The current government and the Covid-19 pandemic in Argentina
Fortunato Mallimaci[1]
Argentina is responding to the pandemic with a major national effort to implement a strict quarantine to prevent mass deaths. It stands out in the region, as can be seen in the comparison of deaths per capita.
A team of pandemic advisors—mostly scientists from public universities and CONICET (the National Scientific and Technical Research Council)—has been advising the president from the outset on global health decisions. The guiding principle was—and remains—to preserve lives before maintaining a rampant economy. President Alberto Fernández says: "It's not true that if we lift the quarantine the economy will become prosperous," he affirmed, adding that "we are going to help everyone who needs help" and that "the era of every man for himself, of meritocracy, is dead in Argentina, in my opinion."
We will not cover “everything” being done on this topic in this article. We are interested in the scientific contributions and a brief note on the connection with China. It is important to highlight that, following the Covid-19 pandemic, the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of Argentina decided to create a Covid-19 Unit to respond urgently to the health crisis, with projects supported and sustained by the ministry and its scientific organizations.
This approach was innovative because now the ministry—and therefore the national government—decides research priorities and funding, rather than simply responding to researchers' requests as had been the practice for decades. The exceptional and widespread nature of Covid-19 achieved what years of mobilizations and protests by scientists and social organizations had failed to accomplish: the State allocated substantial funds for research based on the country's needs, not just the individual interests of researchers.
Let's see examples:
Scientists from CONICET, based at the Dr. César Milstein Institute of Science and Technology and supported by a private foundation, delivered 1.500 NEOKIT-COVID-19 tests and trained authorities from provincial hospitals and the city of Buenos Aires to implement rapid diagnostic tests.
The tests, which are used to test RNA samples and obtain results in less than two hours, were delivered to the authorities of the public hospitals of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area (AMBA) where 15.000.000 people live and which is the only area where Covid-19 persists massively in Argentina today.
This is a rapid diagnostic kit with two key advantages: it allows for testing RNA samples and obtaining results in under two hours (with similar sensitivity to current RT-PCR techniques) and does not require extensive equipment (real-time thermocyclers). A color change from negative (violet) to positive (blue) indicates a positive test for SARS-CoV-2. This tool streamlines and strengthens the healthcare response because, in a very short time, healthcare teams can determine the appropriate course of action for patients with symptoms—whether to keep them in isolation, discharge them, or administer treatment. The development could lead to local production of nearly 500 kits per week, equivalent to approximately 50.000 tests, depending on the availability of the necessary supplies.
Regarding ELA-CHEMSTRIP, through a coordinated action between the National Universities of San Martín and Quilmes, together with two technological SMEs: CHEMTEST and Productos Biológicos SA (PB-L) and the Ministry of Health of the Province of Buenos Aires, 5.000 determinations were delivered to hospitals in the AMBA.
El Argentine molecular diagnostic test for the virus The COVID-19 diagnostic kit works in three steps, starting with a nasopharyngeal swab of the person being diagnosed. The entire process takes an hour and a half and can be performed with the products included in the diagnostic kit, plus an incubator set to 60°C. This means it doesn't require the expensive and sophisticated equipment used in RT-PCR molecular tests. Together, they are able to produce 100.000 COVID-19 diagnostic kits per month and distribute them throughout the rest of Latin America, demonstrating solidarity over economic interests.
In the area of Social Sciences and Humanities, numerous research projects were carried out during the nationwide quarantine. Areas on the outskirts of major cities with urgent and critical problems were identified, and local and national proposals were developed to implement comprehensive social policies in the short term. It was essential to be present, to foster civic engagement, and to promote equality and rights as responses to the recent past and the pandemic. The conservative neoliberal government of President Macri, which governed for the last four years, produced millions of unemployed, impoverished, and vulnerable people through its policies of financialization, structural adjustment, capital flight, and the dismantling of the welfare state.
It is worth noting that these proposals are part of the actions being carried out by the “Coronavirus Covid-19 Unit”, made up of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation together with CONICET and the National Agency for the Promotion of Research, Technological Development and Innovation.
