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       T R O U B L E D   C O M P A N Y   R E P O R T E R

                 L A T I N   A M E R I C A

          Tuesday, December 3, 2019, Vol. 20, No. 241

                           Headlines



A R G E N T I N A

ARGENTINA: No Debt Haircuts, But Will Focus on Growth, Says Pres.
GARANTIAS BIND: Moody's Withdraws B3 IFS Rating for Own Reasons


B O L I V I A

BOLIVIA: To Hold Presidential Elections in March 2020


B R A Z I L

TELEFONICA SA: To Downsize in Latam Amid Geopolitical Instability


C H I L E

CHILE: Economic Activity Down 3.4% in October Amid Protests


C U B A

CUBA: Travel Restrictions, Thomas Cook Bankruptcy Hit Tourism


P U E R T O   R I C O

NOSCE TE IPSUM: Seeks to Hire San Juan Realty as Appraiser

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A R G E N T I N A
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ARGENTINA: No Debt Haircuts, But Will Focus on Growth, Says Pres.
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Eliana Raszewski at Reuters reports that Argentine President-elect
Alberto Fernandez said on
Nov. 28 he did not want to fall short on debt obligations even as
his government puts a premium on growth.

According to Reuters Mr. Fernandez, who takes office on Dec. 10,
will need to negotiate with creditors including the International
Monetary Fund as Argentina buckles under the weight of about US$100
billion in sovereign debt.

"I do not want to give haircuts to anybody, I do not want to stop
paying what we owe," Reuters quotes Mr. Fernandez as saying while
speaking at an Argentine industrial chamber event in Buenos Aires.

"We are going to pay the day we have grown, produced more, exported
more and obtained the dollars with which to pay this debt."

Still, Mr. Fernandez called the state of the country's fiscal
accounts "deplorable" and said much of its debt had been agreed to
in a "delusional way," taking aim at the economic policies of
outgoing conservative President Mauricio Macri, Reuters relates.

Several factions of Argentina's bondholders are jostling for
influence ahead of restructuring talks with Mr. Fernandez, but some
have said they are frustrated by a lack of clarify on the incoming
government's plans, according to Reuters.

Mr. Fernandez has not yet named his economic team or set out how he
will deal with potential debt restructurings, Reuters notes.

                         About Argentina

Argentina is a country located mostly in the southern half of South
America.  It's capital is Buenos Aires. Alberto Angel Fernandez is
the President-elect of Argentina after winning the October 2019
general election. He succeeded Mauricio Macri in the position.

Argentina has the third largest economy in Latin America.  The
country's economy is an upper middle-income economy for fiscal year
2019 according to the World Bank.  Historically, however, its
economic performance has been very uneven, with high economic
growth alternating with severe recessions, income maldistribution
and -- in the recent decades -- increasing poverty.

Standard & Poor's foreign and local currency sovereign credit
ratings for Argentina stands at CCC- with negative outlook. S&P
said, "The negative outlook reflects the prominent downside risks
to payment of debt on time and in full per our criteria over the
coming months amid very complex political, economic, and financial
market dynamics."  Moody's credit rating for Argentina was last set
at Caa2 from B2 with under review outlook. Fitch's credit rating
for Argentina was last reported at CC with n/a outlook. DBRS's
credit rating for Argentina is CC with under review outlook.  S&P,
Moody's and DBRS ratings were issued on Aug. 30, 2019; Fitch rating
on Sept. 3, 2019.

Back in July 2014, Argentina defaulted on some of its debt, after
expiration of a 30-day grace period on a US$539 million interest
payment.  The country hasn't been able to access international
credit markets since its US$95 billion default 13 years ago.  On
March 30, 2016, Argentina's Congress passed a bill that will allow
the government to repay holders of debt that the South
American  country defaulted on in 2001, including a group of
litigating hedge  funds that won judgments in a New York court. The
bill passed by a vote of 54-16.


GARANTIAS BIND: Moody's Withdraws B3 IFS Rating for Own Reasons
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Moody's Latin America Agente de Calificacion de Riesgo S.A. has
withdrawn the B3 global local currency and Baa1.ar Argentine
national scale insurance financial strength ratings of Garantias
BIND SGR. At the time of the withdrawal, the ratings were under
review for downgrade.

RATINGS RATIONALE

Moody's has decided to withdraw the ratings for its own business
reasons.



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B O L I V I A
=============

BOLIVIA: To Hold Presidential Elections in March 2020
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Anadolu Agency reports that Bolivia's interim government has
announced that general elections will be held in March 2020,
according to local media reports on Dec. 1.

