The President of Argentina, Javier Mileiwill speak this Friday at the opening of the regular meetings of the congressamid a tense social climate marked by strikes or mobilizations and a rise in inflation, poverty and misery.
“Rat’s nest,” “criminals,” “traitors,” “corrupt,” “symbols of caste”: Milei did not skimp on adjectives of this kind to the lawmakers he will address on national television.
“You have to accept that people hate politicians,” he said in statements to the press. Additionally, in a recent interview with the Financial Times, he said, “I don’t need Congress to save the economy.”
Consultant and political analyst Raúl Timerman estimated that Milei “is and will continue to be.”
“This is what positions him well in public opinion,” he told AFP, explaining that Milei had a 50% positive image, up from the 55% he had at the time of his inauguration on December 10.
Milei will deliver the speech at 9 p.m. instead of the usual 12 p.m., coinciding with prime-time television and amid a heavy security deployment.
Meanwhile, social and political organizations called for protests as night fell.
The event highlights a country that has accumulated inflation of more than 50% and a poverty rate that reaches more than half of the population since the start of the new government.
“Something had to be done,” “we have to persevere,” “eventually things will get better,” say the Argentine electorate that supports the far-right president, Timerman explained, based on studies by the consulting firm he heads, Grupo de Public Opinion.
“Useful idiots”
Ten days after taking office, Milei issued a presidential decree (DNU) amending or repealing more than 300 regulations, including the rent law, the utility law, and price controls.
Then an attempt was made to pass a so-called “omnibus law” with 664 articles before Congress, which provided for structural changes, such as the possibility of privatizing 41 state-owned companies, or other stranger regulations, such as requiring judges to wear black robes and a gavel to wear, something that does not exist in Argentina.
But the law did not have the success the government expected and Milei himself ordered its withdrawal as a project.
He called the political opposition leaders who criticized the DNU “useful idiots.” He classified the deputies, his own and others, who did not agree to the articles of the “Omnibus Law” as traitors and mentioned them individually on the social network X.
The law’s failure was seen as a triumph by Milei because, as he told reporters, it made it clear that the provincial governors to whom many lawmakers respond are “criminals.”
In response to the draconian budget adjustments, key workers’ associations, together with opposition political parties, have staged a nationwide strike and various sectoral strikes to demand higher wages.
Social organizations are also protesting against the government’s suspension of food deliveries to thousands of community kitchens.
The International Monetary Fund, which predicts Argentina’s economic contraction of 2.8% in 2024, welcomed the measures taken by the government but recommended that they be aimed at protecting the country’s poorest social sectors.
“My adjustment is stronger than that of the IMF,” Milei repeatedly assured the press, pointing to his commitment to end the year with a surplus of 3% of GDP.
In 2018, under the presidency of Mauricio Macri, Argentina borrowed $57 billion from the organization, of which it received just over $44 billion.
SPRING: AFP
