Just three days before Argentina’s pivotal midterm elections Oct. 26, the country is a battleground. The cabinet is in utter disarray, fraught with internal factional battles over looming personnel shifts. Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein abruptly resigned on Oct. 20, earlier than he had agreed to, infuriating the mentally unstable President Javier Milei. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent continues to pour hundreds of millions of dollars daily onto the domestic markets to keep the peso afloat, at least until next Sunday, Oct. 26, while an additional $20 billion in a private loan from four U.S. banks—JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Bank of America—has yet to materialize, because necessary guarantees that the loan will be repaid are lacking.
In the midst of these political tensions and financial insecurity, JPMorgan Chase CEO Jaime Dimon swept into the country Oct. 22, along with other financial vultures, clearly intending to intervene into the chaotic situation. Indicative is the exclusive conference he is hosting tonight at 6:00 p.m. with international and local luminaries, supposedly to discuss “global issues,” according to the daily [La Nación.](https://www.lanacion.com.ar/economia/aviones-privados-camionetas-negras-y-el-teatro-colon-los-detalles-de-la-llegada-de-un-numero-uno-de-nid22102 ) No one believes the Argentine case will be off the table.
Joining Dimon are the execrable former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, senior advisor and head of the bank’s International Council, who has spent the last few days mucking around in Uruguay; and former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who sits on JPMorgan’s International Advisory Council and is also affiliated with the bank’s Center for Geopolitics. Amin Nasser, CEO of Saudi Aramco, is also attending, said to be interested in Argentina’s vast Vaca Muerta shale oil deposit. Trump’s “strategists” have promised Milei that there will be huge U.S. and other investments in Argentina’s vast raw materials wealth.
But hanging in the balance is the proposed $20 billion private loan that Scott Bessent is trying to wrap up, to which Dimon is key. Bloomberg News pointed out Oct. 22 that time is running out on this pre-Oct. 26 operation, given that the collateral issue is unresolved and that Argentina has no certainty of being capable of providing it. Bloomberg adds that uncertainty about the loan’s fate “is heaping pressure on the Argentine peso” and undermining Bessent’s attempt “to stabilize the country’s economy.” Whether the U.S. Treasury might backstop the loan operation remains a question. Finance Minister Luis Caputo, a former JPMorgan employee on Wall Street, will meet with Dimon on Oct. 24 to discuss last-ditch rescue plans. Top Finance Ministry staffers are all former JPMorgan employees.
