Mauricio Macri (Photo courtesy of Mauricio Macri)

Mayor Mauricio Macri’s decree in defence of the freedom of the press and freedom of expression is being debated today in the city legislature.

Helio Rebot will chair the Commission for Constitutional Affairs meeting during which Macri’s decree will come under scrutiny.

Although the decree has already been published, the commission will establish whether or not it should in fact be in force, or whether it should be rejected by the legislature in the coming month.

The emergency decree, signed on 14th May, aims to “guarantee the protection of journalists and the media throughout all of Buenos Aires.”

It also puts forward the idea that Argentina’s capital ought to operate within a specially created legal jurisdiction, allowing it to intervene in affairs which endanger freedom of expression.

Rebot opened the meeting with the following: “If it is ratified, this decree will be about more than Macri, it will protect future journalists, whatever their opinion.”

The emergency decree has also attracted strong opposition. Their arguments range from suggestions that the decree is unconstitutional and lacking in legitimacy, to those who hold that it was done specifically to favour the interests of media conglomerate Grupo Clarín.

In a dialogue with state news agency Télam, Juan Carlos Dante Gullo of the Frente Para La Victoria party stated: “In principle the decree violates our federal spirit, articles of the constitution, and, unfortunately, forces us to engage in discussions about the privileges one business, and that business is called Clarín, instead of engaging with projects which benefit our citizens and those citizens who live in the capital.”

City legislator María América González went on to say “this decree a null bill. It attempts to supersede national legislation, something which is forbidden in the constitution.”

Despite its critics, the move has seen support in the province of Córdoba where governor Juan Manuel de la Sota enacted a similar bill last Friday. It seeks to circumvent any actions which “restrict, alter or censure” freedom of expression.

In a similar vein, Friday saw a group of journalists sign a document that rejected any intervention at all on the part of the State in its affairs. The Argentine Association of Journalistic Entities (ADEPA) meanwhile published a document that contained a robust support for the decree.

Argentina is no longer a world leader in beef exports. Of the countries that make up the trading block Mercosur, Argentina exports the least amount of beef, trailing behind the likes of Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay.

Beef cattle
(Photo: www.geograph.ie)

This is a startling decline. Back in 2005, Argentina was the third largest exporter of beef, shipping to more than 70 countries. Now it ranks 10th in the world. Mexico, which has half the amount of bovine stock, has overtaken it with Brazil coming in at number one.

According to the most recent statistics from the Economic Research Institute of the Socieded Rural Argentina (SRA), in 2012 Argentina exported only 183,000 tons of meat. Brazil and Uruguay far exceeded this number exporting 1.3m and 350,000 tons respectively.

According to experts, the decline can be traced back to 2006 which saw an increasingly interventionist politics thought to have had a negative impact on the markets. Luis Etchevehere, president of the SRA had this to say, “the current government has destroyed the profitability cattle. We are now in eleventh place… [behind even] Mexico which doesn’t traditionally export.”

More specifically, Nieves Pascuzzi, an economist at SRA, blamed the drop in exports on the government’s decision to keep the price of meat in the domestic market low - thereby linking the amount of beef available for export to local monthly demand. He also cited the “lack of competitivity in exports” and the “over valued exchange rate” as important factors in the decline. Bovine stock itself is also on the decline thanks to poor results reported by fridge owners.

Argentina went from having 57m heads of cattle in 2006 to 51.7m in 2012, whilst the rest of the region increased its herds. Since 2005, 130 fridges have been shut down and more than 15,600 workers have been laid off. Public opinion in the agriculture sector is glum.

The head of the Agrarian Federation announced that a protest is bing organised in Junín for the 22nd of this month.

The conclusion of the 38th Congress of Tourism and Travel agencies, AAAVYT found that tourism to Argentina is rapidly declining. The country is becoming increasingly expensive with inflation adding to the international financial crisis.

According to the latest statistics, presented at the congress, the number of foreign tourists arriving in the city of Buenos Aires (by air) in the first four months of the year was 936,000 - 3.1% less than the same period a year ago. In April, the fall was 5.6%. The number of Brazilians, which have become the main source of tourists (30%), dropped 8.8% in April over a year ago.

Mario Lielman, chair of the Buenos Aires Tourism and Travel Agencies Association stated, “Inflation, even high, has not been enough to counter the appreciation of the Argentine peso and tourist think twice before planning a trip. Likewise for Argentines, a strong currency and more accessible prices in the US and Europe have become a magnet.”

Domestic flight costs are on the rise after an increase this week of between 10% and 20%, with longer distance flights rising by 30%. This is the case for sought after destinations such as Patagonia, Tierra del Fuego or Salta and the Iguazú falls.

These deterrents, combined with the ongoing financial crisis tightening belts globally, has worked to deal a significant blow to the Argentine tourism market.

That said, these same forces seem to be working to increase Argentine travel abroad. From April 2011 to April 2012, 31% more Argentines have travelled overseas.