August 2020. Until recently, Argentina’s protracted coronavirus lockdown was marked by an unusual degree of harmony, as the country’s perennially squabbling political factions came together to contain the spread of Covid-19. But after nearly four months of consecutive lockdowns, rifts have begun to appear in that uneasy truce amid growing demands for a relaxation of quarantine measures. With new cases spiralling out of control, the old political rivalries between followers and detractors of the late three-time president Juan Perón, and his wife Evita, has returned to the fore. On one side, the Perónist administration of the president, Alberto Fernández, is struggling to keep its coronavirus lockdown in place after Argentina passed the 100,000 cases on Sunday – a four-fold increase from a month ago. On the other, an increasingly rebellious opposition and a defiant grassroots movement have been pressing for the end of quarantine rules. The president has expressed concern at the growing acrimony over Argentina’s lockdown. “No society fulfils its destiny among insults and division, with hate as the common denominator,” he said on Thursday in an address marking Argentina’s national independence holiday. While Fernández spoke, thousands of Argentinians were taking to the streets in a nationwide protest that mixed simmering discontent over the long lockdown with anger against his Perónist administration.
Aug 2020. Argentina Coronavirus Landgrab