"We will begin countdown from Dec. 23. We will have four months
until April 23 to conclude with the process," said Jerjes Atala,
chief of staff of the interim government, according to
Caracas-based broadcaster TeleSur, Anadolu Agency relays.

Winning candidates need more than half of the votes or 40% with a
10-point advantage over the runner up, according to the electoral
law of the country.

Anadolu Agency relates that Mr. Atala recalled that Bolivia's
bicameral assembly has 20 days to choose a new election
commissioner, who will call for elections within 48 hours.

Bolivia's self-proclaimed interim president Jeanine Anez approved
legislation last week calling for new presidential elections. It
prohibits the candidacy of anyone who has served the last two terms
consecutively as president, which would exclude former President
Evo Morales, according to Anadolu Agency.

Turmoil in Bolivia began in October, when Morales won a fourth term
in office and faced immediate resistance from opposition parties
that challenged election results. Protesters took to the streets
claiming the ballot was rigged, Anadolu Agency recalls.

After weeks of upheaval, Morales resigned under pressure from the
military and moved to Mexico, where he was offered political
asylum, the report relates.

Conservative Senator Anez then proclaimed herself interim
president.

But public demonstrations have yet to subside, with mostly rural
and indigenous pro-Morales supporters taking to the streets,
including La Paz, as well as Sacaba and Cochabamba, since he left
the country saying his ouster was a coup, the report says.

Anez government threatens Morales with prison sentence if he is to
return to the country, Anadolu Agency adds.

As reported in the Troubled Company reporter on November 26, 2019,
Fitch Ratings downgraded Bolivia's Long-Term Foreign Currency
Issuer Default Rating to 'B+' from 'BB-'. The Rating Outlook
remains Negative. The downgrade of Bolivia's ratings to 'B+'
reflects the rapid and sustained erosion of external buffers and
related macroeconomic risks, which have intensified amid recent
political and social instability.



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B R A Z I L
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TELEFONICA SA: To Downsize in Latam Amid Geopolitical Instability
-----------------------------------------------------------------
The Rio Times reports that Telefonica announced on Nov. 27 a
profound and quasi-revolutionary organizational change in its
structure as a multinational group.

The report relates that the operator will unify all its businesses
in Latin America in a single independent subsidiary (spin off),
with the purpose of selling it or taking it to the Stock Exchange,
and will focus its investments in its four main markets (Spain,
Brazil, Germany and the United Kingdom).

It will also set up a new subsidiary (Telefonica Tech) for digital
services businesses such as cloud computing, cybersecurity and the
Internet of Things (IoT), The Rio Times says.

Telefonica, S.A. provides mobile and fixed communication services
primarily in Europe and Latin America.  The Company was founded in
1924 and is headquartered in Madrid, Spain.

Telefonica, S.A.'s working capital deficit was EUR6.3 billion at
December 31, 2018.  The deficit was EUR9.1 billion as of December
31, 2017.

At December 31, 2018, the Company had total current assets of
EUR23.3 billion and total current liabilities of EUR29.6 billion.
At December 31, 2017, the Company had total current assets of
EUR19.9 billion and total current liabilities of EUR29.1 billion.




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C H I L E
=========

CHILE: Economic Activity Down 3.4% in October Amid Protests
-----------------------------------------------------------
Reuters reports that Chile's economic activity dropped 3.4% from
the same month a year ago, the central bank said on Dec. 2, a sign
of the economic toll of violent protests which sowed chaos across
much of Chile for weeks.

The IMACEC economic activity index encompasses about 90 percent of
the economy tallied in gross domestic product figures, Reuters
discloses.

According to Reuters, protests in Chile began on Oct. 18 over a
hike in metro fares but quickly spiraled into riots, arson and
looting that have left 26 dead and upwards of $1.5 billion in
losses for businesses.

Non-mining activity fell 4 percent, the bank said, marked by a
sharp drop in education, transportation, business services and the
hotel and restaurant sector, Reuters relates. Much of Santiago,
Chile's capital of 6 million, was shut near the end of October as
riots and looting closed streets, central squares and many small
businesses.

Reuters says mining activity in the world's top copper producer
nonetheless grew 2.0 percent compared with the same month in 2018,
as new production from Codelco's Chuquicamata mine ramped up,
boosting total output despite the mounting protests.

Chile's copper mines have mostly maintained production and kept
operations running normally in the face of the unrest, with only
scattered incidents reported, adds Reuters.



