An Obama Trip to Argentina Reportedly in the Works; London’s Vulture Funds Embrace New President Macri

According to Argentina’s Foreign Minister-designate, Susana Malcorra, there are “very important indications” from both the White House and U.S. Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, that Barack Obama will visit Argentina next year. “The idea is for the two Presidents”—Obama and neo-liberal President-elect Mauricio Macri—”to meet as soon as possible,” Malcorra said. Macri has spoken with Obama by phone and is anxious to forge a close working relationship with him.

In an interview with the daily La Nación published Monday, Malcorra stressed that under Macri, Argentina will seek a “non-ideological and mature” relationship with the U.S., as opposed to that of outgoing President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, which, Malcorra suggested, was immature because Fernández “politicized” everything. That is, she defied London and Wall Street’s policy dictates, and called things by their right name—never music to Obama’s large ears.

Echoing Obama’s own lies, Malcorra insisted that the vulture fund issue is not a political one, but purely economic and is being dealt with by the U.S. justice system. It has nothing to do with the U.S.-Argentine bilateral relationship, she added, insisting that Obama “doesn’t give orders” to Thomas Griesa, the New York Federal judge who has sided with the vulture funds against Argentina in every ruling for the past several years.

Vulture fund owners are beside themselves. “Finally, someone reasonable we can talk to!” commented one of the lawyers for NML, Ltd., the vulture fund owned by multibillionaire Paul Singer’s Elliott Associates, which has waged financial warfare against Argentina for years. The daily Ambito Financiero reported Dec. 4 that, immediately after the first round of Presidential elections Oct. 25, Macri sent a team to New York to meet with Elliott’s lawyer Robert Cohen, and in three private meetings hammered out the guidelines for future negotiations. Among other things, Macri will recognize $15 billion the vultures say Argentina owes them, which Cristina Fernández refused to do.

In a slight nod to reality, Malcorra, who has worked as UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s chief of staff since 2012, did say that just because Argentina seeks closer ties with the U.S., this doesn’t mean it will break off ties with BRICS member China, with which Fernández de Kirchner has signed many economic development agreements. “It is not in Argentina’s interest to break ties with China,” she said, but added that she would be reviewing all of the allegedly “secret” agreements signed with China, to ensure there is no evidence of wrongdoing.