title: Market (economics)

text: These are common themes in interpretive social science, cultural studies and post-structuralism. However, as Timothy Mitchell points out this mode of thought tends to put aside the real, the natural and nonhuman: the idea that a universal processes exists such as modernity, capitalism and globalization should not be taken for granted. An emerging theme is the interrelationship, inter-penetrability and variations of concepts of persons, commodities and modes of exchange under particular market formations. This is most pronounced in recent movement towards post-structuralist theorizing that draws on Michel Foucault and Actor Network Theory and stress relational aspects of person-hood, and dependence and integration into networks and practical systems. Commodity network approaches further both deconstruct and show alternatives to the market models concept of commodities.


title: Market (economics)

text: In social systems theory (cf. Niklas Luhmann), markets are also conceptualized as inner environments of the economy. As horizon of all potential investment decisions the market represents the environment of the actually realized investment decisions. However, such inner environments can also be observed in further function systems of society like in political, scientific, religious or mass media systems.


title: Market (economics)

text: Transportation can be carried either by stone-paved roads or railways, the former not being fully developed by private capital alone. A widespread trend in economic history and sociology is skeptical of the idea that it is possible to develop a theory to capture an essence or unifying thread to markets. For economic geographers, reference to regional, local, or commodity specific markets can serve to undermine assumptions of global integration and highlight geographic variations in the structures, institutions, histories, path dependencies, forms of interaction and modes of self-understanding of agents in different spheres of market exchange. Reference to actual markets can show capitalism not as a totalizing force or completely encompassing mode of economic activity, but rather as "a set of economic practices scattered over a landscape, rather than a systemic concentration of power".


title: Market (economics)

text: Problematic for market formalism is the relationship between formal capitalist economic processes and a variety of alternative forms, ranging from semi-feudal and peasant economies widely operative in many developing economies, to informal markets, barter systems, worker cooperatives, or illegal trades that occur in most developed countries. Practices of incorporation of non-Western peoples into global markets in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries did not merely result in the quashing of former social economic institutions. Rather, various modes of articulation arose between transformed and hybridized local traditions and social practices and the emergent world economy. By their liberal nature, so called capitalist markets have almost always included a wide range of geographically situated economic practices that do not follow the market model. Economies are thus hybrids of market and non-market elements. Helpful here is J.K. Gibson-Graham's complex topology of the diversity of contemporary market economies describing different types of transactions, labour and economic agents. Transactions can occur in black markets (such as for marijuana) or be artificially protected (such as for patents). They can cover the sale of public goods under privatization schemes to co-operative exchanges and occur under varying degrees of monopoly power and state regulation. Likewise, there are a wide variety of economic agents, which engage in different types of transactions on different terms: one cannot assume the practices of a religious kindergarten, multinational corporation, state enterprise, or community-based cooperative can be subsumed under the same logic of calculability. This emphasis on proliferation can also be contrasted with continuing scholarly attempts to show underlying cohesive and structural similarities to different markets. Gibson-Graham thus read a variety of alternative markets for fair trade and organic foods or those using local exchange trading system as not only contributing to proliferation, but also forging new modes of ethical exchange and economic subjectivities.


title: Market (economics)

text: Economic anthropology is a scholarly field that attempts to explain human economic behavior in its widest historic, geographic and cultural scope. Its origins as a sub-field of anthropology begin with the Polish-British founder of anthropology, Bronisław Malinowski, and his French compatriot, Marcel Mauss, on the nature of gift-giving exchange (or reciprocity) as an alternative to market exchange. Studies in economic anthropology for the most part are focused on exchange but they a complex relationship with the discipline of economics, of which it is highly critical: for example Trobianders described by Malinowski deviate from rational self-interested individual.


title: Market (economics)

text: Bronisław Malinowski's path-breaking work, "Argonauts of the Western Pacific" (1922), addressed the question "why would men risk life and limb to travel across huge expanses of dangerous ocean to give away what appear to be worthless trinkets?". He begins by describing trade in the South Sea:


title: Market (economics)

text: The economic situation can vary considerably depending on the tribes and islands: for example the Gumawana villagers are know as efficient sailors and for their skill in pottery, they are, however, island monopolists keeping the trade in their owns hands without improving it. In a series of three expeditions, Malinowski carefully traced the network of exchanges of bracelets and necklaces across the Trobriand Islands and established that they were part of a system of inter-tribal exchange: it is known as the Kula ring, a closed circuit in which necklaces of red shells go in a clockwise motion and bracelets of white shell go in anticlockwise motion. Malinowski goes on to explain:


title: Market (economics)

text: In the 1920s and later, Malinowski's study became the subject of debate with the French anthropologist, Marcel Mauss, author of "The Gift" ("Essai sur le don", 1925). Malinowski emphasized the exchange of goods between individuals and their non-altruistic motives for giving: they expected a return of equal or greater value (colloquially referred to as "Indian giving"). In other words, reciprocity is an implicit part of gifting as no "free gift" is given without expectation of reciprocity. In contrast, Mauss has emphasized that the gifts were not between individuals, but between representatives of larger collectivities.


title: Market (economics)

text: He stated that this exchange system was clearly linked to political authority. He argued these gifts were a "total prestation" as they were not simple, alienable commodities to be bought and sold, but like the "Crown jewels" embodied the reputation, history and sense of identity of a "corporate kin group", such as a line of kings. Given the stakes, Mauss asked "why anyone would give them away?" and his answer was an enigmatic concept, "the spirit of the gift". A good part of the confusion (and resulting debate) was due to a bad translation. Mauss appeared to be arguing that a return gift is given to keep the very relationship between givers alive; a failure to return a gift ends the relationship; and the promise of any future gifts. Based on an improved translate, Jonathan Parry has demonstrated that Mauss was arguing that the concept of a "pure gift" given altruistically only emerges in societies with a well-developed market ideology.


title: Market (economics)

text: Rather than emphasize how particular kinds of objects are either gifts or commodities to be traded in restricted spheres of exchange, Arjun Appadurai and others began to look at how objects flowed between these spheres of exchange. They shifted attention away from the character of the human relationships formed through exchange and placed it on "the social life of things" instead. They examined the strategies by which an object could be "singularized" (made unique, special, one-of-a-kind) and so withdrawn from the market. A marriage ceremony that transforms a purchased ring into an irreplaceable family heirloom is one example whereas the heirloom, in turn, makes a perfect gift.


title: Market (economics)

text: Although arithmetic has been used since the beginning of civilization to set prices, it was not until the 19th century that data was systematically collected and more advanced mathematical tools began to be used to study markets in the form of social statistics. Business intelligence is also dated to 19th century, but it was with the rise of the computer that business analytics exploded. More recent techniques involve data mining and marketing engineering.


title: Market (economics)

text: Market size can be given in terms of the number of buyers and sellers in a particular market or in terms of the total exchange of money in the market, generally annually (per year). When given in terms of money, market size is often termed "market value", but in a sense distinct from market value of individual products. For one and the same goods, there may be different (and generally increasing) market values at the production level, the wholesale level and the retail level. For example, the value of the global illicit drug market for the year 2003 was estimated by the United Nations to be US$13 billion at the production level, $94 billion at the wholesale level (taking seizures into account) and US$322 billion at the retail level (based on retail prices and taking seizures and other losses into account).


title: Hobson's choice

text: A Hobson's choice is a free choice in which only one thing is actually offered. The term is often used to describe an illusion that multiple choices are available. The most well known Hobson's choice is "I'll give you a choice: take it or leave it", wherein "leaving it" is strongly undesirable.


title: Hobson's choice

text: The phrase is said to have originated with Thomas Hobson (1544–1631), a livery stable owner in Cambridge, England, who offered customers the choice of either taking the horse in his stall nearest to the door or taking none at all.


title: Hobson's choice

text: According to a plaque underneath a painting of Hobson donated to Cambridge Guildhall, Hobson had an extensive stable of some 40 horses. This gave the appearance to his customers that, upon entry, they would have their choice of mounts, when in fact there was only one: Hobson required his customers to take the horse in the stall closest to the door. This was to prevent the best horses from always being chosen, which would have caused those horses to become overused. Hobson's stable was located on land that is now owned by St Catharine's College, Cambridge.


title: Hobson's choice

text: According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", the first known written usage of this phrase is in "The rustick's alarm to the Rabbies", written by Samuel Fisher in 1660:


title: Hobson's choice

text: It also appears in Joseph Addison's paper "The Spectator" (No. 509 of 14 October 1712); and in Thomas Ward's 1688 poem "England's Reformation", not published until after Ward's death. Ward wrote:


title: Hobson's choice

text: The term "Hobson's choice" is often used to mean an illusion of choice, but it is not a choice between two equivalent options, which is a Morton's fork, nor is it a choice between two undesirable options, which is a dilemma. Hobson's choice is one between something or nothing.


title: Hobson's choice

text: John Stuart Mill, in his book "Considerations on Representative Government", refers to Hobson's choice:


title: Hobson's choice

text: A common error is to use the phrase "Hobbesian choice" instead of "Hobson's choice", confusing the philosopher Thomas Hobbes with the relatively obscure Thomas Hobson. (It is possible the confusion is between "Hobson's choice" and a "Hobbesian trap", which refers to the situation in which a state attacks another out of fear.)


title: Hobson's choice

text: In "Immigration and Naturalization Service v. Chadha" (1983), Justice Byron White dissented and classified the majority's decision to strike down the "one-house veto" as unconstitutional as leaving Congress with a Hobson's choice. Congress may choose between "refrain[ing] from delegating the necessary authority, leaving itself with a hopeless task of writing laws with the requisite specificity to cover endless special circumstances across the entire policy landscape, or in the alternative, to abdicate its lawmaking function to the executive branch and independent agency".


