How Javier Milei found $18 billion

When Domingo Cavallo implemented at the start of December 2001 a restriction on cash withdrawals, he unwittingly unleashed a month of rioting and looting across Argentina that would leave 39 people dead. Police brutally cracked down on protests that quickly spread as the country’s economy fell to pieces.

The basket of laws enforced by the then-finance minister became known as the Corralito and were a desperate response to a devastating – and worsening – economic crisis. A series of setbacks had caused both individual Argentines and companies to convert their pesos into dollars and get them out of the banks. Some 25 per cent of the country’s cash had been spirited away since the beginning of the calendar year.

The corralito put a stop to this. But it also did something far more drastic. It turned Argentina against the banks. 

There has long been a core of Argentines who say they will never trust a bank with their savings.