DISINFO: A ruthless US doesn't allow Argentina to put an end to hunger
SUMMARY
The US responded to the newly elected president of Argentina with a threat. Alberto Fernández’s plan ‘Argentina without hunger’, which includes the renegotiation of the debt with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) as a strategy, found a ruthless answer from the US Secretary of Treasury Steven Mnuchin.
RESPONSE
This is a deliberate misinterpretation of Steven Mnuchin's statements, whose exact words were that Argentina had a commitment to the IMF and the US expected the new government to uphold it. However, he didn’t close the door to a renegotiation, only pointing out that if Argentina wanted this, they have to present a plan to the IMF for review, as with any other country. Besides, by directly linking Mnuchin’s alleged inflexibility to the hunger reduction programmes, this narrative tries to present the US as responsible for the suffering of the Argentinian people, in line with recurrent Russian disinformation about an evil US to be blamed for many of the world's problems, such as missile proliferation, Europe's disintegration, the promotion of coups and destabilisation all over the world (from Bolivia to Hong Kong, Russia, Syria, Venezuela or Hungary), the downing of Malaysian airlines flights, the sponsorship of religious destabilising movements and terrorism, the ignition of wars and the corruption of human rights.