Argentina: the next Cuba

The Argentinian government has some interesting laws that I want to mention.

1.  For the past year or two it has been illegal to exchange Argentinian Pesos for other currencies.  If you want to travel internationally you have to request special permission from the government to be able to buy other currencies, and there's no guarantee that your request will be granted.  This has created a large black market for foreign currencies here, which is great for travelers entering with dollars, euros, or reales (Brazil), but makes international travel even more expensive for Argentinians as the black market prices are significantly higher.  For example, the official exchange rate for a dollar is about 7.5 or 8, and the black market is 10 or 11.  So I get an extra 2-3 pesos for every dollar I exchange, and Argentinians pay an extra 2-3 pesos.  When I went to Peru I asked if I could exchange my pesos, just to see, and the exchange booth accepted basically every money except Arg. pesos.

2.  This prohibition on currency exchanging means that businesses can't buy international products (technology, cars, electrodomestics, etc).  This is theoretically good for the economy I think (??), but the problem is that Argentinian products are often an unfortunate combination of inferior quality for a higher price.  Also, certain items aren't available here.  For a while the dentist didn't have any Novocane and couldn't get any, so people just had to deal with their toothaches, or get drilled without it.  Or a friend needed to get a new part for his car, and had to go to Paraguay because that part wasn't manufactured in Argentina, and therefore not available for purchase here.  While I guess it's good that they don't import everything from India and China, many people can't afford certain items, or when they do buy then they break after two weeks. 

3.  Not only is it forbidden for both individuals and companies to exchange their money to purchase foreign goods, but most international buying websites have either been blocked, or operate with various taxes/restrictions (some of which may have recently been lifted).  So textbooks, quality cameras, car parts, Novocain, etc cannot even be shipped here reliably/legally/cost effectively.

Fun (true) fact: they have dogs trained specifically to smell dollars so that if someone wants to smuggle this illegal currency into the country, they will be caught, and when that happens it will be published on the news to try to discourage others from committing similar crimes.