Argentine Elections Test Public Appetite for Tough Economic Reforms

Earlier this year, Argentina’s state-run rail company restarted service from Buenos Aires to the winemaking province of Mendoza after a three-decade-long hiatus. Speaking at an event in March to celebrate the milestone, President Alberto Fernández said, “Just like we rescued the train, we are fighting day by day to rescue Argentina in what is a very complex world.” He may have rued the analogy when, two months later, the first convoy of 400 passengers took over 29 hours to make the more-than-1,000-kilometer (621-mile) journey. According to press reports, that was nine hours more than it took when service on the route was suspended in the 1990s.

The anecdote says a lot about Argentina, a country whose glory days seem to be behind it. (OK, it’s still a world champ on the soccer field, as it demonstrated last year, but in terms of economics, the dominant narrative has been one of decline.) Around the turn of the last century, it ranked among the 10 wealthiest nations in the world on a per capita basis; now the World Bank places it at No. 83.