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The government insists: they will not reopen the bondholder swap
Critical Digital
August 26, 2008

Economy assured that it will not launch a new operation for the bondholders. An ATFA bill advances in the U.S.

2:13pm | 26.08.2008

Despite rumors running around the financial district in Buenos Aires, the government reiterated that it will not return to open a swap plan that would involve the bondholders that fell outside the restructuring put forth in 2004 (sic), during the government of N stor Kirchner and under the leadership of his ex-Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna.

Sources at the Palacio de Hacienda told DyN news agency that "for Argentina, the issue of the swap with the holdouts is a closed case."

Thus, the ministry run by Carlos Fernandez rejected newspaper rumors that indicated a "review" of an alternative for the holders of more than 30 billion dollars in defaulted debt bonds.

A BILL ADVANCES IN THE CAPITOL. On July 9th, with the pretext to 'avoid the danger of hoof-and-mouth disease', Republican Senators Tim Johnson (South Dakota) and Michael Enzi (Wyoming) introduced a bill to ban the importation of Argentine meat into the U.S. market.

The legislators that support the Johnson-Enzi bill come from cattle regions of the United States, like Colorado, Wyoming and New Mexico.

But the most notable is that, on the margins of the arguments about the safety of the domestic meat supply, the U.S. Cattlemen's Association, the main promoter of cattle protection, is part of American Task Force Argentina (ATFA), the organization made up of bondholders that fell outside the restructuring of the debt.