title: Hobson's choice

text: In "Philadelphia v. New Jersey", 437 U.S. 617 (1978), the majority opinion ruled that a New Jersey law which prohibited the importation of solid or liquid waste from other states into New Jersey was unconstitutional based on the Commerce Clause. The majority reasoned that New Jersey cannot discriminate between the intrastate waste and the interstate waste without due justification. In dissent, Justice Rehnquist stated:


title: Hobson's choice

text: In "Monell v. Department of Social Services of the City of New York", 436 U.S. 658 (1978) the judgement of the court was that


title: Hobson's choice

text: In the South African Constitutional Case "MEC for Education, Kwa-Zulu Natal and Others v Pillay", 2008 (1) SA 474 (CC) Chief Justice Langa for the majority of the Court (in Paragraph 62 of the judgement) writes that:


title: Hobson's choice

text: In "Epic Systems Corp. v. Lewis" (2018), Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg dissented and added in one of the footnotes that the petitioners "faced a Hobson’s choice: accept arbitration on their employer’s terms or give up their jobs".


title: Hobson's choice

text: In "Meriwether v. Hartop", the court addressed the university's offer, "Don’t use any pronouns or sex-based terms at all." It wrote, "The effect of this Hobson’s Choice is that Meriwether must adhere to the university’s orthodoxy (or face punishment). This is coercion, at the very least of the indirect sort."


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: Timothy James White (November 1, 1974April 1, 2010) was an American man who was abducted in 1980 by pedophile Kenneth Parnell, and held for several weeks before he was rescued by fellow child captive, 14-year-old Steven Stayner, who escaped and guided the 5-year-old to safety.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: Seven years prior to White's kidnapping, Parnell kidnapped seven-year-old Steven Stayner as he walked home from school. As Stayner aged, Parnell lost interest in him and was motivated to kidnap another younger boy. Parnell enlisted Stayner as an accomplice in a few earlier kidnappings which failed due to Stayner failing to follow directions (Stayner later admitted he intentionally sabotaged the aborted kidnappings in order to spare other children his fate). Thinking Stayner was an incompetent criminal, Parnell cajoled one of Stayner's teenage friends, a local boy named Sean Poorman, into being an accomplice, promising him drugs and money.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: On February 13, 1980, Poorman noticed 5-year-old Timmy White, who was playing outside his parents' house in Ukiah, California and ushered him into Parnell's getaway car. When White refused and attempted to run indoors, Poorman shoved the boy against a chain link fence, forced him to loosen his grip, then dragged him kicking and screaming into the car. Parnell made quick work in brainwashing White, as he had done with Stayner's abduction, repeatedly trying to get White to think his new name was "Tommy". Parnell paid off Poorman with the promised cash and marijuana, then ordered him to leave and never speak of the incident. Parnell also dyed Timmy White's blond hair dark brown in order to mask his appearance from the forthcoming missing child posters. Ultimately Parnell would pass White off as his younger son and Stayner's brother. White forged a bond with Stayner during the 16 days he was held captive and spoke favorably of how the older boy took care of him. Stayner, determined to not see another child suffer the systematic sexual abuse that he endured, sought to return White to his parents.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: On March 1, 1980, Stayner and White escaped while Parnell was at work. Parnell lived in remote backcountry; they walked a quarter of a mile down a road until a passing truck driver took them to Ukiah. White was able to direct the driver to a babysitter's house, but no one was home. Since White couldn't recall where his parents lived, Stayner went to a phone booth and found the address of the Ukiah police station. At the station, Stayner told White to walk inside and tell them who he was. White approached the door, but got scared and ran back to Stayner. Officers observed this, stopped the boys from leaving, and soon learned their identities.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: Parnell was convicted of abducting Stayner and White in separate trials. He was sentenced to seven years for the kidnapping of White, and seven months for kidnapping Stayner, and was paroled after five years. Parnell was not charged with sexual assaulting Stayner because those offenses had occurred in another county and were outside the jurisdiction of the Merced County prosecutor. Authorities were satisfied that White had not been sexually assaulted.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: The White family maintained contact with the Stayners, and when Stayner died in a motorcycle accident in 1989, a then 14-year-old White was a pallbearer.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: White became a Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department Deputy in 2005. Like Stayner, he gave lectures to children about his experience and the dangers of kidnapping. In 2004, Parnell was tried for human trafficking and attempting to kidnap a child, and White was summoned to testify. Also summoned was a full-grown Sean Poorman, who reacted with shock, not having seen White since the 1980 kidnapping. The two spoke briefly and hugged, White having forgiven Poorman.


title: Timothy White (abduction victim)

text: On August 28, 2010, a statue of White and Stayner was dedicated in Applegate Park in Merced. Residents of Ukiah also erected a statue representing White and Stayner escaping hand in hand.


title: Don Omar

text: William Omar Landrón Rivera (born February 10, 1978), better known by his stage name Don Omar, is a Puerto Rican reggaeton singer, songwriter, rapper, record producer and actor. On September 1, 2017, he announced that he would retire after a series of concerts at the José Miguel Agrelot Coliseum in Puerto Rico, scheduled to be held on December 15, 16 and 17. He returned to music on April 20, 2019 with his song single "Ramayama" featuring Farruko.


title: Don Omar

text: Omar has also portrayed Rico Santos in four films in the "Fast & Furious" franchise. He first played the character in 2009's "Fast & Furious" and then returned for "Fast Five" (2011), "The Fate of the Furious" (2017) and "F9" (2021). He sold over 70 million albums.


title: Don Omar

text: Don Omar was born in Santurce, a barrio of San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he was raised, the oldest son of William Landrón and Luz Antonia Rivera. From an early age, he showed interest in the music of Vico C and Brewley MC. During his youth, he became an active member of a Protestant church, Iglesia Evangélica Restauración en Cristo in Bayamón where he occasionally offered sermons. However, after four years, he left the church to dedicate himself to singing.


title: Don Omar

text: His first public performance in a night club was accompanied by disc jockey Eliel Lind Osorio. Afterwards, he appeared regularly on compilation albums from popular DJs and producers including Luny Tunes, Noriega, and DJ Eric. He also worked as a backup singer for the duo Héctor & Tito. One of the members, Héctor Delgado, helped him produce his first solo álbum.


title: Don Omar

text: Omar's career rose to stardom with the release of his first studio album, "The Last Don" with Frankie Needles. Both the studio version and its live edition have been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. Worldwide, "The Last Don: Live [CD & DVD]" has sold over one million copies, according to his official website. He earned awards for Latin Pop Album of the Year and New Artist & Latin Rap/Hip-Hop Album of the Year by the Billboard Latin Music Awards in 2003. "The Last Don: Live [CD & DVD]" was also nominated for Urban Music Album at the 2005 Latin Grammy Awards.


title: Don Omar

text: Omar's May 2006 album "King of Kings", became history's highest ranking reggaeton LP in the top 10 US charts, with its debut at #1 on the Latin sales charts and the #1 spot on the Billboard Latin Rhythm Radio Chart with his single "Angelito". Omar was also able to beat the in-store appearance sales record at Disney World's Virgin Megastore previously set by pop star Britney Spears.


title: Don Omar

text: With the highest charting debut by a reggaeton artist, Omar's "King of Kings" entered at No. 7 with 74,000 beating. In April 2007, Don Omar received the Billboard Latin Music Award for Reggaeton Album of the Year for "King of Kings". "Billboard" recognized that "King of Kings" was the most successful album of the decade in Latin America, besides being the most successful in the history of the genre of reggaeton. "Billboard" estimated that the album sold over 4.1 million copies by the end of 2009.


title: Don Omar

text: Omar participated in Gilberto Santa Rosa's presentation in an event titled "Concierto del Amor", presented in the Madison Square Garden on February 9, 2008. He closed the event and performed reggaeton themes with Frankie Needles.


title: Don Omar

text: Omar's third studio album, "iDon", was released on April 28, 2009. This album is of Sold over 2.5 million. "Virtual Diva" became the most requested song on Latin radio stations. The second official single, titled "Sexy Robotica", was released on July 6, 2009.


title: Don Omar

text: The album "Don Omar Presents: Meet The Orphans" was released on November 16, 2010. The album features the artists under Don Omar's Orfanato Music Group label and other reggaeton artists. The album includes the promotional single "Hasta Abajo" and the album's lead single "Danza Kuduro" featuring Portuguese-French singer Lucenzo, as well as collaborations from Orfanato Music Group artists including Kendo Kaponi, Syko, Plan B, Zion & Lennox, Yaga & Mackie and Danny Fornaris. "Danza Kuduro" appears on the "Fast Five" soundtrack and is the song played at the conclusion of the movie. He is signed to VI Music and Machete Music through Universal Music Latino. The album sold over 3 million.


title: Don Omar

text: The album "Don Omar Presents MTO2: The New Generation" was released on May 1, 2012. The album features newly signed to Orfanato Music Group Natti Natasha as well as many other signed artists and other reggaeton artists like Zion Y Lennox. The album includes the singles "Hasta Que Salga El Sol", which won the award for Best Urban Song at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards, and "Dutty Love" featuring Natti Natasha, which was also nominated. The album also features collaborations with Juan Magan, Mims, Syko, Vinny el Vendito, and Yunel Cruz. The album has been well received as it won the award for Best Urban Music Album at the 2012 Latin Grammy Awards.


