Argentina is raising its game in the PR battle with a group of investors over its disputed debt.
The Ministry of Finance was quick to respond to an op-ed in the Financial Times by NML Capital, one of the hedge funds that has led a decade-long legal challenge to Argentina’s debt restructuring.
In a brief letter released yesterday, Argentina’s finance minister Axel Kicillof hit back at NML and other hedge funds, branding them “vultures” who “never lent money to Argentina” and are seeking an “exorbitant profit” on their investment.
The letter had some handy sound bites, too (“extorting a sovereign country,” “speculate with the future of 40 million Argentines”), but there was little coverage in the media. That’s likely because these arguments have been used for years by Argentina and aren’t newsworthy to those (few) reporters who’ve been following the story. Still, the letter was a big improvement over the full-page advertisement Argentina placed last week, which was practically unreadable.
But the other likely reason Argentina’s message isn’t coming through is tactical. It hasn’t lined up all its assets – advertising, media outreach, social – in a coordinated way and with an effective message that supports its negotiating strategy.
Let’s hope Argentina doesn’t make such mistakes at the World Cup semifinal later today.