2 Pesos

La Rioja's 2001 emergency notes were provincial bonds (bonos) issued when the Argentine federal government froze bank deposits in December of that year — the corralito — cutting provinces off from operating funds almost overnight. La Rioja, chronically dependent on federal transfers, was among the first provinces to issue its own quasi-currency to pay salaries and keep basic services running. These circulated alongside similar instruments from at least a dozen other provinces, none of which were legal tender in any strict national sense, yet all of which were grudgingly accepted in local commerce out of sheer necessity.

Ciccone Calcográfica, the Buenos Aires intaglio printer, produced a significant share of these provincial emergency series. Ángel Maza went on to serve as national senator for La Rioja; Luis Beder Herrera later became governor himself.