title: Don Omar

text: After a decade-long rivalry feud with fellow artist Daddy Yankee for the "King of Reggaeton" title, in early 2016 Daddy Yankee and Don Omar announced in a Billboard press conference that they would perform together on stage in a concert series called "The Kingdom World Tour". The tour announcement left many fans in disbelief, while selling out in minutes in cities like Las Vegas, Orlando, Los Angeles, New York. Discussing the tour and his rivalry with Daddy Yankee, Don Omar said "Let me clarify: I am not his best friend, and he is not my best friend, but we respect each other. That desire to be the best is what has pushed us to be better."


title: Don Omar

text: In September 2021, Omar signed a multi-year partnership with Saban Music Group. In February 2022, Omar was announced as a headliner of the 2022 Los Della Festival in San Bernardino, California.


title: Don Omar

text: In 2003, Omar had his first son, Nicolas Valle Gomez. Omar married forecaster/journalist Jackie Guerrido on April 19, 2008. In March 2011, it was revealed they had divorced.


title: Don Omar

text: On September 18, 2007, Omar was briefly detained in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia due to a legal dispute. A Bolivian concert promoter sued him and some of his management after he canceled a concert scheduled for earlier that year in La Paz as part of the international tour Up Close. The organization claimed that he had defrauded US$70,000 due to the cancellation. Omar responded that he canceled the concert because the company did not provide air tickets in time. After the case was presented before a local judge, both parties reached an agreement. Omar was allowed to leave the country in order to comply with a previously scheduled appearance in Buenos Aires on Argentine television and returned the next day to hold his concert in Santa Cruz's Tahuichi Aguilera football stadium.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as the President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously served as 5th Chief of Government of Buenos Aires from 2007 to 2015, and was a member of the Chamber of Deputies representing Buenos Aires from 2005 to 2007. Ideologically, he identifies himself as a liberal and conservative on the Argentine centre-right.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Born in Tandil, Argentina, Macri trained as a civil engineer at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and attended Columbia University for business school. After embarking on a business career, he was kidnapped in 1991. The experience prompted him to enter politics, after being released by his captors. He served as president of football club Boca Juniors from 1994 to 2007, reestablishing its profitability which raised his public profile. In 2003 he launched the Commitment for Change, eventually developing it into the modern PRO party. Following an unsuccessful bid for Chief of Government of Buenos Aires in 2003, Macri was elected in 2007 and won re-election in 2011. Four years later he was elected president of Argentina in the 2015 general election – the first presidential runoff ballotage in Argentinian history.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The presidency of Macri focused on reforming the national economy and improving diplomatic relations. He moved from a fixed exchange-rate system to a floating one, and removed taxes on exports and reduced subsidies on energy to reduce the fiscal deficit. He aligned the country with gradualist neoliberalism and re-opened Argentina to international markets by lifting currency controls (which he reinstated shortly before his term ended), restructuring sovereign debt, and pressing free-market solutions. Domestically, he pursued moderate socially liberal policies, and liberalized the energy sector.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri strongly opposed the government of Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela for human rights abuses and called for a restoration of democracy in the country. He recognized Juan Guaidó, who was elected President of Venezuela by the National Assembly during the Venezuelan presidential crisis of 2019. Macri improved the relations with the United States


title: Mauricio Macri

text: and from Mercosur achieved a free trade agreement with the European Union and closer ties with the Pacific Alliance. During the first week in office, Macri annulled the Memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran, which would have established a joint investigation into the 1994 bombing with AMIA, a terrorist attack on a Jewish organization for which Argentina blamed Hezbollah and Iran.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: His legislative pursuits varied in efficacy and received mixed reception from Argentines and globally. His presidency has been praised for leaving a legacy of anti-corruption and increasing Argentina's sovereign marketability, but has been criticized for failing to materially reform the economy, falling short of containing inflation and building up external debt. In the 2019 general election, he became the first incumbent president in Argentina to lose reelection to a second term and was defeated by Alberto Fernandez.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Born in Tandil, Buenos Aires Province, Macri is the son of Franco Macri, a prominent Italian businessman in the industrial and construction sectors, and was raised in an upper class home. He received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina and studied at Columbia University's business school in New York City, United States. Macri became president of Boca Juniors, one of Argentina's two most popular football clubs, in 1995. In 2005, he created the centre-right Republican Proposal party (Propuesta Republicana, also known as PRO).


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Although Macri was a potential presidential candidate in the 2011 general elections, he ran instead for re-election as mayor. He received about 47 percent of the vote in the mayoral election, which led to a runoff election on 31 July 2011 against Daniel Filmus in which Macri was re-elected for a second consecutive term. On 22 November 2015, after a tie in the first round of the presidential elections on 25 October, he received 51.34 percent of the vote to defeat Front for Victory candidate Daniel Scioli and was inaugurated on 10 December 2015 in the Argentine Congress.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri ended the sovereign default and removed currency controls, but inflation remained high and the 2018 Argentine monetary crisis led to a loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), its largest ever awarded. By April 2019, inflation had reached 55%. Prices for public utilities, fixed since 2002 despite the high inflation, were gradually restored to market figures.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In the international arena, the country left the pink tide and was a vocal critic of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro during the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis. The party won the most districts during the 2017 midterm elections, and Macri announced that he would run for a second term in 2019. He secured his party's nomination in the presidential election in August 2019 despite a poor performance in the primary.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In 2016, Macri was named one of the world's 100 most influential people and the most powerful president in Latin America by US news magazine "Time".


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri intended to run for chairman of sports club Boca Juniors in 1991, but his father convinced him to keep working at Sevel. He tried to buy the Deportivo Español team, but could not get support from the team's board of directors. Macri supported Boca Juniors, paying coach César Luis Menotti's salary and buying players for the team (including forward Walter Perazzo). Franco, skeptical about his son's prospects for success, later allowed him to run Boca Juniors. He instructed aide Orlando Salvestrini to work with Mauricio for two reasons: to help him and to monitor his activities. Mauricio met with former Boca Juniors chairmen Antonio Alegre and Carlos Heller, and tried to convince them to work with him; both rebuffed him. Macri later sought the support of other groups in Boca Juniors, eventually winning the team's internal elections in 1995 with 7,058 votes.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: His first years were unsuccessful; the team's performance was poor, players frequently complained about salaries and bonuses, and Macri changed coaches three times. The only initial improvement was a partial reconstruction of the stadium. He arranged for the Boca Juniors institution to operate on the stock exchange, selling shares of active football players owned by the club. Macri's first coach was Carlos Salvador Bilardo, who brought 14 new players to the team and finished the 1996 Apertura league in 10th place. His second coach, Héctor Veira, also performed poorly. New coach Carlos Bianchi helped Juan Román Riquelme improve his performance, and had Martín Palermo and Guillermo Barros Schelotto as effective forwards. They won the first two tournaments, beginning a record 40-match unbeaten run.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: During his tenure at the helm of Boca Juniors, the xeneize team obtained 17 titles, which established him as the president of the institution that has obtained the most football titles, displacing Alberto J. Armando to second place, with twelve total titles.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri has been trying to reform the Argentine soccer statutes for almost two decades to allow clubs to become sports limited companies.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri entered politics in 2003, founding the centre-right party Commitment to Change (). The party was intended to be a source of new politicians, since the major parties were discredited after the December 2001 riots. Later that year, Macri ran for mayor of Buenos Aires, alongside Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. Although he won the first round of the election with 37 percent of the vote, he lost the runoff election with 46 percent of the vote going to sitting mayor Aníbal Ibarra, who was re-elected. In 2005, Macri joined Ricardo López Murphy of Recrear in a political coalition, the Republican Proposal (PRO), and was elected to the Chamber of Deputies with 33.9 percent of the vote. His campaigns were managed by Jaime Durán Barba. According to a 2007 report, Macri had participated in only 44 of 321 votings; he countered that he had become disappointed with Congress, since bills sent by the president were not open to debate or amendment. Ibarra was impeached and removed from office in 2006 as a result of the República Cromañón nightclub fire, and his term was completed by vice-chief of government Jorge Telerman.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: During 2006, Macri worked both on his political activities as deputy and with his presidency of Boca Juniors. Before the 2007 general elections, he negotiated with the likely presidential candidate Jorge Sobisch, the governor of Neuquén Province, to create a national right-wing political coalition. This conflicted with Macri's alliance with Ricardo López Murphy, who also intended to run for president and had denounced Sobisch for corruption. Later that year, Sobisch's image was severely tarnished when teacher Carlos Fuentealba was killed during a union demonstration in Neuquén.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: He immediately backed out of his pact with Sobisch and remained neutral during the national election, which was won by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner of the Front for Victory (FPV).


