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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 18…..

 

1. ARGENTINE TAX AGENCY RAIDS MONSANTO CONTRACTOR, FINDS SLAVE-LIKE CONDITIONS IN CORNFIELDS (The Washington Post)

2. ARGENTINA, PRINCESS CRUISES ANGERED THAT FALKLANDS BLOCKED SHIP WITH ARGENTINES FROM DOCKING (The Washington Post)

3. BUENOS AIRES ANNOUNCES BID TO HOST 3RD SUMMER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES IN 2018 (The Washington Post)

4. ARGENTINA’S MERVAL LITTLE-CHANGED IN VERY LIGHT TRADING (The Wall Street Journal)

5. PEOPLE POWER! MINING PROTESTS SPREAD TO ARGENTINA (Financial Times)

6. ARGENTINA INVESTIGATING COMPANIES ON FUEL PRICE-FIXING (Bloomberg News)

7. ARGENTINA DEMANDS SWIFTER DEVELOPMENT OF UNCONVENTIONAL OIL, GAS (Dow Jones International News)

8. ARGENTINA INVESTIGATES 5 OIL COMPANIES IN FUEL MARKET PROBE (Dow Jones International News)

9. ARGENTINA: FALSE ALARM (Economist Intelligence Unit – Business Latin America)

 

 

1. ARGENTINE TAX AGENCY RAIDS MONSANTO CONTRACTOR, FINDS SLAVE-LIKE CONDITIONS IN CORNFIELDS (The Washington Post)

January 16, 2012

 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s tax agency has raided a Monsanto Co. contractor and found what it calls slave-like conditions among workers in its cornfields.

 

 

The AFIP tax agency says Rural Power SA hired all its farmhands illegally, prevented them from leaving the fields and withheld their salaries. They had to de-tassel corn 14 hours a day and buy their food at inflated prices from the company store.

 

AFIP says it will hold the American agro-giant responsible for its contractor’s slave-like labor conditions.

 

Monsanto didn’t immediately respond to calls Monday to its headquarters in Buenos Aires and in St. Louis, which was closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.

 

Argentina’s congress last month gave farmhands an 8-hour day and other benefits long denied under a dictatorship-era law.

 

 

 

2. ARGENTINA, PRINCESS CRUISES ANGERED THAT FALKLANDS BLOCKED SHIP WITH ARGENTINES FROM DOCKING (The Washington Post)

By Michael Warren

January 16, 2012

 

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Princess Cruises said Monday that it is surprised and disappointed that the Falkland Islands government turned away its Star Princess ship because a small number of people on board have stomach flu.

 

The decision came as Argentina and Britain engage in a diplomatic row over the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. Brazil, Chile and Uruguay have agreed to support Argentina by turning away any ship flying the Falklands flag. Hundreds of citizens of these countries are among the 3,562 passengers and crew on board.

 

Falklands government spokesman Darren Christie said it had to deny entry to the ship Saturday because some passengers had contagious norovirus, which the islands are ill-equipped to handle. The decision was made by the Falklands’ chief medical officer in consultation with a microbiologist in Britain, Christie said.

 

“An outbreak in the Falkland Islands would put enormous pressure on our limiated medical resources, and jeopardize other scheduled cruise visits,” his statement said.

 

Princess Cruises called the decision “totally unwarranted” and unscientific, and said it runs against international health policy.

 

“No Princess ship has ever been denied entry into a port based on incidences of ill passengers and crew onboard,” said Julie Benson, the company’s vice president for public relations.

 

She said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Britain’s Health Protection Agency and other international health organizations encourage ports to provide support to vessels arriving with ill people.

 

Benson said a total of 74 passengers and crew, about 2 percent of those on board, had been reported ill. Of those, 20 people now have symptoms, which falls short of the 3 percent that the CDC would consider an outbreak, her statement said.

 

Argentina’s foreign ministry said that the cruise ship complied with health regulations at its previous ports of call in Chile and Argentina and that it hopes the decision isn’t “only the latest hostile act against tourists of various nationalities, including Argentine citizens who have the simple desire and hope of getting to see the Malvinas Islands.”

 

The ship had planned to dock in Port Stanley in the middle of its 14-day South America cruise from Valparaiso, Chile, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ship’s next port of call is Tuesday in Buenos Aires, followed by Montevideo, Uruguay. The cruise ends Jan. 21.