The Social COVID-19 Area also stood out with transformative proposals to eradicate the inequalities and injustices of a deregulated market. Emphasis was placed on projects that would create a universal basic income for the impoverished population, implement an emergency tax on Argentina's wealthiest citizens, close the digital divide between the wealthy and the vulnerable, and promote a housing policy that would eliminate slums in our country. The government, in turn, turned a deaf ear to economists and proponents of orthodox economics who only speak of the state's "fiscal deficit" as the cause of Argentina's social ills. In order to maintain a minimum level of economic stability and income for all Argentine families, it distributed millions of pesos to support food and a basic standard of living for millions of people who are currently unemployed. At the same time, he paid employees who were in quarantine, whether from the state or private sector, provided ample subsidies to small and medium-sized industries so that they would not close their businesses, and strengthened the health system with ample resources to prepare for the "peak of the pandemic".
Cooperation with China
Since taking office in December 2019, the new Peronist government decided to completely change the course of the financial economy, moving towards a more productive, equitable, and integrated economy within Latin America. Furthermore, from his first speech, President Fernández spoke of strengthening ties with China and requesting assistance from all countries worldwide for the restructuring of the massive external debt incurred by the previous administration. The nearly $50 billion loaned by the IMF to the Macri government was siphoned off in just two years by businesspeople, banks, investment funds, and “friends of the ruling family.” In the midst of an economic reactivation process aimed at stimulating the domestic market and restructuring the debt, Argentina has been living in a state of pandemic since March 2020.
The Argentine government thus established new priorities, actions, and urgent matters, taking into account what had happened in Asia, Europe, and other countries. It decided to implement a strict quarantine from the outset to prevent deaths, infections, and the spread of Covid-19. The opposition and the mainstream media linked to that opposition accused (and continue to accuse) the government of curtailing freedoms, attacking private property, heading towards “Venezuela,” communism, and following the strict lockdown model influenced by “China” instead of following the examples of Italy, France, Spain, the United Kingdom, the USA, Brazil, Chile, and similar countries. One day, in the not-too-distant future, we will have to describe the accusations that were made and the national and international relationships at play between financial power groups and pharmaceutical companies during THE PANDEMIC!!!
Cooperation between the Argentine and Chinese governments, and between Argentine and Chinese companies, has continued, although new challenges are emerging regarding new markets and offerings that will arise post-pandemic.
I simply want to highlight, as something new that has emerged with the pandemic, the activity of the current government of the Province of Buenos Aires (the largest in the country with 17.000.000 people) with the Chinese government to increase cooperation between governments and peoples, recalling China's Belt and Road Initiative. Over the last two months, 17 flights arrived with medical supplies (upon the return of these flights, the new Chargé d'Affaires, Dr. Sabino Vaca Narvaja, traveled to China, with whom CIMIl SHU/CEIL-CONICET held several meetings) to strengthen the Province's healthcare system. This week, three ships from China are arriving with essential supplies to combat the coronavirus, in what has been called "Operation Shanghai."
The 33 containers are bringing to our country 307.800 KN95 masks; 5.415,796 surgical masks, 375.760 gloves, 118.475 coveralls, 668.200 face masks, and 83.582 protective goggles, which will then be distributed to all health establishments in the Buenos Aires territory.
In summary, we can analyze how these policies—prioritizing life over the profits of large, concentrated corporations, innovating in science and technology in both social and technological areas, and providing immediate responses to the hunger and unemployment caused by the pandemic with extensive direct subsidies to individuals and small businesses—have increased the current government's popular legitimacy. Resolving the external debt with "vulture" creditors and addressing the large debts/capital flight borrowed from the International Monetary Fund by the previous government has contributed to this process. At the same time, national and international media, political, business, financial, and judicial opposition groups are seeking to delegitimize these initiatives to expand rights and build social welfare states that support the people and workers.
This isn't just a problem for Argentina and its government. That's why it's urgent to build a more egalitarian, more supportive, more just, and more integrated society in Latin America and the Caribbean, within a grand project of a Greater Homeland. We must distance ourselves from the neoliberal globalization of austerity and privatizations driven by powerful financial groups. A great opportunity lies in working with the Chinese government, scientific communities, and people to build—as is already underway—a different kind of multilateral globalization, based on the Belt and Road Initiative, one that is peaceful, harmonious, and fosters growth, where everyone benefits, and where the vast majority of the population reaps the rewards here and now.
[1] CIMI Globalization and Society CEIL.CONICET/SHU. Article originally published at: http://spanish.chinatoday.com.cn/2018/tj/202007/t20200714_800213974.html?from=singlemessage
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