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In February 2007, Macri announced that he would run again for mayor of Buenos Aires, heading the PRO slate with Gabriela Michetti. In the 2 June 2007 first round, he received 45.6 percent of the vote and defeated government-backed Daniel Filmus (who received 23.8 percent of the vote); incumbent Jorge Telerman finished third. In the 24 June runoff election, Macri defeated Filmus with 60.96 percent of the vote.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: For the 2009 midterm elections, he allied with Francisco de Narváez and Felipe Solá. The alliance was successful; De Narvaez defeated former president Néstor Kirchner in Buenos Aires Province and Gabriela Michetti won the city election. With this defeat, the Kirchners lost their majority in both chambers of the Congress. Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, whose public image was good after the death and state funeral of Néstor Kirchner in late 2010, ran for re-election. Macri, who was considered a likely candidate for the opposition, ran for re-election as mayor instead. He won the first round on 10 July 2011 with 47.08 percent of the vote against Filmus's 27.78 percent, and then the 31 July runoff against Filmus with 64.25 percent of the vote.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri's administration worked on public transport in an attempt to reduce auto traffic in Buenos Aires. One project was the Metrobus, a bus rapid transit system added to the city's main streets. By the end of Macri's term as mayor, the system had five lines and 113 stations.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Other streets have bikeways to promote cycling, and the city created its EcoBici bicycle-sharing scheme. By the end of Macri's administration, about of bicycle lanes were constructed and 49 of the planned 200 automated bicycle-sharing stations were built.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Several level crossings on the city's commuter-rail network were replaced by tunnels to improve road and rail traffic flow. Under Macri, the city committed to two large rail-infrastructure projects: running viaducts through the center of the city to extend the Belgrano Sur Line, and raising the San Martín Line to eliminate level crossings.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri proposed the Red de Expresos Regionales project to link the city's main railway terminals and lines with a series of tunnels; as of 2018, in the term of his successor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the project is still in the planning stages.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The Buenos Aires Underground, initially maintained by the national government, was the subject of a year-long dispute between him and the Fernández de Kirchner government. The national government sought to transfer it to the city, which Macri supported, but the budget and length of the transition period were contested. He announced that the city would take over the underground on 13 November 2012.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Line A, which was using wooden cars almost a century old, received a fleet of modern cars from the national government; Line H also received new cars. Madrid Metro rolling-stock purchases for Line B were criticised, despite their technical superiority, for having a limited compatibility with the line and costing more than new trains for the city's commuter-rail network.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Buenos Aires, initially a federal district with limited autonomy, had become an autonomous city with the 1994 amendment of the Constitution of Argentina. The Argentine Federal Police, under national-government jurisdiction, still worked in the city and disputes over a potential transfer to a local force were unresolved when Macri was elected. He unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a transfer with President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. As an alternative, in 2008 Macri proposed a bill for the creation of the Buenos Aires Metropolitan Police to work with federal police in the city. The bill, supported by the PRO and the Kirchnerite blocs, was rejected by Civic Coalition blocs and those aligned with Ibarra. Elisa Carrió, leader of the Civic Coalition, thought that Macri had abandoned the transfer request, and Ibarra said that the forces' duties would overlap. The Metropolitan Police began with nearly 1,000 officers; the Federal Police had 17,000 officers working in the city. As a result, the metropolitan police worked on a small scale during the transition and more complex tasks were reserved for the federal police.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Jorge Alberto Palacios was the first chief of the Metropolitan Police. A member of the police unit which rescued Macri from his kidnappers, Palacios was fired by then-President Néstor Kirchner for his alleged involvement in the murder of Axel Blumberg (for which he was acquitted). His appointment was controversial; Palacios had been investigated for concealing evidence of the 1994 AMIA bombing, and he resigned a short time later. The transfer of police protection to the city was completed during the Larreta administration.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: A gay couple, José María Di Bello and Alex Freyre, started a judicial case so that they could get married in Buenos Aires. They challenged articles 172 and 188 of the civil code, which restrict marriage to people of different genders, as unconstitutional. Judge Gabriela Seijas agreed, and the couple married in 2009. It was the first same-sex marriage in Argentina. Macri did not appeal the ruling, saying that same-sex marriage was becoming universally accepted and individuals had a right to happiness. He compared the controversy with the sanctioning of divorce during the 1980s after the restoration of democracy in Argentina; highly controversial at first, it was eventually accepted. A federal law permitting same-sex marriage was passed the following year.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri's refusal to appeal the sentence affected his relationship with Archbishop Jorge Bergoglio (who later became Pope Francis). Bergoglio opposed same-sex marriage, and expected Macri to appeal the ruling. According to the archbishop, a lower-court judge should not establish the constitutionality of a law and Macri should have appealed the ruling in a higher court. Bergoglio was also annoyed by what he considered a lack of communication between himself and Macri.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri ran for president of Argentina in 2015. With President Cristina Kirchner unable to run, early opinion polls indicated a close three-way race between Macri, Kirchnerite governor Daniel Scioli and Tigre mayor Sergio Massa. Other minor parties, such as the Radical Civic Union (UCR), the Civic Coalition (CC) and some socialist parties, made a political coalition, the Broad Front UNEN. This coalition disbanded before the elections, and the UCR and CC made a coalition with the PRO, named Cambiemos (). Macri supported Horacio Rodríguez Larreta against Gabriela Michetti in the PRO primary elections for mayor of Buenos Aires. Larreta won the primary and general elections, and Michetti was selected as Macri's vice-presidential candidate. María Eugenia Vidal, Macri's deputy mayor, ran on the Cambiemos ticket for governor of Buenos Aires Province, a populous province which was strategic to the elections. Macri and Massa negotiated a coalition against Kirchnerism, which would have seen Massa withdraw from the presidential race to run for governor of Buenos Aires on the Cambiemos ticket. Macri declined this proposal, kept Vidal as the party's candidate for governor, and Massa ran for president with his own party.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri, Carrió and Ernesto Sanz ran in the primary elections, which Macri won. Pre-election polls indicated that Scioli would win by a wide margin, possibly avoiding a ballotage. The final results showed Scioli finishing first with 37.08 percent, just ahead of Macri's 34.15 percent, leading to a ballotage round on 22 November. Massa finished third with 21 percent of the vote, and the other two candidates contended for his voters. Scioli and Macri were polarized about the presidency of Cristina Kirchner; Scioli wanted to keep most Kirchnerite policies, and Macri wanted to change them. In the legislative elections, the Front for Victory (FPV) lost its majority in the Chamber of Deputies but kept it in the Senate.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Scioli did not participate in the first presidential debate, which was held with the other five candidates. When the ballotage was confirmed, Macri agreed to a debate with Scioli. Two debates were planned: one by the Argentina Debate NGO and another by TV news channel Todo Noticias. Macri preferred a single debate, and opted for the one organized by Argentina Debate.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: He criticized Scioli for negative campaigning by the FPV. Several politicians and FPV institutions had issued warnings about what might happen if Macri were elected president. According to Scioli, the campaign was intended to encourage public awareness. It was rumored that the campaign might have been suggested by Brazilian political consultant João Santana, who had organized a similar campaign in Brazil during the ballotage of Dilma Rousseff and Aécio Neves in the 2014 Brazilian general election.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The ballotage was held on 22 November. Scioli conceded with 70 percent of the votes counted and provisional results of 53 and 47 percent. The gap between the candidates slowly narrowed over the next few hours, giving Macri a smaller margin of victory than most exit polls suggested. His election ended a dozen years of Kirchnerism in Argentina.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: For The Economist, this was the "end of populism." Macri's victory could transform his country and the region.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri owed his victory to Córdoba, the second-largest province, swinging dramatically to support him; he carried the province by over 930,000 votes in the second round, far exceeding his nationwide margin of 680,600 votes. Buenos Aires also swung hard to Macri, giving its mayor over 64 percent of the vote in the second round.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: On 11 August 2019, Macri scored the primary election which gave him renomination as his party's candidate in the 2019 general election. He was renominated, but scored only 32%, compared to 47% to populist Peronist Alberto Fernández and his running mate, two-term former president Cristina Kirchner, in their primary for Frente de Todos.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In the 27 October general election, Fernández won the presidency by attaining 48.1% of the vote to Macri's 40.4%, exceeding the threshold required to win without the need for a ballotage.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Alberto Fernández emerged from an electrifying election night as Argentina's next president, without the need for a ballottage, despite Mauricio Macri's surprising rebound from the primaries.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri announced his cabinet on 25 November 2015, about two weeks before he was due to take office. The presidential transition was difficult. Macri and Kirchner met briefly; she provided no help to the new administration, and spoke only about the inauguration ceremony. They disagreed about its location; Kirchner wanted it to take place at the Palace of the Argentine National Congress, and Macri favoured the White Hall of the Casa Rosada. Plans for violence against Macri supporters near the Plaza during the inauguration were rumoured, and it was unclear who would control the police during the ceremony. Judge María Servini de Cubría ruled that Kirchner's term of office ended at midnight on the morning of 10 December, and provisional Senate president Federico Pinedo was in charge of the executive branch for the 12 hours between the end of Kirchner's term and Macri's swearing-in. Kirchner left Buenos Aires that day to attend the inauguration of sister-in-law Alicia Kirchner as governor of Santa Cruz Province.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri took office on 10 December. He took the oath of office at the National Congress of Argentina after Vice President Gabriela Michetti. Macri delivered a 27-minute speech pledging "support for an independent judiciary, to fight corruption and drug trafficking, the internal union of Argentina, universal social protection, a 21st-century style of education and for everyone to have a roof, water and sewer" and greeted his electoral rivals.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: He later went to the Casa Rosada and received the presidential sash in the White Hall from Senate President Federico Pinedo, accompanied by Michetti, Chamber of Deputies President Emilio Monzó and Supreme Court President Ricardo Lorenzetti. Minutes later, Macri went to the balcony and told the crowd in the Plaza de Mayo that "Argentines deserve to live better, and we are about to start a wonderful period for our country. I promise to always tell the truth and show where our problems are". He called on "all Argentines to follow [his] administration and alert them when [the government] makes mistakes". After his swearing-in, Macri hosted a reception at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' San Martín Palace for heads of state Michelle Bachelet (Chile), Horacio Cartes (Paraguay), Juan Manuel Santos (Colombia), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Dilma Rousseff (Brazil) and King Juan Carlos I of Spain, and representatives of other countries who attended his inauguration.