The government of Argentine President Javier Milei achieved an important victory on Wednesday (11) by obtaining the necessary support in the Chamber of Deputies to maintain the veto on the pension reform law, amid protests outside Congress.
Thanks to last-minute negotiations with members of the pro-dialogue opposition, Milei managed to prevent two-thirds of the deputies from voting in favor of reversing her veto on a law that established a change in retirement and pensions.
The 153 votes in favor were not enough to override the president’s veto. In all, 87 lawmakers – out of 248 present at the session – voted against reversing Milei’s decision, which was announced weeks ago but made official on August 2.
This marks a clear political victory for the Argentine president, whose party, Freedom Advances, has just 37 deputies.
The vetoed bill established a monthly update formula for benefits that combined the inflation rate and the average variation in formal wages, in addition to an extraordinary adjustment of 8.1%, something that, according to the government, was an “exorbitant expense” for the State that put fiscal balance at risk.
“Today, 87 heroes stopped the fiscal degenerates who tried to destroy the fiscal surplus that we Argentines managed to achieve with so much effort,” wrote Milei in X.
“Evidently, politicians still think that we Argentines are fools and do not see through their malicious maneuvers to overthrow a government that, for the first time, chooses to tell Argentines an uncomfortable truth instead of a comfortable lie,” Milei added, emphasizing that “zero deficit is non-negotiable.”
Outside Congress, thousands of protesters gathered to pressure deputies to reverse the president’s veto.
The protest was called by left-wing social organizations and opposition and retirees groups, and marked a new Wednesday of demonstrations, after several consecutive weeks of protests in front of Parliament in central Buenos Aires.
After the veto was endorsed, some of those present began to tear down the fences around the Legislative Palace and put pressure on the security operation implemented by the government, which covered several blocks around the site.
Police used rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannons to disperse protesters.
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