This Latin American country has already gone through situations in which fragmentation will be the strategy to apply anti-popular measures and in which the unity of the people in resistance is the only defence. The street will once again be the main theatre of politics.
Javier Milei was elected president of Argentina with 14,473,340 votes (55.69%), while his opponent, the representative of the Unión por la Patria (Union for the Homeland) (UP), Sergio Massa, lost with 11,513,116. The next day, Argentina woke up with more questions than certainties.
In his first speech after the elections, Milei announced a process of “reconstruction” in which “there will be no room for lukewarmness or half-measures” and assured that his administration will be based on “a limited government that strictly fulfils the commitments made, respect for private freedom and free trade.” He also thanked former President Mauricio Macri, former Together for Change candidate Patricia Bullrich and adviser and “true architect in the shadows” Santiago Caputo, nephew of a friend of Macri, for their support. He then reiterated his intentions to shut down the Central Bank and his plan for the currency to be the one chosen by individuals.
In addition, he considered that ending inflation will take almost two years. Another question is whether or when he will carry out his plans to eliminate subsidies, privatize companies such as Aerolíneas Argentinas and Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales (Fiscal Oilfields), destroy the Southern Common Market, move away from Brazil and China, and leave international trade in private hands.
It also remains to be defined what the relationship with the International Monetary Fund will be like, taking into account that the one who contracted the largest debt in history with that organization (Mauricio Macri), now one of its most important partners.
In addition, it is necessary to take into account the existence of an unprecedented fragmentation in Congress that will force negotiations to achieve a quorum in the two bodies that make it up.
Over the next few years, UP will have 107 members in the Chamber of Deputies, Together for Change (JxC) will occupy 94 seats and LLA 38. In the case of the Senate, UP will have 35 representatives, JxC 24 and LLA eight. Analyst Jorge Alemán pointed out that “it is a sinister surprise that a country that was impeccable with respect to its historical memory, that made the 30,000 (detained-disappeared during the dictatorship) a sacred pantheon and has been inhabited for decades by a national and popular movement, has chosen to squander such an important symbolic treasure.”
And he warned about the risk of an ultra-neoliberal course with a manual of pseudo-arguments and a vice president (Victoria Villarruel) who defends the denial of the crimes committed during the regime established from 1976 to 1983.
There are many economic and political explanations that concur to interpret what is happening. However, when a nation allows a symbolic world to collapse, it is necessary to rethink that country, he added.
According to the deputy editor of the newspaper Página 12, Luis Bruschtein, the current scenario implies a horizon of violence: “No one will allow themselves to be trampled on or taken away from their rights and the policies announced are very aggressive. These two opposing forces imply the imminence of protests, repressions and deep instability.” Argentina, Bruschtein said, has already gone through situations in which fragmentation will be the strategy to apply anti-popular measures and in which the unity of the people in resistance is the only defence. The street will once again be the main theatre of politics. It is the only territory that cannot be colonized by economic power. PL
(Translated by Cristina Popa – Email: gcpopa83@gmail.com) – Photos: Pixabay
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