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C U B A
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CUBA: Travel Restrictions, Thomas Cook Bankruptcy Hit Tourism
-------------------------------------------------------------
EFE reports that new travel to Cuba restrictions imposed by the
United States and the bankruptcy of the largest British tour
operator, Thomas Cook, had a negative impact on the Caribbean
country's tourism sector, according to statistics for the month of
September released on Nov. 27.

According to EFE, the year-on-year comparison indicates that
compared to the 51,776 Americans who traveled to Cuba in September
last year, only 13,094 (-74.7%) did so this year, while the 13,676
British tourists who arrived in that month of 2018 were reduced to
6,133 (-55.2%) in 2019.

In cumulative terms, from January to September of this year, U.S.
visitors decreased by 5.2%, from 460,288 to 436,453, EFE
discloses.

Americans are still forbidden to visit the neighboring island due
to the embargo that Washington has maintained for almost 60 years,
but they could still come through exceptions such as educational,
religious or cultural exchange trips, among other categories, EFE
relates.

The Donald Trump administration has reduced and in some cases
eliminated those possibilities and this year also banned cruise
trips from the U.S., EFE states.

Washington has intensified its sanctions against Cuba with the goal
of damaging the already fragile economy of the island under the
argument that the Cuban government provides logistical support to
keep Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in power, which Havana
denies, EFE relays.

On the other hand, the Thomas Cook tourist giant, the main issuer
of British tourists to Cuba, went bankrupt in September, so the
collapse in the figures for that market, the fifth for the island
in 2018, was foreseeable, according to EFE.

The report of the Bureau of National Statistics (ONEI), which
collects tourist data between January and September of this year,
indicates, on the contrary, a year-on-year growth for the Russian
and Argentine markets: in the first case, from 8,964 to 11,839 and
in the second, from 3,733 to 6,192, EFE states.

So far this year, the total of arrivals is 3.3 million tourists
compared to 3.5 million who arrived in the first nine months of the
previous year, representing a 6% drop and an uninterrupted downward
trend since June, EFE notes.

As reported in the Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America on Sept.
17, 2019, Moody's Investors Service affirmed the Government of
Cuba's long-term foreign-currency and local-currency issuer ratings
at Caa2.  The outlook remains stable.




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P U E R T O   R I C O
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NOSCE TE IPSUM: Seeks to Hire San Juan Realty as Appraiser
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Nosce Te Ipsum, Inc., seeks authority from the U.S. Bankruptcy
Court for the District of Puerto Rico to employ Keith F. Wolpert
and San Juan Realty Advisors as its professional appraiser.

Mr. Wolpert will provide an opinion of the current market value of
the property located in Metro Office Park, Calle 1 3, Guaynabo,
Puerto Rico.

Mr. Wolpert has agreed to a flat fee of $4,500 for his services.
Mr. Wolpert received a retainer in the amount of $2,500.

Mr. Wolpert assures the court that he is a "disinterested person"
within the meaning of 1 U.S.C. Sec 101(14) and does not have an
interest materially adverse to the estate.

The appraiser can be reached through:

     Keith F. Wolpert
     San Juan Realty Advisors
     PO Box 3675533
     San Juan, PR 00936-7553
     Tel: (787) 810-6990
     Email: sjra@sjradvisors.com

                  About Nosce Te Ipsum

Nosce Te Ipsum, Inc., classifies its business as Single Asset Real
Estate (as defined in 11 U.S.C. Section 101(51B)).  The Company
owns in fee simple a five-story building with office and commercial
spaces for lease, and adjacent parking lot structure in Guaynabo,
Puerto Rico valued by the Company at $7 million.

Nosce Te Ipsum, Inc., based in San Juan, PR, filed a Chapter 11
petition (Bankr. D.P.R. Case No. 19-05155) on Sept. 9, 2019.  In
the petition signed by Maria De Los A. Ubarri, general manager, the
Debtor disclosed $7,046,991 in assets and $5,210,939 in
liabilities.  The Hon. Brian K. Tester oversees the case.  Andrew
Jimenez Cancel, Esq., at Andrew Jimenez Law Offices, serves as
bankruptcy counsel.



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S U B S C R I P T I O N   I N F O R M A T I O N

Troubled Company Reporter-Latin America is a daily newsletter
co-published by Bankruptcy Creditors' Service, Inc., Fairless
Hills, Pennsylvania, USA, and Beard Group, Inc., Washington, D.C.,
USA, Marites O. Claro, Joy A. Agravante, Rousel Elaine T.
Fernandez, Julie Anne L. Toledo, Ivy B. Magdadaro, and Peter A.
Chapman, Editors.

Copyright 2019.  All rights reserved.  ISSN 1529-2746.

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