Biden and Argentina's Fernandez meet in Oval Office, celebrate 200 years of bilateral ties

[peppertree]

Argentine President Alberto Fernández and U.S. President Joe Biden held a bilateral meeting today in the White House’s Oval Office at 2.40 p.m.

The meeting - which also marked 200 years of bilateral relations - had an open agenda, and they were later joined by high-ranking officials from both administrations.

Fernández left Argentina on March 24 to start a week-long tour, starting with the Ibero-American Summit in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

He then made a two-day stop in New York City, where he held a meeting with over 30 investors, banking managers, and businessmen at the Council of the Americas on Monday night.

Yesterday, Fernández was joined in D.C. by Economy Minister Sergio Massa. Fernández flies back to Argentina later today - but Massa will remain in the US to meet with International Monetary Fund (IMF) director Kristalina Georgieva on Thursday.

Given the United States’ key role in IMF decisions, Massa and Fernández hope to secure support for their economic plan for Argentina during the trip.

Fernández argued that this summer’s drought, which has devastated Argentina’s harvest and subsequent exports, has changed this year’s macroeconomic panorama - depriving the hard currency-strapped country of up to $20 billion in export income for 2023.

At: https://buenosairesherald.com/world/international-relations/fernandez-and-biden-to-meet-in-oval-office-this-afternoon

Argentine President Alberto Fernández and U.S. President Joe Biden at the Oval Office this afternoon.

Biden lauded Fernández's stand on democracy, human rights, and against Russia's invasion of Ukraine - which has hit Argentina's already-stressed balance of payments hard.

Fernández thanked Biden for his donation of millions of Covid vaccine doses during the depths of the pandemic in 2021, and for Biden's support in Argentina's efforts to refinance a nearly $200 billion foreign debt inherited from the right-wing Mauricio Macri administration.

[Judi Lynn]

1. So glad they had this important meeting. It was tremendous seeing Fernndez at the White House.

Their public conversation was really excellent. They are both really good people.

There's absolutely no doubt both men are completely aware the Republicans were the ones who wholeheartedly supported the violent, sadistic, monstrous Dirty War and the deaths of 30,000 Argentine men, women, even children during the military dictatorship.

Thank you for the information and the video. It was so nice seeing the two men speaking together. I hope their bond was very much deepened.

Fernández has a wonderful smile! ⭐️

[peppertree]

2. Glad you liked it, Judi.

You'll recall the last time an Argentine president was at the Oval Office (Macri in May 2017): it led to the fraudulent, $45 billion bailout Trump forced the IMF to lend to Argentina just a year later.

"The largest campaign contribution in world history," as Fernández called it at the time.

So it's good to see President Biden actually trying to help Fernández untie that hell of a knot; Argentina couldn't have refinanced Macri's IMF debt without Biden's help, certainly.

All the Best!

"No - this is how you do the power hand sign, Mauricio. Sheesh!"

[Judi Lynn]

3. Tremendous comment, and accurate, by a real President.

Macri, Bolsonaro, and Trump make an evil, criminally insane cluster. Fiends for life.