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri began his presidency with economic difficulties carried over from previous governments. The Central Bank of Argentina's reserves were depleted; inflation was over 30 percent, although the widely discredited National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina (INDEC) provided a lower figure. The country had the highest tax rates in its history, but the government budget balance had an eight-percent deficit. There had been a sovereign default since 2001, and a conflict existed with hedge funds; tight currency controls had been in place since 2011. Since Argentina is a developing country, a global drop in commodity prices reduced trade revenue.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: One of Macri's first economic policies was the removal of currency controls, allowing Argentines to freely buy and sell foreign currencies. Argentina has had a floating exchange rate since then, with intervention from the Central Bank, and the Argentine peso was devalued by 30 percent. Another early policy was the removal of export quotas and tariffs on corn and wheat. Tariffs on soybeans, the most lucrative Argentine export, were reduced from 35 to 30 percent.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri wanted to negotiate with holdouts and end the default to return to the international capital markets and strengthen the national economy. Argentina offered to pay $6.5 billion to settle lawsuits on 5 February 2016, requesting that the prior ruling on its payments be lifted. Although Cambiemos did not have a majority in either house of Congress, the bill was approved in March and Argentina faced a court hearing in New York on 13 April. The court upheld judge Thomas P. Griesa's ruling, allowing Argentina to pay the 2005 and 2010 bondholders to whom it was still in default. The payment, made with a bond sale, was reportedly the end of the Argentine default, which had begun in 2001.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: On 19 January 2016, Macri attended the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, with opposition figure Sergio Massa and part of his cabinet, in a search for investors. He was one of the best-known figures at the meeting, along with Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and US vice president Joe Biden. It was the first time since 2003 that Argentina had participated in the forum.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: During Macri's first year, economic recovery was slow. Unemployment and inflation remained high and growth did not come as expected. Kirchner's Careful Pricing price-control program, which benefited small and medium-sized enterprises, was kept with a revision of its included products. The government began several public-works projects to stimulate the economy and help the construction sector. Political intervention in the INDEC figures ended, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) declared in November 2016 that Argentine statistics were again in accordance with international standards. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that Argentina would emerge from recession in 2017 or 2018, and lowered its country risk classification from seven points to six.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Inflation continued to be a problem, with a rate of 25% in 2017, second only to Venezuela in South America and the highest rate in the G20. On 28 December, the Central Bank of Argentina together with the Treasury announced a change of the inflation target. This was seen by the market as a relaxation of the monetary policy. They attempted to reduce it to 15%, but these efforts failed.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Between 2017 and 2018 the government cut import tariffs on capital goods and eliminated tariffs on the importation of technology products to encourage investment.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The deregulation area allowed the incorporation of low cost airlines, such as JetSmart, Norwegian and Flybondi.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The economy worsened in 2018: inflation remained high, due in part to a trade deficit. The production of soy, the country's main export, had been reduced by a drought which was among the worst natural disasters in the world that year. The US Federal Reserve increased its interest rates, which raised the price of the US dollar against other currencies. The Central Bank of Argentina increased the interest rate to 60 percent, but could not hold off inflation.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri announced on 8 May that Argentina would seek a loan from the IMF. The initial loan was US$50bn. Federico Sturzenegger, president of the Central Bank, resigned a week later. Macri replaced him with Luis Caputo, and merged the ministries of treasury and finances into a single ministry led by Nicolás Dujovne. The US–Turkey diplomatic conflict caused a new increase on the US dollar. As a result of the crisis, the tariffs on soy exports were restored. Caputo resigned, and Guido Sandleris replaced him as president of the Central Bank. The IMF expanded the loan with an extra 7 billion, on the condition that the Central Bank would only adjust the price of the peso against the US dollar under certain conditions.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: For 2019, the government accelerated the austerity plans, with less expenses and more taxes, to completely remove the fiscal deficit.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Prices for public utilities, such as electricity, gas and water, were fixed in 2002 by president Eduardo Duhalde during the 1998–2002 Argentine great depression. The Kirchners kept them fixed, and the state subsidized them to compensate for inflation, which rose by nearly 700 percent during their government. Investment in the utility sectors decreased, and generation and distribution networks deteriorated. Argentina lost its self-sufficiency, and went from an energy exporter to an importer. The cost of energy imports increased the trade deficit and the inflation rate, and power outages became frequent. The Kirchners left the grid on the brink of collapse, while their lavish subsidies were a large factor in the fiscal deficit that harmed the overall economy.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In 2016, Minister Juan José Aranguren arranged the removal of state subsidies for electricity, gas and water, which caused a huge increase in prices for those utilities. The increases were met with protests in several cities. Because mandatory public hearings had not been held on the price increases, these were annulled by the courts. The Supreme Court upheld a temporary halt of the price increase for residential customers in September 2016.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Seeking to increase energy production, Macri signed an investment deal for the Vaca Muerta shale deposit in Patagonia. Roughly the size of Belgium, Vaca Muerta has the second-largest reserve of shale gas in the world. To finalise the deal, the unions negotiated flexibility in labour costs, which had been the main drawback to industrial development in the area. The Neuquén Province government pledged to improve roads and general infrastructure.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Human rights organizations had aligned themselves with the governments of both Néstor and Cristina Kirchner, even in topics unrelated to human rights, and often worked as their spokesmen. They continued this role after 2015, when Macri defeated the Kirchnerite candidate in the presidential elections, which undermined the legitimacy of the organizations in Argentine society. Macri maintained a distant relation with those organizations, and did not seek their support, but did not openly confront them. They kept their funding and the institutions under their control, and the trials of military personnel for crimes in the Dirty War (1974–1983) continued. Nevertheless, the organizations continued their opposition to Macri. His cabinet was divided on an approach to take: whether to directly confront the organizations and remove their state financing, or to take an active role in their activities and replace their leaders with less politically motivated figures. The general policy, however, was to ignore the disputes and focus the activities of the government towards more pressing matters, such as the economy.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The government modified the public holiday for the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice, which makes reference to the 1976 Argentine coup d'état, to allow it to be celebrated on a movable date. This ruling was met with huge criticism. The ruling was reverted some days later, and the holiday was kept at the fixed date of 24 March.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The #NiUnaMenos movement, which advanced a feminist agenda in Argentina since 2015, stayed strong during the Macri presidency. Macri said during the 2018 opening of the National Congress that, although he was anti-abortion, he wanted the Congress to have an abortion debate and discuss a bill for a new abortion law. As of 2018, abortion was only legally allowed for rapes and cases that may threaten the mother's health. The feminist movement organized several demonstrations in the following months, in support of the voluntary termination of pregnancy abortion bill that was proposed in Congress. The proposal, however, became highly polarizing. The country has a strong conservative catholic population, particularly in the less-populated provinces, who rejected the bill. This polarization was unrelated to the political polarization of the country, and the legislators of both Cambiemos and the Justicialist Party (PJ) were divided on the vote. The bill was approved by the Chamber of Deputies in June, but opposition became more organized after its approval and the Senate rejected the bill, by 38 to 31 votes.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In December 2017, police officer Luis Chocobar killed a fleeing man who had stabbed an American tourist in La Boca, Buenos Aires. Macri hosted him in early 2018 and hailed him as a hero. His administration would later enact the "Chocobar doctrine", broadening the rights of police officer to exercise lethal force when responding to criminal cases.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: During Macri's presidency, Argentina's foreign relations shifted substantially from those under Kirchner. He immediately proposed action against Nicolás Maduro in Venezuela for human-rights abuses and to remove that country from Mercosur. This shift was part of a change in the Latin American pink tide. The other countries in the bloc also opposed Maduro's socialist government, and prevented Venezuela from taking the "pro tempore" presidency of Mercosur. The bloc sought a trade and cooperation agreement with the European Union and closer ties with the Pacific Alliance. Macri agreed with Brazilian president Michel Temer to guarantee free trade between their countries. Macri and Temer increased their interest in better trade relations with Mexico, the second-largest economy in Latin America, after Mexican-American relations started to turn sour under the Trump administration.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Argentina and Venezuela had troubled relations at the time. The 2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election was considered illegal by Argentina, which does not acknowledge the legislative body established by it. Macri also removed the Order of the Liberator General San Martín award from Maduro. Argentina signed the Declaration of Lima, which established the Lima Group, a supranational body of countries that consider Venezuela to be under a dictatorship and want to restore its democracy. Maduro was re-elected in the 2018 Venezuelan presidential election and took office for a new term on 10 January 2019. This started the 2019 Venezuelan presidential crisis, as many countries believed that Maduro had committed electoral fraud. Argentina and Brazil, under the newly elected Jair Bolsonaro, refused to acknowledge Maduro as a legitimate ruler. They instead acknowledged Juan Guaidó, who was appointed president of Venezuela by the National Assembly. Furthermore, during the Venezuelan uprising attempt of April 2019, Macri supported anti-Maduro military forces and reiterated his position of recognizing Guaidó as legitimate President of Venezuela.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri also shifted Argentina's relations with the United States. During a visit in 2016, president Barack Obama praised him: "I'm impressed because he has moved rapidly on so many of the reforms that he promised, to create more sustainable and inclusive economic growth, to reconnect Argentina with the global economy and the world community". Obama announced that the US would declassify its military and intelligence records of the 1970s Dirty War. Foreign Minister Susana Malcorra supported Democrat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 US presidential election, which was won by Republican Donald Trump. Macri tried to remain in good terms with the US after the Trump was elected president. In 2019, Trump declassified more than 5,600 US documents about the Dirty War.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri maintained the Argentine claim in the Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute. However, he took a less-confrontational stance towards the United Kingdom and allowed more flights between Argentina and the islands. Relations between Argentina and the UK improved greatly, but both Argentine and the United Kingdom maintain their respective claim on the islands.