October 10th, 2025
1. José Luís Espert withdrew as a candidate for National Deputy and Karen Reichardt will take his place
Following the scandal surrounding his ties to Fred Machado, accused of drug trafficking in the United States, and with only 20 days to go before the elections, José Luís Espert announced his decision to “step aside” from his candidacy for National Deputy for the province of Buenos Aires. He also requested a leave of absence as national deputy until the end of his term and resigned as chair of the Budget Committee. Karina Celia Vázquez (known as Karen Reichardt) will replace Espert at the top of the list, as decided by the court. Thus, the electoral court did not grant the government’s request for Diego Santilli to replace José Luis Espert.
2. Luis Caputo traveled to the United States to continue negotiations with the US Treasury
Amid currency tensions, Economy Minister Luis Caputo returns to Argentina after negotiating with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on the bailout package for after the October 26 elections. Official sources from the Ministry of Economy confirmed that Minister Caputo will return to Argentina on Thursday after spending a week in the United States negotiating the bailout package promised by Donald Trump’s administration. Caputo and Bessent finalized the terms of the financial rescue, and Trump is expected to make the official announcement when he receives Javier Milei at the White House on Tuesday, October 14. Caputo and Milei are also expected to meet with IMF Director Kristalina Gueorguieva, who has given her approval to the negotiations between the United States and Argentina, although she assured that the government’s success will depend on “the people’s support.”
Infobae: Vuelve Luis Caputo de EEUU, a la espera del anuncio sobre el paquete de ayuda financiera de Trump
3. Milei leads the libertarian campaign ahead of the elections
In campaign mode, President Javier led the presentation of his new book on Monday night at the Movistar Arena, the stadium located in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Villa Crespo. The president also toured the city of Mar del Plata, where he had a full schedule for the day, visiting a food factory in the morning and continuing with a tour that began at the corner of Güemes and Avellaneda, a traditional site in the seaside resort city. The president’s busy week ends in Mendoza, where Milei chose to visit the southern part of the province, the commune of San Rafael, a historic stronghold of the PJ, so there are expectations about how the day will unfold, given some incidents in other jurisdictions of the country.
4. Intense session in the Chamber of Deputies
The Chamber of Deputies approved in general terms the reform of the law regulating the conditions of validity of emergency decrees and limiting the power of the executive branch with 140 votes in favor, but the initiative failed to become law definitively because the article invalidating decrees not dealt with by Congress within 90 days was rejected by a single vote, and the text was returned to the Senate for confirmation. In a turbulent legislative context, LLA deputy José Luis Espert requested leave for personal reasons until December 2025, and at the same time, the Chamber authorized a search and seizure of his office in connection with an alleged money laundering case. In addition, six informational meetings were scheduled to discuss the 2026 budget, and it was informally agreed that Representative “Bertie” Benegas Lynch (LLA) would chair the committee in Espert’s place. Finally, the Chamber of Deputies gave preliminary approval to the law declaring a state of emergency and financing for the National System of Science, Technology, and Innovation.
5. The Treasury is running out of dollars and was unable to prevent peso rates from reaching yields of up to 5% per month.
The government decided to raise the “intra-band ceiling” it sets for the wholesale dollar exchange rate by $40. On the verge of running out of ammunition to intervene, the Treasury placed its first sell orders at $1,470, i.e., 2.7% above the level at which it had positioned itself during the previous three trading sessions, which means that it is very close to the BCRA’s band ceiling of $1,485.14 (+1%).