MOTHERS of Plaza de Mayo president Hebe de Bonafini have warned the United Nations not to believe anything Argentinian President Mauricio Macri says in his address to the general assembly scheduled for late last night.

The veteran campaigner for justice for the disappeared of Argentina said that Mr Macri should not be trusted at the gathering of world leaders in New York because he “always lies.”

Mr Macri has been striving to convince Argentinians that the worst of the economic crisis sweeping the country is over; he told journalists that he would be telling the general assembly that “the future is great.”

But economic experts have said that Argentina is on the brink of a severe recession. Inflation is continuing to spiral and is predicted to hit 40 per cent by the end of the year.

Poverty is rising, with a UN investigation reporting last week “an increasing number of people going to soup kitchens or skipping meals and children being forced to rely for their daily meals entirely on school feeding programmes.”

Amid opposition and street protests, Mr Macri negotiated a $50 billion (£38bn) International Monetary Fund loan. But the country’s finances have become so desperate that he had to go back, cap in hand, to negotiate the early release of funds.

In a poetic letter to the 193-member body Ms Bonafini wrote:

I’m speaking to you all so that you know the president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri.
If he says there is work, do not believe him.
If he says children [are able to] eat, do not believe him.
If he says there’s health insurance, do not believe him.
If he says that retirees live in dignity, do not believe him.
If he says that education is guaranteed, do not believe him.
If he says that poverty does not exist, do not believe him.
If he says that industry is operating, do not believe him.
If he says not to plunder natural resources, do not believe him.
If he says that the justice [department] is independent, do not believe him.
If he says they do not torture, do not believe him.
If he says they do not murder, do not believe him.
If he says it’s the fault of another government, do not believe it.
If he says that there is a democracy, do not believe him.
He always lies.