3. BUENOS AIRES ANNOUNCES BID TO HOST 3RD SUMMER YOUTH OLYMPIC GAMES IN 2018 (The Washington Post)

January 14, 2012

 

INNSBRUCK, Austria — Buenos Aires has announced a bid to host the third Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2018.

 

Argentine Olympic Committee President Gerardo Wertheim says “we believe that Buenos Aires would be an excellent host city for this exciting new addition to the Olympics sports calendar.”

 

Wertheim handed over a letter confirming the bid to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on the opening day of the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

 

Other cities to have announced their bid for the 2018 Youth Games include Monterrey, Mexico; Medellin, Colombia; Abuja, Nigeria; and Kaspiysk, Russia.

 

IOC will chose the host city in June 2013.

 

 

4. ARGENTINA’S MERVAL LITTLE-CHANGED IN VERY LIGHT TRADING (The Wall Street Journal)

By Taos Turner

January 16, 2012

 

–Merval index largely unchanged in very light trading

 

–Peso little-changed against the U.S. dollar

 

BUENOS AIRES –Argentina’s Merval stock index was largely unchanged Monday as investors sat on the sidelines on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the U.S.

 

The index rose 0.3% to 2,754.57 points in volume totaling ARS15.5 million ($3.6 million).

 

The aluminum producer Aluar Aluminio Argentino SAIC (ALUA.BA, AAARF) led the gains by rising 2.8% to ARS2.97.

 

The financial conglomerate Grupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL.BA, GGAL) rose about 1% to ARS3.5. It was the most traded stock of the day in terms of volume at around ARS1.1 million.

 

The oil and gas company YPF SA (YPFD.BA, YPF) led the declines by falling 3.9% to ARS164.50.

 

Earlier Monday the government said it is investigating accusations that five oil companies acted as a cartel and abused their dominant positions in the wholesale diesel market to inflate prices for the transportation industry.

 

Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said the investigation is being handled by antitrust agency CNDC following accusations by trade groups representing bus and trucking companies.

 

The five companies named in the probe are Spain’s Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC), Shell Argentina SA, Petrobras Argentina SA (PZE, PESA.BA), Esso Argentina SA and Oil Combustible SA.

 

Schiavi said Repsol YPF, through it local subsidiary YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), supplies 65% of the diesel used by public transportation firms, followed by Shell with 20% and Esso with 9%.

 

“We associate the decline at YPF with the government’s announcement,” said Mayoral brokerage trader Ruben Pascuali.

 

Shares of Petrobras Argentina fell 2.8% to ARS6.51.

 

The price of the benchmark peso-denominated 2033 was unchanged at ARS130, yielding 12.7%.

 

The peso closed at ARS4.3165 to the U.S. dollar on the MAE local foreign-exchange wholesale market versus ARS4.3115 in the previous session.

 

Last year the peso weakened 7.6% against the dollar.

 

 

5. PEOPLE POWER! MINING PROTESTS SPREAD TO ARGENTINA (Financial Times)

By Jude Webber

January 17, 2012

 

Argentina is striving to attract foreign investment and its mineral potential – in mining, and energy – offer attractive possibilities. But a social conflict playing out in the northwestern province of La Rioja could have be a taste of things to come as environmentalists and increasingly local communities seek to halt extractive projects that could bring in millions in investment but, they say, at too high a price for their livelihoods.

 

Residents in the northwestern Argentine town of Famatina are on a war footing, determined to oust Canada’s Osisko Mining Corporation from the Famatina gold project that they say will poison their scarce water supplies and ruin their environment.

 

The open-pit project has long been a subject of fierce controversy. Barrick Gold Corp, the world’s top bullion producer, tried to develop the project but finally threw in the towel in 2007 after the town joined ranks against it under the slogan “Don’t touch Famatina”. That slogan has been reprised and locals say opposition in the town is virtually 100 per cent of the 5,800 population, with only a couple of people having been found to defend it. The town’s mayor and priest are firmly opposed to mining.

 

Since January 2, protesters have been blocking the only route up to the site, at an altitude of nearly 2,000 metres. The mine previously been explored and Osisko said last August it was planning to invest an initial $10m in the project, in partnership with the La Rioja provincial mining company, EMSE.

