US President Barack Obama
US president Barack Obama is set to visit Argentina on 23rd and 24th March in attempts to strengthen bilateral ties and relations between the countries.
A statement by the White House indicates that the purpose of the visit is to “chart the way forward”, after to Obama’s historic trip to Cuba on 21st and 22nd March.
Argentina’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Susana Malcorra, said: “The coming visit of President Barack Obama is irrefutable proof of what we have said all along: Argentina is reinserting itself in the world, maintaining but also opening links with all our other partners and potential associates.”
She underlined that “investments and trade are crucial”, saying that topics on the table would include agroindustry, renewable energies, and tourism.
The visit has received criticism as it coincides with the 40th anniversary of the coup which led to the last dictatorship, on 24th March. The US-backed junta held power for a bloody seven year period, during which human rights organisations say some 30,000 people were killed or disappeared.
The date is an official public holiday in Argentina and known as the Day of Truth and Justice.
Hebe de Bonafini, president of the Madres de Plaza de Mayo human rights organisation, has vehemently criticised the anticipated arrival of Obama.
“Let’s raise alarm bells, he [president Mauricio Macri] did not invite him to visit on just any date. He invited him to visit on 24th March… he is a servant of theirs,” she said, to the US.
Bonafini is an ardent critic of Macri who she believes has pursued a neoliberal agenda since taking office, regularly comparing his policies to those of the dictatorship.
Obama’s trip is the first state visit by a US president since the meeting between George H. W. Bush and Carlos Menem back in 1990.
George W. Bush then travelled to Argentina for the Summit of the Americas in 2005. The summit marked a souring episode in bilateral relations.
Then-president Néstor Kirchner helped the then-president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, to organise an anti-summit against the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA). Kirchner in turn gave a critical speech whilst closing the multilateral meeting, which received much criticism by the United States.
Obama is set to arrive in Argentina with his wife Michelle and two daughters, Sasha and Malia, all of whom are to meet with Macri.
