Argentina's government has announced plans to nationalize YPF, the largest oil company in Argentina. Of course this throws a monkey wrench into Spain based Respol's plan to sell of YPF (yes, the Spanish company owns YPF) to Sinopec (China Petrochemical Corp). So, are the Argentines trying to get the best of Respol and make the deal with Sinopec directly? Latin American leaders are mixed in response. Felipe Calderon (President of Mexico) expressed concern because PEMEX (oh wait, a nationalized oil company) has a 10% stake in YPF. Hugo Chavez (President of Venezuela) applauded the move.
But interesting was criticism in La Razon calling this Kirchener's dirty war. Also pointed out by an article in Reuters was that another news venue, El Periodico, called Kirchner (or Fernandez, as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner prefers to be referred to these days) "The New Evita". Apparently Kirchner announced the nationalization of YPF in a room decorated with large pictures of Eva Peron. Is Kirchner trying to rally the population around her? Is the Eva Peron comparison fair? Lots of questions, I am personally not the best qualified to answer. But, for my own two cents, it is never a good idea to nationalize industries.
But interesting was criticism in La Razon calling this Kirchener's dirty war. Also pointed out by an article in Reuters was that another news venue, El Periodico, called Kirchner (or Fernandez, as Argentine President Cristina Fernandez Kirchner prefers to be referred to these days) "The New Evita". Apparently Kirchner announced the nationalization of YPF in a room decorated with large pictures of Eva Peron. Is Kirchner trying to rally the population around her? Is the Eva Peron comparison fair? Lots of questions, I am personally not the best qualified to answer. But, for my own two cents, it is never a good idea to nationalize industries.
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