 

January 16 was the deadline for Osisko to start exploration work, and although no sign had been seen of company representatives since mid-December, residents were taking no chances. Some 3,000 people turned out in a protest “caravan” and had a picnic at the roadblock, in the blazing sun and more than 40 degree heat, waiting.

 

“There is no social licence for any mega mining project in Famatina and La Rioja,” Carina Díaz Moreno, a spokeswoman for one of the protest groups that has been campaigning against mining since the days of Barrick, told beyondbrics. “No matter how many contracts (La Rioja provincial governor Luis) Beder Herrera signs, people won’t give him social licence,” she said. “We will be keeping the blocade until Beder Herrera gives in.”

 

He shows no sign of doing so. The provincial governor, an ardent supporter of Cristina Fernández, the president, performed a spectacular U-turn on the issue in 2007, switching from a mining opponent when he was deputy governor to a supporter after he had ousted former governor Angel Maza in what analysts say was a palace coup. He says mining is one of the only prospects for his poor province – a place in which, in fact, 80 per cent of the workforce is employed by the state. Tetra Pak, the Swedish packaging maker, has a plant in the province but there is little industry and some farming, but as much of the land is desert, it is not prime agricultural land either. As a result, Beder Herrera has embraced mining and though it is still in its infancy, there are a number of uranium exploration projects in the province, which also draw local wrath.

 

Protesters, who have organised into citizens’ assemblies, have been emboldened by their success in ejecting Barrick and, convinced they will triumph this time too, say they will wait as long as it takes. What is more, Díaz Moreno says the opposition has grown even stronger since the days of Barrick. “You can’t compare,” she said of Monday’s turnout, compared with protests five years ago.

 

Community opposition to mining is the flip-side of the global commodities boom as people in emerging market countries demand environmental responsibility and a greater share of booming prices, and it is certainly not confined to Famatina.

 

Peru, with its vast mineral riches and large indigenous and poor communities, has been particularly affected by battles for social licence. Nearly a decade ago, in 2003, a fruit-producing town, Tambogrande, in northern Peru halted a major gold and copper project. More recently, Newmont Mining’s Conga project has been beset by serious protests.

 

Also in Peru, Southern Copper’s Tia Maria project was scrapped after the government ruled it “unacceptable” following protests. Bear Creek of Canada saw its Santa Ana silver project shot down and as the protests which killed it fanned out into the jungle, the Inambari dam planned by Brazilian consortium Egasur was cancelled. Another dam project, Tambo-40, was scrubbed by Odebrecht following indigenous protests.

 

Unlike Peru, Argentina sees itself as a “country with mining” rather than a “mining country”, but it is home to some world-class projects, such as Barrick’s Pascua Lama, which straddles the Andes into Chile, and Vale’s major potassium project in Mendoza. The industry in Argentina is far more open than, say, the tightly-regulated energy sector, and as long as minerals prices remain attractive, Argentina is likely to remain a lure.

 

Osisko could not be reached for comment as the uneasy wait continued in Famatina. It looks like being a long fight. And it is a fight that could well be replicated as Argentina seeks to exploit what promise to be the world’s third biggest shale gas riches.

 

 

6. ARGENTINA INVESTIGATING COMPANIES ON FUEL PRICE-FIXING (Bloomberg News)

By Bill Faries and Carlos Manuel Rodriguez

January 16, 2012

 

Argentine energy companies including YPF SA and Petrobras Argentina SA (PESA) are being investigated by the country’s antitrust agency for fuel price-fixing, Planning Minister Julio De Vido said.

 

Argentina’s transport association filed a complaint about fuel prices last week, De Vido said today in a press conference in Buenos Aires. The government will establish a committee to investigate the complaints and potential solutions in addition to the work of the national antitrust commission.

 

Local units of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) were included in the complaint, which said the companies were acting as a cartel, De Vido said. Some refining companies are artificially increasing wholesale fuel prices, the transportation ministry said today in a separate presentation.

 

In the report, entitled dominant “Position Abuse and Cartelization of the Fuel Market,” the ministry said that some refining companies are charging as much as 30 percent more for wholesale fuel than what they charge in gas stations, affecting transport companies in particular.

 

“The government is filing this complaint to defend the purchasing power of the Argentines and the competitiveness of the economy as a whole,” Amado Boudou, the country’s Vice President, told reporters today in Buenos Aires.

