My understanding of the reason for ATM limitations is the same as that posted upthread by Jaimito.
About a year ago I was reading that the VISA/Plus network affiliates in Argentina were unhappy with the decreased fee they would receive for the use of their ATMs, and decided to increase revenue by forcing multiple transactions.
It seemed highly likely that the Argentine MasterCard/Cirrus network would eventually follow suit (it's
free money after all). And that's what happened in the first week of April. Any anecdotal accounts before this time are spurious.
Required reading:
http://flyerguide.com/wiki/index.php...reign_Exchange
Information on First Data:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Data
http://www.firstdata.com/
John