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri changed Argentina's position on conflicts in the Middle East. During Macri's first week in office, he voided the memorandum of understanding between Argentina and Iran, which would have established a joint investigation of the 1994 AMIA bombing, a terrorist attack on a Jewish organization for which Argentina had blamed Hezbollah and Iran. The memorandum had been ruled unconstitutional by the judiciary, a ruling which was appealed during Kirchner's presidency. Macri withdrew the appeal, upholding the original ruling. He distanced himself from Iran and encouraged continued investigations of the AMIA bombing and the death of Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor investigating the case. Those cases and Nisman's probe into Cristina Kirchner involvement with Iran have special importance for Argentina–Israel relations, and ambassador Carlos Faustino García and Israeli diplomat Modi Efraim praised Macri for encouraging the investigations. Macri further improved relations with Israel and in September 2017, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu became the first Israeli Prime Minister to ever visit Argentina. In July 2016, it was announced that Argentina would grant asylum to 3,000 refugees of the Syrian Civil War. In July 2019, Macri designated Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in relation to the Israeli embassy bombing, and especially related to the AMIA bombing.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The 2017 Argentine legislative election renewed a third of the seats in the Senate and half in the chamber of deputies. The election was considered a referendum on the presidency of Macri up to that point. Kirchner, leader of the opposition, ran for senator for the populous Buenos Aires province. She left the PJ to avoid the primary elections and created a new party, Citizen's Unity. Esteban Bullrich, minister of education, was the candidate of Cambiemos in the district. Kirchner and Bullrich had a close tie in the primary election, and Kirchner prevailed by just 0.21 percent of the vote.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The electoral campaign, however, was largely ignored, as the media was focused on the ongoing controversy over the disappearance of Santiago Maldonado (see below). Kirchner used the case in her political campaign, stating that Maldonado was the victim of a forced disappearance, similar to those of the Dirty War. Maldonado was found dead a few days before the general elections, and the circumstances and autopsy refuted Kirchner's theory. Cambiemos won in thirteen of the twenty-three provinces of Argentina, and in the five most-populated districts. Kirchner ended in a distant second place, as a result of the higher turnout for the general elections.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri was born in Tandil in the province of Buenos Aires, the son of Italian-born tycoon Francesco "Franco" Macri (owner of the Philco affiliate in Argentina) and Alicia Blanco-Villegas Cinque. The family moved to Buenos Aires a short time later, and kept their houses in Tandil as vacation properties. His father, and his uncle Jorge Blanco Villegas, influenced Macri to become a businessman, and Franco expected his son to succeed him as leader of his firms. Macri preferred his uncle's company to constant scrutiny by his father. He was educated at Colegio Cardenal Newman, and received a bachelor's degree in civil engineering from the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina. At this time Macri became interested in neoliberalism and joined the now-defunct Union of the Democratic Centre and a think tank led by former minister Álvaro Alsogaray. In 1985, he briefly attended Columbia Business School, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the Universidad del CEMA in Buenos Aires.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Macri's professional experience began at SIDECO Americana, a construction company which was part of his father's Socma Group (Sociedad Macri) holding company, where he worked for three years as a junior analyst and became a senior analyst. In 1984, he worked in the credit department of Citibank Argentina in Buenos Aires. Macri joined Socma Group the same year, and became its general manager in 1985. In 1992, he became vice president of Sevel Argentina (then manufacturing Fiat and Peugeot automobiles under licence in Argentina as part of Socma), and became president two years later.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In 1991, Macri was kidnapped for 12 days by officers of the Argentine Federal Police. Kept in a small room with a chemical toilet and a hole in the roof to receive food, he was freed when his family reportedly paid a multimillion-dollar ransom. Macri has said that the ordeal led him to enter politics.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: His first wife was Ivonne Bordeu, daughter of race-car driver Juan Manuel Bordeu. They had three sons: Agustina, Jimena and Francisco. After they divorced, Macri married model Isabel Menditeguy in 1994; Franco requested a prenuptial agreement. Although the marriage reached a crisis when Macri became chairman of Boca Juniors, they did not divorce until 2005. He began a romance with María Laura Groba which did not lead to marriage. Macri left Groba in 2010, began a relationship with businesswoman Juliana Awada and married Awada that year. At the wedding reception, he wore a fake moustache as part of his impersonation of singer Freddie Mercury. Macri accidentally swallowed the moustache, and Minister of Health Jorge Lemus performed first aid to save his life. He is a very good Bridge player and represented Argentina at the 45th World Bridge Team Championships in 2022.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Sergio Burstein was the leader of a group of people whose relatives died in the AMIA bombing. Macri was charged in a 2010 wiretapping case, suspected of spying on Burstein and his brother-in-law Néstor Daniel Leonardo. Macri denied the charges. Judge Norberto Oyarbide indicted him, and Federal Chamber members Eduardo Farah, Eduardo Freiler and Jorge Ballestero confirmed the indictment. It was suspected at the time that Macri had organized a clandestine spy network with the aid of Jorge Alberto Palacios and Ciro James. The case was transferred to judge Sebastián Casanello, who ordered further investigation. It was learned that Macri had little knowledge about Palacios' daily activities and his minister, Mariano Narodowski, had appointed James. Franco Macri, the president's father, admitted to hiring private agencies to spy on Daniel Leonardo.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Although Casanello dismissed the charges in 2015, Leonardo appealed the ruling; the dismissal was upheld several months later in federal court. Farah, Freiler and Ballestero voted for acquittal; others involved in the case, including Palacios, are still under investigation.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: In 2016, the Panama Papers were leaked, comprising 11.5 million documents detailing offshore entities owned by people from many countries. Macri was listed as a director of Fleg Trading from 1998 to 2009. He did not declare his involvement in 2007, when he became mayor, or in 2015, when he became president. Prosecutor Federico Delgado asked the judiciary to determine if Macri "maliciously failed to complete his tax declaration". Macri argued that he did not report his involvement because he was not a stakeholder and did not receive money from it. The company was established by his father to run a failed Brazilian business. Macri owns other foreign accounts with properly-disclosed transactions, and said that he would file a judicial "declaration of certainty" to affirm his statements. A similar company, Kagemusha, was discovered several months later. It was established in 1981 by Franco Macri, with his then-22-year-old son as its vice president.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: On 20 September 2017, civil judge Andrés Fraga determined that, in Fleg Trading Ltd, Mauricio Macri accepted the position of director for the sole and only effect of designating a replacement and resigning, and that in Kagemusha he did not even tacitly accept the position of director for which he was appointed by Franco Macri. The ruling added that he was not a shareholder in either of the two companies, that he did not receive any dividends or profits, did not participate in the business decisions, nor was he the owner or co-owner of any current bank account of the companies.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: Gerardo Morales of the UCR was elected governor of Jujuy Province in the 2015 elections. Although the UCR was part of Cambiemos in federal politics, it was allied with Sergio Massa in the province. Morales was the first non-Peronist governor in the province since 1983. He opposed activist Milagro Sala, accusing her of leading a government parallel to that of Eduardo Fellner. According to Morales, Sala led a violent and coercive group and children were forced to join her party to attend school. When he was elected governor, Morales ordered all organizations to operate though banks instead of on a cash basis to retain their legal standing. Sala began a protest in front of the government plaza, but most of her supporters accepted Morales's edict. Prosecutor Viviana Montiel asked local judge Raúl Gutiérrez to order Sala's arrest for causing a disturbance and encouraging crime. Gutiérrez agreed, and Sala was arrested on 16 January 2016.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: After Sala's arrest, she was charged with embezzlement in connection with housing construction. Although her initial charges were dropped, she remained in jail on the later ones. The case generated international criticism, and the United Nations and the Organization of American States requested her release. Macri said that the case was under provincial, not federal, jurisdiction. Amnesty International considers "that Milagro Sala is being criminalized for peacefully exercising her rights to freedom of expression and protest" and, along with other human rights groups, have called for the granting of precautionary measures to guarantee the liberty of Milagro Sala, along with the exercise of freedom of expression and the right to social protest in Argentina. The Supreme Court refused to hear the case, which continues in the province.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The Benetton Group has territories at the Chubut Province, and the Mapuche indigenous people claim that those territories belonged to them. Facundo Jones Huala, from the Resistencia Ancestral Mapuche group, was jailed because of violent protests, and a group of eight people organized a picketing protest at the National Route 40, advocating for his liberation. The road was completely blocked by stones, trees and fire. Judge Guido Otranto instructed the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA) to clear the blockade and disperse the protesters. The protesters reacted violently, then escaped from the GNA. Some of them swam across the nearby Chubut River and others hid in the adjacent forest.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: One of those protesters was Santiago Maldonado, and his whereabouts were unknown after the incident. Kirchnerist and human-rights organizations considered that Maldonado was a victim of a forced disappearance, and posited that he could be the first victim of a wider plan of political repression. Other theories were proposed during the investigation: that he escaped to Chile, that he was hiding, or that he had been murdered some days before in an unrelated crime and was never in the protest at all (the protesters wore hoods). It was also proposed that he could have drowned, but the Mapuches held control of the area and impeded access by the GNA. When the GNA did enter the area, the corpse was found in the river. An autopsy confirmed his identity, that the body had no signs of blows or injuries, and that he died by asphyxia and hypothermia. The judicial case was closed a year later, as the judge ruled that there was no forced disappearance and that there was no further evidence pointing towards anything other than an accidental drowning.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: On 15 November 2017, the submarine ARA "San Juan" (S-42) went missing. There were several irregularities both in the search process and in the communication with the families of those affected by the accident. The families started a judiciary process to establish the chain of responsibilities in the process. In a recent hearing, one of the accused stated that the government knew the location of the submarine and found it in 5 December 2017, but kept the finding secret until a year after, when on 16 November 2018, was communicated that the submarine was found.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: During the last days of his tenure as President, allegations of electoral fraud and subsequent protests occurred in Bolivia, leading to the 2019 Bolivian political crisis. This caused President Evo Morales to resign and the military and police of Bolivia clashed with pro-Morales protesters, resulting in dozens of deaths from the engagement. The government of Macri immediately recognized the legitimacy of the interim presidency of Jeanine Áñez and denied Morales asylum and also blocked Argentine air space for Morales's airplane to fly over Argentina in the bid to escape Bolivia to seek asylum in Mexico. In July 2021, Bolivian Foreign Minister Rogelio Mayta accused the Macri's government of providing weaponry to the Bolivian security forces which engaged in the Senkata and Secaba massacres. In the report, the current government of Bolivia also denounced Security Minister of Macri, Patricia Bullrich, and other officials for the conflict.