 

Local spokesmen for Repsol YPF, Shell, Petrobras and Exxon didn’t immediately comment about the investigation.

 

Shares of YPF SA (YPFD), Argentina’s largest refiner, fell 2.9 percent to 166 pesos in Buenos Aires trading. Petrobras Argentina fell 0.3 percent.

 

 

7. ARGENTINA DEMANDS SWIFTER DEVELOPMENT OF UNCONVENTIONAL OIL, GAS (Dow Jones International News)

By Ken Parks

16 January 2012

 

Argentina’s powerful planning minister signalled Monday the government isn’t willing to make price concessions to oil and gas companies in exchange for swifter development of the country’s vast unconventional hydrocarbon resources.

 

Companies like YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA) have made a number of important discoveries of shale oil and gas in the last year. But analysts say the lack of price incentives and clear rules will likely delay the massive boom in investment and production witnessed in North America’s unconventional oil and gas fields.

 

“We are prepared to discuss prices on new production over time but those prices are going to apply at the moment that said fuels are produced and not before. We aren’t going to accept any type of conditions,” Minister Julio De Vido said at a press conference.

 

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, Argentina ranks No. 3 in the world in terms of technically recoverable shale gas resources with 774 trillion cubic feet of gas.

 

Argentina is also thought to hold large quantities of shale oil. Last November, YPF said it discovered 927 million barrels of unconventional oil in hydrocarbon rich Neuquen Province.

 

Unconventional oil and gas is trapped in tight sand or shale formations.

 

That potential has attracted a number of international oil and gas companies, including France’s Total SA (TOT), Apache Corp (APA), and Exxon Mobil Corp (XOM).

 

De Vido said the federal government is working with the provincial government and producers in Neuquen to develop a time frame for the production of unconventional oil and gas.

 

“We want that oil and gas put in production quickly because the Argentine economy needs it,” he said. “We think at the end of 2013 we could start to see some results.”

 

The government of President Cristina Kirchner forces companies to sell natural gas produced from conventional sources on the domestic market at prices that are significantly below international prices.

 

To attract shale gas investment, the government launched the Gas Plus program in 2008 that allows producers of unconventional gas to charge significantly higher prices. But oil company executives say even those higher prices are too low to spark an unconventional gas bonanza.

 

Producers have signed Gas Plus contracts with prices ranging from $3.50 per million British thermal units–about 1,000 cubic feet–to $5.50/MMBtu. In comparison, YPF sold conventional gas in the domestic market for an average price of $1.96/MMBtu in 2010.

 

De Vido said the exploitation of shale gas and oil in Neuquen Province alone could create tens of thousands of jobs.

 

“We don’t want these reserves to just benefit the balance sheets of the oil companies, rather they should be used to grow the economy. And of course the oil companies will get the profitability they merit,” he said.

 

 

 

8. ARGENTINA INVESTIGATES 5 OIL COMPANIES IN FUEL MARKET PROBE (Dow Jones International News)

By Ken Parks

16 January 2012

 

–Antitrust agency acting on an accusation that five oil companies overcharged for bulk sales of diesel fuel

 

–Has power to order firms to divest assets, can levy fines of up to ARS150 million in cases of anticompetitive behavior

 

–Planning and Economy ministries plan to coordinate “to resolve” the problem

 

BUENOS AIRES (Dow Jones)–Argentina has launched a probe into the country’s wholesale fuel market following accusations that five oil companies colluded or abused their dominant positions to overcharge buyers.

 

Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said inflated wholesale prices might have cost transportation companies an additional 3.5 billion pesos ($812 million) a year.

 

“That is a figure that diminishes the competitiveness of the transportation system,” he said in a press conference.

 

Schiavi said the antitrust agency CNDC is acting on an accusation made earlier this month by trade groups representing bus and trucking companies who complained that oil companies were charging transportation firms more for diesel fuel purchased in bulk than the fuel sold at service stations.

 

The five companies named in the probe are Spain’s Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC), Shell Argentina SA, Petrobras Argentina SA (PZE, PESA.BA), Esso Argentina SA and Oil Combustibles SA.

 

Schiavi said that Repsol YPF, through it local subsidiary YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), supplies 65% of the diesel used by public transportation firms, followed by Shell with 20% and Esso 9%.

