With Barack Obama’s inauguration as US president on 20th January, “Yanqui” Mike Skowronek, chairman of Democrats Abroad Argentina, reflects on what this historic moment means for the US and Latin America…

Many believe that newly inaugurated US president Barack Obama has the weight of the world on his shoulders. Do Argentines believe he can make a change and do they think these changes will affect Argentina? Obama is the first African-American to be elected US President, signalling a victory in the worldwide fight against discrimination.

President Cristina Fernández de Kircher’s popularity rating has rollercoasted during her first year as leader. The imagine conscious first female president of Argentina got off to a bad start with the suitcase scandal just a few days after assuming her new leading role. Things went from bad to worse when she tried to introduce a new agricultural export taxation law sparking the campo crisis, which dominated the Argentine press for several months.

It is an appointment that has divided Argentina and captured the imagination of the world’s press, taking up countless column inches. So what job could be the subject of such controversy, President of the Nation, Mayor of Buenos Aires perhaps?

Have you ever entered a competition? Where your participation was gratified by a box of chocolates or a voucher for two at a restaurant? Well the raffle of the 21st century takes its prizes to a whole new level where one can win not just alfajores or a night out – but a boob job! Many nightclubs in Buenos Aires began a competition where, upon entering a raffle prize draw, one ‘lucky’ girl would win free breast implant surgery (performed at another time of course).

A year ago I visited the northern Argentine province of Chaco to report on the death of Rosa Molina. The 56-year-old was the fifteenth Toba person to die of malnutrition in the province in the space of four months. She weighed just 24kg when she died. Despite her death making international headlines, and raising embarrassing questions for then-president Néstor Kirchner’s government, little has been done to improve the situation, which indirectly led to her death.

“Pray. You still have to make it to the hospital.” Those were the first few words Marisa Beiró heard from a paramedic. Her boots were melted into her own skin and 65% of her body surface was severely burnt. Behind her, the wreck of the fuselage was still in flames.

Times of turbulence in the global economy can be tough for any country, but Argentina finds itself in a particularly difficult position. The strength of the domestic economy is uncertain, and the value for Argentina’s exports may soon drop. So how can Argentina protect itself from the slings and arrows of outrageous economic fluctuations?

“One thing that has struck me as much as the shocking disappearance of López is the shocking disappearance of the story from the newspapers,” said Carlos Gonzalez earlier this month. Gonzalez, an official from the Human Rights department of the Argentine government, was referring to the disappearance of Jorge Julio López, a former political prisoner last seen on 18th September in La Plata.

The world was shocked by this month’s killing of Anna Politkovskaya, 48, a Russian journalist widely viewed as a beacon of freedom of speech. However, her death came on the same day two German documentary makers were killed in Afghanistan, and Reporters Without Borders says 60 journalists have been killed so far this year, all because of what they have written or said.