased Argentina’s territory by .066 million square miles, but it also encompasses the Falkland islands. This decision, has and will most likely continue to create controversy and unrest between the Falkland islands, and Argentina. The Falkland islands are now a sovereign nation, but Great Britain is responsible for their protection and foreign affairs. The land was won in a short and violent war between Argentina and the UK in 1982. This decision is stirring up some of the old unrest caused by the war. Right now it is hard to say what the greater impact that all this will have, but it is unraveling right now.
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