 

Spokesmen for YPF and Petrobras Argentina couldn’t be reached for comment. Esso and Shell declined to comment.

 

The CNDC has the power to order firms to divest assets and can levy fines of up to ARS150 million in cases of anticompetitive behavior.

 

The fuel market probe coincides with the federal government’s decision last November to start cutting energy and public utility subsidies for wealthy individuals and a broad range of industries.

 

President Cristina Kirchner, who started her second term in December, has spent billions of dollars to provide cheap water, gas, electricity, fuel and public transportation to consumers and businesses since she first took office in 2007.

 

But faced with a shrinking fiscal surplus and expectations of slower economic growth this year, Kirchner has taken steps to curtail her government’s skyrocketing subsidy bill.

 

In parallel with the CNDC’s investigation, Planning Minister Julio De Vido said his ministry and the Economy Ministry will coordinate “to resolve” the problem.

 

“Given that transportation is subsidized, we don’t want this abuse of market dominance to take resources the government, through the budget approved by Congress, allocates to 40 million Argentines,” he said.

 

Fuel prices in Argentina are typically below international prices as a result of government regulations.

 

Speaking at the press conference, Vice President Amado Boudou attacked critics who say Argentina should allow domestic fuel prices to rise to international levels.

 

“We don’t agree and won’t follow those type of measures because Argentina’s energy system has its own cost structure,” he said.

 

 

9. ARGENTINA: FALSE ALARM (Economist Intelligence Unit – Business Latin America)

16 January 2012

 

News that the president does not have cancer will return the focus to the economic and policy challenges ahead

 

Government authorities announced on January 7th that President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who underwent surgery to remove her thyroid gland on January 4th, did not have cancer after all. The news that the initial diagnosis had been based on a rare “false positive” will surely have been a relief to her and her supporters. The revelation of her illness on December 27th had jolted the political scene less than a month after Ms Fernández took the oath of office for a second term. Now, the uncertainty that a diagnosis of cancer had generated will dissipate, and the administration will again turn its focus to the economic and policy challenges ahead.

 

The initial diagnosis pointed to early-stage thyroid cancer, and the gland was removed successfully on January 4th. However, subsequent testing revealed no cancer cells. Still, Ms Fernández will take three weeks off to convalesce. During this period, the vice-president, Amado Boudou, will exercise the legal functions of the president, in accordance with the constitution. Ms Fernández will then resume all presidential duties.

 

Even if the cancer diagnosis had been confirmed, medical experts say this form of the disease has a high recovery rate when detected early.

 

Ms Fernández won re-election by a large margin last October and enjoys high levels of popularity. And her presidency is well consolidated. The smooth transfer of power to Mr Boudou served to limit political uncertainty to some extent in recent days. Nonetheless, speculation was already brewing over whether such an illness might have hampered the president’s ability to control the policy agenda over the medium term, and this stoked concerns about a potential succession.

 

Slowdown on the way

 

The president’s health scare also briefly diverted attention from some of the key economic challenges facing Argentina this year. Although Ms Fernández will now have to take hormone medication daily, she should be able to return to normal activity at the end of January. Among her first priorities is to seek to minimise the impact on Argentina of declining global economic demand. She will also be under increasing pressure to address tightening fiscal accounts and continued high inflation.

 

The 2012 budget assumes that the economy will grow by 5.1% in 2012, down from an estimated 8% in 2011. However, this projection appears optimistic, and is well above the Economist Intelligence Unit’s own forecast of 3.5% for this year.

 

We expect concerns over export competitiveness to grow, with business and consumer confidence also knocked by the government’s imposition last year of capital and foreign-exchange controls in an attempt to stop capital flight.

 

We still consider, moreover, that there are downside risks to our forecasts, with Argentina among the most vulnerable countries in the region to a further deterioration in global conditions (including a potential break-up of the euro zone). In particular, a weakening of Argentina’s key trade partners, Brazil and China, or a sharp drop in commodity prices would set the stage for further forecast downgrades and a sustained period of volatility.

 

Another problem is the recent drought conditions that have damaged corn production and threaten to severely reduce soy output if rains do not come soon. Argentina is the world’s second-largest corn exporter and third-largest seller of soybean. Soy is the biggest export product overall, and tax revenue from these sales is a major source of fiscal income for the government.