title: Mauricio Macri

text: The denounce was based on a thank you letter from aviation general Jorge Gonzalo Terceros Lara. Lara denounced that the letter was a forgery, and that he resigned on 13 November 2019, the same day the alleged letter was sent. His lawyer also pointed that anti-riot weapons would be useless for the aviation military, and would have made no sense for Lara to request them. Former chancellor Karen Longaric pointed as well that if the shipment arrived in Bolivia the same day that Añez became president, it would have had to be prepared and sent while Morales was still president. Longaric also pointed that, regardless of the wording, the letter does not mention war weapons but just police weapons, whose trade between nations in good standing is regular and non-controversial.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: DmC: Devil May Cry is a 2013 action-adventure game developed by Ninja Theory and published by Capcom. Released in January for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows, it is a reboot of the "Devil May Cry" series. Announced in late 2010 during the Tokyo Game Show, the game is set in a parallel universe to the mainline "Devil May Cry" series.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The game's story focuses on the player character Dante, a young drifter who secretly hunts demons, who live among and rule over humans. Dante is a Nephilim, the child of an angel and a demon. He is reunited with Vergil, his twin brother, who enlists his help slaying powerful demons, culminating in a fight against Mundus, the demon king who murdered Dante's mother and condemned his father to eternal banishment and suffering. Players can use Dante's iconic sword, "Rebellion", and signature handguns, "Ebony" and "Ivory", as well as a variety of other melee weapons and firearms to defeat enemies. The game also introduces "Angel Mode" and "Demon Mode", which are modifiers to Dante's moveset.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The re-imagination of the "Devil May Cry" series was requested by Capcom, resulting in a total reboot. Capcom chose Ninja Theory to develop the game, assisting them to ensure that gameplay was reminiscent, but distinct, compared to previous titles. Early reaction to the game was widely negative, generally as a result of Dante's visual redesign and the drastic change in the tone of his character; nevertheless, "DmC" received positive reviews from critics upon release, but less favorable reception among fans. Critics praised the gameplay, art style, and story of the game, as well as the redesigned Dante.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: A DLC expansion for the game, titled "Vergil's Downfall", which takes place after the main game and features Dante's brother Vergil as the playable character, was released on 23 March 2013. A remastered edition of the full game, titled "DmC: Definitive Edition", running at 1080p/60fps and including all downloadable content, new costumes and new gameplay features such as a manual targeting system, was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on 10 March 2015. The "Definitive Edition" and the original PC version were developed by QLOC.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: "DmC: Devil May Cry" is an action-adventure hack and slash video game. Players take on the role of Dante as he uses his powers and weaponry to fight against enemies and navigate the treacherous Limbo. Like previous games in the series, Dante can perform combos by attacking with his sword, Rebellion, and shooting with his twin pistols, Ebony and Ivory. New to the series are modifiers to Dante's moveset, known as Angel Mode and Devil Mode, activated by holding down one of the trigger buttons. When in Angel mode, Dante's sword attacks change to the Osiris, a speedy scythe type weapon, whilst Devil mode uses the slower but more powerful axe, Arbiter. These modes also alter Dante's mobility. Using Angel mode allows Dante to pull himself towards enemies and various points in each level, whilst Devil mode lets Dante pull enemies and objects towards him. Dante is also able to dash across large gaps in Angel mode. All of these moves can be used in conjunction with each other to perform massive combos, which are ranked based on the damage the player makes. When enough power has been gathered, Dante can activate Devil Trigger mode, which slows down time around him and levitates enemies into the air, allowing him to perform much stronger attacks. Like previous games, Dante can collect various types of souls which can be used to recover health, purchase items and upgrade Dante's moveset.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The game is set in a parallel universe of the series. The game's story takes place in Limbo City, a modern-day city secretly controlled by all-powerful demons, manipulating humanity through the comforts of life, with the demons themselves residing in a parallel plane called "Limbo". Living on the fringes of society is Dante, a young man aware of the existence of demons, devoting himself to fighting them in secret but otherwise wasting his life by indulging in junk food and sex.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: One day, Dante is warned by a young woman named Kat that he is in danger, just as a Hunter demon drags him into Limbo and smashes his trailer parked at the end of Bellevue Pier. Dante grabs his weapons and slays the Hunter with Kat's help, as she can see into Limbo with her psychic powers. Dante returns to the human world and accepts Kat's offer to meet with her boss, Vergil.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Along the way, Kat explains that Vergil leads "The Order", an organization intent on exposing the demons and releasing the world from their control. Vergil explains that he wants Dante to join the Order. Dante learns that he and Vergil are not only long-lost twin brothers but also Nephilim, the children of an angel and a demon and the only beings capable of killing the cruel demon king Mundus. Their father Sparda was Mundus' chief lieutenant in the war against the angels until he betrayed Mundus by fathering twins with the angel Eva. Mundus, afraid of the Nephilim and seeing them as abominations, killed Eva with his own hands. Sparda spirited his sons to safety, wiped their memories for their own protection, and gave each a sword ("Rebellion" for Dante, "Yamato" for Vergil). Mundus then captured Sparda and condemned him to eternal torture while vowing to hunt down Dante, unaware of Vergil's existence. After learning of his past by visiting his family's decrepit mansion, Dante resolves to help Vergil bring down Mundus and his regime.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Dante, with help from Kat, gradually takes down Mundus' operations and slays the demons who manage them on his behalf. During the final stages of his campaign, Dante witnesses a SWAT team raid the Order's headquarters, killing all of Vergil's followers. Dante rescues Vergil from Limbo but is helpless to protect Kat from being brutally beaten and taken to Mundus. Dante then kidnaps Lilith, Mundus' demon concubine carrying his unborn child, and offers to trade her to Mundus for Kat. During the exchange, Vergil brutally slaughters Lilith, killing Mundus' heir. He, Dante, and Kat narrowly escape as Mundus tears much of the city apart in an outburst of power that weakens the "Hellgate", a portal to the demon world within his stronghold in Silver Sacks Tower. Kat, recovering from her injuries, leads the brothers through a detailed plan to infiltrate the Tower and defeat Mundus. Dante draws Mundus out of his lair and Vergil seals the Hellgate, rendering Mundus mortal. Mundus forms a massive body for himself from the city's rubble and confronts the brothers, but Dante is able to reach his original, physical body and destroy him. Limbo collapses into the human world, making demons visible to humans and creating chaos and pandemonium worldwide.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: With Mundus dead, Vergil reveals his true intentions: he intends to rule humanity in the demon king's place. Vergil argues that as Nephilim, he and Dante must protect humans "from themselves"; he also abandons Kat, regarding her as worthless simply because she is human. Dante is appalled by his brother's true nature and the two fight, with Dante emerging victorious. Kat stops Dante from killing his brother and Vergil leaves in disgrace. Faced with a world now infested with demons and abandoned by the only family he has left, Dante questions his own identity and purpose. Kat comforts him by claiming that he is "Dante, nothing more and nothing less". With his hair now completely white after using the full extent of his demonic power, Dante decides to devote himself to protecting humans by hunting down demons.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The DLC chapter "Vergil's Downfall" reveals what happens to Vergil after losing to his brother. He finds himself in an unknown dimension, where he is guided by the voice of his mother to "head toward the lights". Vergil follows the lights, only to be confronted by illusions of Kat and Dante, the latter of whom stabs him again. Vergil is saved by an illusion of himself and is forced to fight hordes of demons while he recovers from the wounds he suffered at Dante's hands. Vergil "kills" the illusions of his brother and Kat, and his mother disappears after expressing horror at seeing the monster her son has become. Vergil completes his ordeal by killing his own illusion in combat, and is returned to the real world. Demons approach him and bow at his feet, accepting him as their new king. Confident in his future, Vergil departs to lead his new army to places unknown.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The game was officially announced by Capcom at their press conference during the 2010 Tokyo Game Show in September, confirming an earlier rumour in the May 2010 issue of "Game Informer" which said that the fifth "Devil May Cry" game would be developed by Ninja Theory. The Japanese Capcom staff told the Western staff to make a game with a different direction. Although their previous game, "Devil May Cry 4", was a commercial success the staff thought about rebooting the series taking into account how other game series had better sales. They chose Ninja Theory, impressed with their work on "Heavenly Sword" which the staff thought would work with a "Devil May Cry" game. Ninja Theory's creative director Tameem Antoniades stated that "DmC"s system would contain mechanics that would set him apart from other action titles, in particularly "Bayonetta", developed by PlatinumGames and directed by the creator of "Devil May Cry", Hideki Kamiya. Lead producer Alex Jones stated they still wanted to compete with Platinum in terms of gameplay and storytelling. The idea of a town being alive that wishes to kill the player added a new element never seen before in the "Devil May Cry" series. The actions of Limbo City are inspired by previous "Devil May Cry" games, where the environments would close whenever Dante was surrounded by enemies. Combat designer Rahni Tucker commented on how newcomers to the series have difficulties understanding how advance players from the classic "Devil May Cry" games could perform several combos that combined multiple skills and weapons. As a result, she designed the combat to be appeal to newcomers so that they could easily perform elaborated combos, while still offering gameplay that advance players would enjoy.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Most of the game was finished as of April 2012 with Capcom aiding Ninja Theory in tweaking few aspects for the final product. Capcom became heavily involved in the combat system to ensure the character's responsive moves and add new air combos never seen before in the franchise. The development team included over ninety members with nearly ten of them being from Capcom. While Capcom's Hideaki Itsuno oversaw the project, Jones and Motohide Eshiro acted as producers. They wanted to aid the Ninja Theory developers in making "DmC" play more like the previous "Devil May Cry" games. The release of the PC version was delayed for a faster release of the console iterations. However, Ninja Theory was planning to start launching of the PC version shortly afterwards the console version, aiming for the shortest gap possible. This depended on the time that the PC version finishes development. As a result of speculation regarding Vergil being a playable character, Jones stated that Dante would be the only one controlled by the player. The game uses Unreal Engine 3.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Dante's design was originally meant to be similar to that of previous games, but Capcom told the Ninja Theory staff it had to be completely different to appeal to a younger demographic. While the original Dante was designed from a Japanese perspective, the new one was made from a Western perspective. The final model was inspired by Christopher Nolan's film "The Dark Knight" as Tameem Antoniades from Ninja Theory commented they wished to make the character realistic. In an interview published by "Official Xbox Magazine", Jones explained that he has received numerous death threats in the form of comic books and a metal song due to the controversial decision to reboot the series. Antoniades responded to criticism stating they would not change the design as the character is supposed to fit within the game's setting. Antoniades stated that the gameplay would be similar to previous "Devil May Cry" games. In November 2011, an extended trailer and new concept art was released. In May 2012, Capcom announced they expect the game to ship 2 million copies by the ending of this fiscal year without giving yet a proper release date. The music for the game was composed by electronic groups Noisia and Combichrist. A playable demo was released on 20 November 2012.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: In December 2014, Capcom announced that the definitive edition of the game is being released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. The game contains numerous new improvements and features such as the 1080p resolution and 60 fps frame rate, rebalanced gameplay, all downloadable content available to the previous generation versions, a new Bloody Palace mode for Vergil, a Turbo Mode which gives a 20 percent boost to game speed, Hardcore mode which increases the game's difficulty, Gods Must Die difficulty level wherein enemies immediately use Devil Trigger and deal 2.5 times the normal damage, Must Style mode wherein enemies can only be damaged when the style rank is S and above, new costumes unavailable to the previous versions, updated trophies and achievements, and new leaderboards for Hardcore mode.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: A few days after the release of the game on PC, the first "Costume Pack" downloadable content (DLC) was released for all consoles. The packs contains several outfits for Dante to use in the main game, which includes a "" outfit, a "Dark Dante" outfit and a "Neo Dante" outfit.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: On 20 February 2013, the second DLC for the game, called "Bloody Palace", was released. The free DLC is a survival mode, pitting players against 101 waves of enemies and bosses. Along with "Bloody Palace", there is also a "Weapons Bundle" DLC, which includes three sets of skins (Bone, Gold and Samurai) for three in-game weapons (Arbiter, Osiris and Revenant). The bundle also unlocks two in-game perks, Orb Harvester and Item Finder, plus gives the player three upgrade points. The skin packs were previously available as store-exclusive pre-order DLCs for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: On 6 March 2013, the fourth DLC, "Vergil's Downfall", was released. The DLC adds a new section in the main game, giving players a new single-player campaign featuring Vergil as the main character. The DLC has its own leaderboard, stats and set of achievements/trophies. This DLC is available for free for those who have pre-ordered the game on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Before the game was released, early reception to the new design of Dante and change in direction of the series was negative. The series' original creator, Hideki Kamiya, was negative about the game's direction and stated he was "missing" Dante although in later tweets he expected people to try the game. Video game publications 1UP.com and GamesRadar found such claims exaggerated, with the former finding the demo's gameplay and humour enjoyable and the latter being optimistic about how the release of the game could affect the franchise. Various other sites also listed it as one of the most anticipated games of 2012 stating that, despite the controversy the game caused, it looked promising, owing to the presentation and the fact the gameplay had yet to be tested. In September 2012, Capcom US producer Alex Jones claimed that some of the negative response had turned positive. Dante's voice actor from "Devil May Cry 3" and "4", Reuben Langdon, while expressing disappointment with Dante's characterisation, had positive impressions about the game and urged fans to try it.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: "DmC: Devil May Cry" received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The game's story received positive responses from critics. Jose Otero from 1UP.com thought that the story successfully combined with the game's gameplay. In addition, he praised the quality of the game's well-directed cutscenes. Ryan Clements from IGN considered the game's storytelling a refinement for the series. However, he criticised the length of the game's campaign, which he thought was too short. Ryan Taljonick from GamesRadar criticised the game's campaign as he called it "predictable". He considered it a missed opportunity for "DmC".


