On Tuesday over half a million people welcomed in the new government in Argentina – Alberto Fernandez the president, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner the vice president, in a return to power for the Peronist party.
“We got used to people saying that we would never be back,” Fernandez told a packed Plaza de Mayo. “But here we are tonight and we are going to be better."
Once the euphoria died down, the work began on addressing a bleak economic outlook.
In his first appearance in front of the cameras, new economy minister Martin Guzman, underlined the challenges facing the country - from tackling rising poverty, inflation, and unemployment to perhaps its biggest challenge - paying off international creditors.
“Argentina took on a lot of foreign debt but did not use those dollars to generate productive capacity to be able to pay off that large debt,” 37-year-old Guzman said. "So we are in trouble.”
With this shift in Argentina – Albert Fernandez as president, the Peronists back in power – many people are wondering if this will change Argentina’s international relations and if it will see Argentina draw closer to China.
Argentina is among the biggest recipients in Latin America of loans from China. There is Chinese investment in major infrastructure projects, while Argentina sends a vast volume of soybeans, beef and fruit to China.
Under the previous Conservative government of Mauricio Macri, Argentina at first cooled its relationship with China, but then made advances in exporting agricultural goods.
“The Macri administration had an ambiguous stance on China, renegotiating and reviewing contracts that had signed up until then,” says Gustavo Girado of the University of Lanus. Many of those contracts had been signed under the presidency of Cristina Kirchner, now back in power as vice president.
“We mustn't lose sight of the fact that it is with the now vice president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner with whom the bilateral relationship (with China) advanced the most,” says Girado. "The relationship has everything to gain, in the sense of cooperation, and it is very important what can be built from now.”
In the context of ongoing trade frictions between the United States and China, the U.S. has pressured Latin American countries to take its side. But Argentina may aim to avoid choosing between Washington and Beijing.
“If the Fernandez-Fernandez tandem tries to have different channels for different sides this could be very interesting,” says Mariano Turzi of the University of CEMA. "If they start competing to impose one of these sides, this is going to end badly for Argentina.
"Argentina is not a option where it can play both sides, but it can play constructively with both sides.”
Amid an economic and social crisis, and fears over a debt crisis, Argentina is in no position to lose favor with any of its trade partners.