 

Inflation conundrum

 

Perhaps of even greater concern to the government will be the inflation rate, which the 2012 budget anticipates to come in at 9.2%. This is well below the 25-30% estimated by local independent analysts, who argue that the recently revised methodology of the official statistics agency does not accurately reflect surging prices. This belief is widely held and was reflected in a bad-tempered wage negotiation discussion with labour unions in late 2011, in which the powerful General Workers’ Federation broke ranks with the government to demand wage rises in line with unofficial inflation.

 

The administration’s ongoing strategy is to deny the unofficial inflation rate, while at the same time allowing some unions to negotiate pay rises at the higher rate. This has resulted in high general inflation expectations, further helping to drive up prices. Ms Fernández may hope that the slower rate of economic growth in 2012 will allow inflation to moderate. However, she is unlikely to introduce new measures to directly combat inflation. On the contrary, cuts announced late last year to utilities subsidies, and the imposition in January of cuts in subsidies to the public metro system, will further stoke price pressures.

 

Extending executive reach

 

Whereas concern about the president’s health had threatened to serve as a destabilising factor on the political scene, the latest news will allow Ms Fernández to continue to consolidate her control over core government institutions. As part of this strategy, in mid-December the legislature approved the extension of the law of economic emergency, which has now been in place since 2003. This will permit the president to maintain her current sweeping powers to legislate on economic matters, easing the prospect of legislative opposition in the short term.

 

The public sympathy Ms Fernández garnered following the initial news of her cancer (in the same way that her popularity surged following the death of her husband, Néstor Kirchner, in October 2010), along with the smooth handing of power to her vice-president, may serve to bolster her position further.

TUESDAY, JANUARY 17

January 16, 2012

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Argentina’s tax agency has raided a Monsanto Co. contractor and found what it calls slave-like conditions among workers in its cornfields.

The AFIP tax agency says Rural Power SA hired all its farmhands illegally, prevented them from leaving the fields and withheld their salaries. They had to de-tassel corn 14 hours a day and buy their food at inflated prices from the company store.

AFIP says it will hold the American agro-giant responsible for its contractor’s slave-like labor conditions.

Monsanto didn’t immediately respond to calls Monday to its headquarters in Buenos Aires and in St. Louis, which was closed for the Martin Luther King holiday.

Argentina’s congress last month gave farmhands an 8-hour day and other benefits long denied under a dictatorship-era law.

Back to contents

By Michael Warren

January 16, 2012

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Princess Cruises said Monday that it is surprised and disappointed that the Falkland Islands government turned away its Star Princess ship because a small number of people on board have stomach flu.

The decision came as Argentina and Britain engage in a diplomatic row over the islands, which Argentina calls the Malvinas. Brazil, Chile and Uruguay have agreed to support Argentina by turning away any ship flying the Falklands flag. Hundreds of citizens of these countries are among the 3,562 passengers and crew on board.

Falklands government spokesman Darren Christie said it had to deny entry to the ship Saturday because some passengers had contagious norovirus, which the islands are ill-equipped to handle. The decision was made by the Falklands’ chief medical officer in consultation with a microbiologist in Britain, Christie said.

“An outbreak in the Falkland Islands would put enormous pressure on our limiated medical resources, and jeopardize other scheduled cruise visits,” his statement said.

Princess Cruises called the decision “totally unwarranted” and unscientific, and said it runs against international health policy.

“No Princess ship has ever been denied entry into a port based on incidences of ill passengers and crew onboard,” said Julie Benson, the company’s vice president for public relations.

She said the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Britain’s Health Protection Agency and other international health organizations encourage ports to provide support to vessels arriving with ill people.

Benson said a total of 74 passengers and crew, about 2 percent of those on board, had been reported ill. Of those, 20 people now have symptoms, which falls short of the 3 percent that the CDC would consider an outbreak, her statement said.

Argentina’s foreign ministry said that the cruise ship complied with health regulations at its previous ports of call in Chile and Argentina and that it hopes the decision isn’t “only the latest hostile act against tourists of various nationalities, including Argentine citizens who have the simple desire and hope of getting to see the Malvinas Islands.”

