Daniel Pollack, the mediator appointed by judge Thomas Griesa to oversee negotiations between the Argentine government and holdout investors, today confirmed that talks were unsuccessful between the two parties and that Argentina had fallen into default.
July 30 represented the final deadline for restructured bondholders to receive payment on Discount titles, but in a statement Pollack informed that there had been no accord following talks between Economy minister Axel Kicillof and representatives of the ‘vulture funds’.
«Notwithstanding any claim to the contrary, Default is not a mere “technical” condition, but rather a real and painful event that will hurt real people,» Pollack explained, referring to the refusal of Kicillof and other figures in the Argentine government to use the term default.
«These include all ordinary Argentine citizens, the exchange bondholders (who will not receive their interest ) and the holdouts ( who will not receive payment of the judgements they obtained in Court).»
The mediator continued by admitting that it was hard to predict what the consequences would be for Argentina.
«The full consequences of Default are not predictable, but they certainly are not positive. This case has been highly publicized and highly politicized for many weeks. What has been perfectly clear to me all along, however, in my capacity as the neutral Special Master, is that the laws of the United States must be obeyed by all parties,» he asserted.
«I have worked relentlessly, over a five-week period, to bring the Republic of Argentina and its bondholders together in an agreement that would allow the June 30 interest payment of many hundreds of millions of dollars to be made, and to be made lawfully, thereby avoiding Default.»
Pollack concluded his statement by calling on the Argentine government to do everything possible in order to avoid further negative repercussions that could come from entering in default.
«Default cannot be allowed to lapse into a permanent condition or the Republic of Argentina and the bondholders, both exchange and holdouts, will suffer increasingly grievous harm, and the ordinary Argentine citizen will be the real and ultimate victim.”
Source: Buenos Aires Herald