Argentina: It's good to talk

The "Guillermo Moreno Replacement Name Envelope" is still unopened

You can't expect miracles overnight, but the underlying tone of the Klishtina gov't has been changing since that watershed Cobos "no" moment.

Firstly, as well as the new Cabinet Chief Massa saying things have to change at the gov't INDEC statistics office (i.e. those directly responsible for the blatant lie known as the inflation figures, amongst other silliness), the gov't has implicitly recognized the real rate this week by approving a 22.5% rise in the national minimum wage, which then steps up to 27%% by the end of the year. This minimum wage is the highest in Latin America by quite some distance, by the way.

Secondly, this week Klishtina met with the soon-to-be-ex Veep Julio Cobos met with Klishtina. According to referee..sorry...sole witness Massa, the 45 minute conversation was cordial and frank. In other words, Cobos won't go just yet.

But maybe the most interesting development was today, when Klishtina announced a press conference for tomorrow with all national media. Each media outlet will be allowed to ask one question (to give everyone a fair shot, sez Massa). This may not sound like much to you, but open Presidential press conferences have been a real rarity in the Kirchner era, and this will be the first since Klishtina took charge. She also said that regional media would get their chance in the future when she travels to the provinces on official business.

So signs of a thaw in the so far insular Kirchner approach. I'm no fan of the gov't (it might have shown up in previous posts..ahem), but the kinds of moves towards more accountability listed above cannot be a bad thing and might even turn out as positives given enough time. Credit where credit is due, and here's hoping it continues. Vamos a ver.........