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The game's gameplay also received positive responses. Otero called the combat flexible, and thought that the developer had created a lot of memorable levels and stages with the use of Limbo. Rich Stanton from Eurogamer praised the flow of combat, and thought that the use of the Rebellion in the game "an awesome achievement". Despite that, he criticised the platforming section of the game, which he found boring. He further criticised the design of the game's boss battles, which he thought, was very disappointing. Clements thought that the game's combat system was the "most intelligent design to date", in which he praised the game's simple user interface and combo system. Despite that, he criticised the game's camera, which he thought had failed to catch up with the combat. Juba praised the game's combat variety and accessible controls. He also thought that the game's gameplay significantly increases the replayability of the game.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: The game's art style received acclaim. Stantion thought that the game's art-style is striking to look at. Clements praised the game's visuals, which he described as "stunning". Joe Juba from "Game Informer" also praised the game's artistic direction, and he thought that the game's visuals install a sense of unpleasantness and surrealism to the game's alternate universe. The game's boss design was praised by Taljonick, but he expressed disappointment that these enemies are not fun to play with. In addition, he criticised the lack of enemy variety in the game.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Otero praised Ninja Theory for removing some of Dante's old and unappealing personalities, and making him a protagonist that is approachable for players. He described it as "a fresh and imaginative take on Dante". Clements thought that the redesigned hero is more relatable for players. Rich Stanton from Eurogamer is also positive about Dante's re-design, calling it one of the best reinventions of a character in gaming history. In contrast, Chris Schilling from VideoGamer.com was negative about the redesign, as he found the new Dante lacking some of the original's iconic features.


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: With the announcement of "Devil May Cry 5", Producer Matt Walker reiterated that while Capcom is returning to the original series "...this isn't a slight at Ninja Theory or DmC at all. We all love DmC." Matt explains "Itsuno-san himself has explicitly stated that in his mind, DmC is just as important as any of the other titles in the series, and he's just as proud of it." Continuing, "That game had an amazing world all its own, that could only have been produced by the amazing artists and imaginations at Ninja Theory."


title: DmC: Devil May Cry

text: Capcom initially hoped to ship 2 million copies by the end of its financial year; later, it revised its predictions to 1.2 million copies shipped. Reasons given by Capcom included a "delayed response to the expanding digital contents market," "insufficient coordination between the marketing and the game development divisions in overseas markets," and a "decline in quality due to excessive outsourcing", though whether or not any of the comments were applicable to "DmC: Devil May Cry" or Capcom itself was left ambiguous. The game sold 116,000 units in its first week in Japan and made the top spot in the charts. The game also reached the top spot in the UK's sales charts, though only made a third of the sales of "Devil May Cry 4". Capcom stated that the sales of the original game were "solid" but noted that the game did not catch Eastern gamers' attention and made less than its previous iteration, "Devil May Cry 4". In an interview with GameSpot in 2015, Hideaki Itsuno stated in regards to the game's performance, “If it had been a world changing hit, it might have changed the course of the series by becoming the new DMC. But at the same time, if it was a lot less successful than it was, it might have just been a flash in the pan failure that never got followed through with the definitive edition this year. In a way, I’m actually really pleased of where we were able to hit between those two separate extremes”. Capcom reported in September 2015 that the company was "very happy" with the sales of the Definitive Edition. As of September 30, 2021, 2.6 million copies of the original version have been sold worldwide, while the Definitive Edition sold an additional 1.2 Million copies, bringing to total amount between all versions to 3.8 million copies.


title: TJ Maxx

text: TJ Maxx (stylized as T•J•maxx) is an American department store chain, selling at prices generally lower than other major similar stores. It has more than 1,000 stores in the United States, making it one of the largest clothing retailers in the country. TJ Maxx is the flagship chain of the TJX Companies. It sells men's, women's and children's apparel and shoes, toys, bath and beauty, accessories, and home products ranging from furniture to kitchen utensils.


title: TJ Maxx

text: TJ Maxx and Marshalls operate as sister stores, and share a similar footprint throughout the country. While their prices are nearly identical and they have similar store layouts, Marshalls has a more upscale appearance than TJ Maxx and typically sells a larger range of fine jewelry and accessories. Some higher-volume stores have a high-end designer department called The Runway.