Argentine Senate votes against hike in farm tariffs

The farm crisis that has divided the agricultural powerhouse of Argentina for months took a dramatic turn Thursday, when the Senate voted against the government's incendiary new tax on grain exports.

The decisive vote was cast by the government's own vice president after an 18-hour Senate debate, stunning observers and igniting a political crisis, writes Patrick J. McDonnell of the L.A. Times.

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-- Deborah Bonello in Los Angeles

Photo: Government supporters gather outside Congress as the Senate votes on the farm tariffs. The measure, which failed, aimed to tax the agricultural sector for social projects. Credit: Eduardo Di Baia / Associated Press

Fiction in Argentina is an evolving story

A new generation of Argentine writers is emerging, writes Reed Johnson in the L.A. Times' Calendar section.

The authors came of age during great social upheaval, which is reflected in their work.

"Serious fiction in this country used to revolve around brain-teasing plots filled with jazz-like philosophical riffs. Today it's more likely to revolve around porn stars, Renaissance-era sexual intrigue and the emotional infidelities of married men. But don't get the wrong idea: Argentine fiction is still serious stuff, but it reflects changing times and values in a country that has long regarded itself as South America's most urbane, bookish and 'European.' "

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-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

In Argentina, confidence tumbles as economic anxiety soars

An atmosphere of crisis and tumbling confidence has enveloped Argentina after five years of political stability and robust economic growth. While its giant neighbor and longtime rival Brazil is booming, thanks to incresing agricultural and alternative fuel production, Argentina is having flashbacks to previous eras, when a wobbly economy created social unrest and political turmoil.

President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is facing a rancorous farm revolt in one of the world's major grain- and beef-producing nations. Growers on Saturday ended their fourth strike this year, but the battle rages on more than 100 days after it erupted when the government imposed new tariffs on farmers selling grain abroad, writes the Times' Patrick J. McDonnell.

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-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Photo: Argentines protest in Buenos Aires last week. Middle-class people worried about rising prices have sided with farmers in their dispute with the government over the tariff. Maximiliano Luna / Associated Press

Soderbergh's 'Che' gets slammed, praised at Cannes

A rough, uncut version of Steven Soderbergh's highly anticipated movie about legendary Argentine revolutionary and guerrilla fighter Ernesto "Che" Guevara  (see IMDB listing here) divided critics at Cannes this week.

Some critics faulted the film, which runs more than four hours, for not having a subplot, and complained that the Commandante appears diminished, if anything, by Soderbergh's interpretation.

"No doubt it will be back to the drawing board for 'Che,' Steven Soderbergh's intricately ambitious, defiantly nondramatic four-hour, 18-minute presentation of scenes from the life of revolutionary icon Che Guevara. If the director has gone out of his way to avoid the usual Hollywood biopic conventions, he has also withheld any suggestion of why the charismatic doctor, fighter, diplomat, diarist and intellectual theorist became and remains such a legendary figure; if anything, Che seems diminished by the way he’s portrayed here. ... Neither half feels remotely like a satisfying stand-alone film, while the whole offers far too many aggravations for its paltry rewards."  Todd McCarthy, Variety.

Read the Los Angeles Times report here and BBC Mundo's for Spanish language.

Update: A.O. Scott of the New York Times had kinder, if qualified, words for the film.

Photo: Actor Benicio del Toro and director Steven Soderbergh at the Cannes photo-call for "Che."

WireImage.

-- Deborah Bonello in Mexico City

Argentina's Tevez celebrates English soccer cup

He came out of one of Buenos Aires' toughest neighborhoods, a villa called Fort Apache. Short of stature but long in determination, Carlos Tevez has become one of Europe's top soccer stars. The forward is not especially flashy, but he always shows a lot of grit.

On Sunday, his team, the legendary Manchester United, won England's coveted Premier League championship. Tevez had previously won an Argentine championship with Boca Juniors and a Brazilian cup with Corinthians. During Sunday's victory celebrations, Tevez draped himself in a blue-and-white Argentine flag, a photo that made the newspapers at home. Asked by the sports daily Ole about his popularity with British fans, Tevez replied: "They see me on the field every Sunday and they know I give my all."

-- Patrick J. McDonnell and Andres D'Alessandro in Buenos Aires.

Photo: Manchester United players Carlos Tevez, left, draped in the Argentine flag, and Gary Neville, right, celebrate with the Premier League championship trophy after 2-0 victory Sunday against Wigan.  Credit: Rich Eaton / EPA