The ship had planned to dock in Port Stanley in the middle of its 14-day South America cruise from Valparaiso, Chile, to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The ship’s next port of call is Tuesday in Buenos Aires, followed by Montevideo, Uruguay. The cruise ends Jan. 21.

January 14, 2012

INNSBRUCK, Austria — Buenos Aires has announced a bid to host the third Summer Youth Olympic Games in 2018.

Argentine Olympic Committee President Gerardo Wertheim says “we believe that Buenos Aires would be an excellent host city for this exciting new addition to the Olympics sports calendar.”

Wertheim handed over a letter confirming the bid to International Olympic Committee President Jacques Rogge on the opening day of the inaugural Winter Youth Olympic Games in Innsbruck.

Other cities to have announced their bid for the 2018 Youth Games include Monterrey, Mexico; Medellin, Colombia; Abuja, Nigeria; and Kaspiysk, Russia.

IOC will chose the host city in June 2013.

By Taos Turner

January 16, 2012

–Merval index largely unchanged in very light trading

–Peso little-changed against the U.S. dollar

BUENOS AIRES –Argentina’s Merval stock index was largely unchanged Monday as investors sat on the sidelines on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday in the U.S.

The index rose 0.3% to 2,754.57 points in volume totaling ARS15.5 million ($3.6 million).

The aluminum producer Aluar Aluminio Argentino SAIC (ALUA.BA, AAARF) led the gains by rising 2.8% to ARS2.97.

The financial conglomerate Grupo Financiero Galicia SA (GGAL.BA, GGAL) rose about 1% to ARS3.5. It was the most traded stock of the day in terms of volume at around ARS1.1 million.

The oil and gas company YPF SA (YPFD.BA, YPF) led the declines by falling 3.9% to ARS164.50.

Earlier Monday the government said it is investigating accusations that five oil companies acted as a cartel and abused their dominant positions in the wholesale diesel market to inflate prices for the transportation industry.

Transportation Secretary Juan Pablo Schiavi said the investigation is being handled by antitrust agency CNDC following accusations by trade groups representing bus and trucking companies.

The five companies named in the probe are Spain’s Repsol YPF SA (REPYY, REP.MC), Shell Argentina SA, Petrobras Argentina SA (PZE, PESA.BA), Esso Argentina SA and Oil Combustible SA.

Schiavi said Repsol YPF, through it local subsidiary YPF SA (YPF, YPFD.BA), supplies 65% of the diesel used by public transportation firms, followed by Shell with 20% and Esso with 9%.

“We associate the decline at YPF with the government’s announcement,” said Mayoral brokerage trader Ruben Pascuali.

Shares of Petrobras Argentina fell 2.8% to ARS6.51.

The price of the benchmark peso-denominated 2033 was unchanged at ARS130, yielding 12.7%.

The peso closed at ARS4.3165 to the U.S. dollar on the MAE local foreign-exchange wholesale market versus ARS4.3115 in the previous session.

Last year the peso weakened 7.6% against the dollar.

By Jude Webber

January 17, 2012

Argentina is striving to attract foreign investment and its mineral potential – in mining, and energy – offer attractive possibilities. But a social conflict playing out in the northwestern province of La Rioja could have be a taste of things to come as environmentalists and increasingly local communities seek to halt extractive projects that could bring in millions in investment but, they say, at too high a price for their livelihoods.

Residents in the northwestern Argentine town of Famatina are on a war footing, determined to oust Canada’s Osisko Mining Corporation from the Famatina gold project that they say will poison their scarce water supplies and ruin their environment.

The open-pit project has long been a subject of fierce controversy. Barrick Gold Corp, the world’s top bullion producer, tried to develop the project but finally threw in the towel in 2007 after the town joined ranks against it under the slogan “Don’t touch Famatina”. That slogan has been reprised and locals say opposition in the town is virtually 100 per cent of the 5,800 population, with only a couple of people having been found to defend it. The town’s mayor and priest are firmly opposed to mining.

Since January 2, protesters have been blocking the only route up to the site, at an altitude of nearly 2,000 metres. The mine previously been explored and Osisko said last August it was planning to invest an initial $10m in the project, in partnership with the La Rioja provincial mining company, EMSE.

January 16 was the deadline for Osisko to start exploration work, and although no sign had been seen of company representatives since mid-December, residents were taking no chances. Some 3,000 people turned out in a protest “caravan” and had a picnic at the roadblock, in the blazing sun and more than 40 degree heat, waiting.

