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Source: Turismo 530 (Mendoza)
Argentina's Mendoza Provincial Parliament has passed a motion asking both national assemblies (la Cámara de Senadores y la Cámara de Diputados del Honorable Congreso de la Nación) to pass a law making the June 20 and August 17 public holidays immovable, as other public holidays in Argentina already are.
In compensation the law should make 2 public holidays that are currently fixed, May 25 and July 9, into movable public holidays so that the number of 3-day weekends remains the same.
The reason set forth for this apparent zero-sum change (the holidays being made into fixed public holidays and those being made into variable-date public holidays are all around the same time of the year) is that the June 20 and August 17 public holidays commemorate the date when 2 fomous Argentine generals died (paso a la inmortalidad del General José de San Martín y del General Manuel Belgrano), which according to the motion's authors must be observed on the exact date when they occurred.
On the other hand, these same authors, argue that the concepts of liberty and independence, celebrated by the May 25 and July 9 public holidays, are abstract concepts, not related to any specific person (la generalidad trascendental de la Libertad y la Independencia) and thus can be moved to the next Monday to encourage 3-day weekends and promote internal tourism.
The official reaction from the national legislation is not yet known. At first glance it would be tempting to dismiss the aforementioned motion as another excercise by a regional legislative to keep busy during the winter recess. However, other, also originally unlikely, proposals did become law in the past (22-Nov-2000 and 01-Oct-2008).
Related links:
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Argentina bank holidays and public holidays (current
year)
• Argentina bank holidays and public holidays (news and updates)
• Worldwide
bank holidays and public holidays news updates (July 2009)
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Argentina To Consider Changing Moveable Public Holidays