“There is no social licence for any mega mining project in Famatina and La Rioja,” Carina Díaz Moreno, a spokeswoman for one of the protest groups that has been campaigning against mining since the days of Barrick, told beyondbrics. “No matter how many contracts (La Rioja provincial governor Luis) Beder Herrera signs, people won’t give him social licence,” she said. “We will be keeping the blocade until Beder Herrera gives in.”

He shows no sign of doing so. The provincial governor, an ardent supporter of Cristina Fernández, the president, performed a spectacular U-turn on the issue in 2007, switching from a mining opponent when he was deputy governor to a supporter after he had ousted former governor Angel Maza in what analysts say was a palace coup. He says mining is one of the only prospects for his poor province – a place in which, in fact, 80 per cent of the workforce is employed by the state. Tetra Pak, the Swedish packaging maker, has a plant in the province but there is little industry and some farming, but as much of the land is desert, it is not prime agricultural land either. As a result, Beder Herrera has embraced mining and though it is still in its infancy, there are a number of uranium exploration projects in the province, which also draw local wrath.

Protesters, who have organised into citizens’ assemblies, have been emboldened by their success in ejecting Barrick and, convinced they will triumph this time too, say they will wait as long as it takes. What is more, Díaz Moreno says the opposition has grown even stronger since the days of Barrick. “You can’t compare,” she said of Monday’s turnout, compared with protests five years ago.

Community opposition to mining is the flip-side of the global commodities boom as people in emerging market countries demand environmental responsibility and a greater share of booming prices, and it is certainly not confined to Famatina.

Peru, with its vast mineral riches and large indigenous and poor communities, has been particularly affected by battles for social licence. Nearly a decade ago, in 2003, a fruit-producing town, Tambogrande, in northern Peru halted a major gold and copper project. More recently, Newmont Mining’s Conga project has been beset by serious protests.

Also in Peru, Southern Copper’s Tia Maria project was scrapped after the government ruled it “unacceptable” following protests. Bear Creek of Canada saw its Santa Ana silver project shot down and as the protests which killed it fanned out into the jungle, the Inambari dam planned by Brazilian consortium Egasur was cancelled. Another dam project, Tambo-40, was scrubbed by Odebrecht following indigenous protests.

Unlike Peru, Argentina sees itself as a “country with mining” rather than a “mining country”, but it is home to some world-class projects, such as Barrick’s Pascua Lama, which straddles the Andes into Chile, and Vale’s major potassium project in Mendoza. The industry in Argentina is far more open than, say, the tightly-regulated energy sector, and as long as minerals prices remain attractive, Argentina is likely to remain a lure.

Osisko could not be reached for comment as the uneasy wait continued in Famatina. It looks like being a long fight. And it is a fight that could well be replicated as Argentina seeks to exploit what promise to be the world’s third biggest shale gas riches.

By Bill Faries and Carlos Manuel Rodriguez

January 16, 2012

Argentine energy companies including YPF SA and Petrobras Argentina SA (PESA) are being investigated by the country’s antitrust agency for fuel price-fixing, Planning Minister Julio De Vido said.

Argentina’s transport association filed a complaint about fuel prices last week, De Vido said today in a press conference in Buenos Aires. The government will establish a committee to investigate the complaints and potential solutions in addition to the work of the national antitrust commission.

Local units of Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM) and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) were included in the complaint, which said the companies were acting as a cartel, De Vido said. Some refining companies are artificially increasing wholesale fuel prices, the transportation ministry said today in a separate presentation.

In the report, entitled dominant “Position Abuse and Cartelization of the Fuel Market,” the ministry said that some refining companies are charging as much as 30 percent more for wholesale fuel than what they charge in gas stations, affecting transport companies in particular.

“The government is filing this complaint to defend the purchasing power of the Argentines and the competitiveness of the economy as a whole,” Amado Boudou, the country’s Vice President, told reporters today in Buenos Aires.

Local spokesmen for Repsol YPF, Shell, Petrobras and Exxon didn’t immediately comment about the investigation.

Shares of YPF SA (YPFD), Argentina’s largest refiner, fell 2.9 percent to 166 pesos in Buenos Aires trading. Petrobras Argentina fell 0.3 percent.