In an astonishingly short period of 38 months, in which the extravagant television panelist became the elected president of Argentina, Javier Gerardo Milei made two virtuous moves that can take a lifetime.
First, it managed to represent the rage of a society overwhelmed by its social and economic hardships and angered by the restrictions of the pandemic. The rage was, finally, against almost everything established. The first recipient – the political caste – expanded to a vast network of institutions and organizations that, in fact, would speak out against the candidacy of the libertarian liberal. The Catholic Church, human rights organizations, football clubs, unions, social organizations, public universities, business associations, different groups of artists and intellectuals and the list of signatories goes on. Milei’s overwhelming victory over the ruling Peronism is also a warning about these representations and their political power.
Starting in the second half of 2023, Argentina attended the celebrations for the 40 years of recovery of democracy: its seminars, its books, its panels. Milei changed the meaning of the anniversary: she said in the first presidential debate that 1983, the year of the end of the last military dictatorship, was the beginning of a desert from which she has not yet emerged. In her two victory speeches Sunday she looked at another moment in history and praised the second half of the 19th century for its constitutional achievements and economic prosperity. Her presidency is, in fact, the most audacious project of dismantling the remains of Argentina’s Social State and the elimination of old and new social achievements such as the abortion law.
For his second virtuous move – an idea on how to end inflation – he had a decisive advantage: the Economy numbers offered by his rival, Minister Sergio Massa. During the campaign, faced with successive bad news of increasing poverty, falling income and skyrocketing prices, Milei proposed a shortcut: the dollarization of the economy and the elimination of the Central Bank. Despite the scant consensus on its applicability among the major leaders of the Economy, Milei has supported the plan, although he has not made it fly on the night of victory.
Starting Monday, the libertarian liberal will begin to design a new political order to be able to carry out his radical reforms. The alliance with Mauricio Macri was vital to obtain the votes that allowed him to go from 30% in the general election to 56% in the runoff. Having buried the initial intransigence of not agreeing with other forces, he must now establish the terms of an agreement that will have a chapter in the Executive Branch with the presence of those related to the former president in the cabinet and another in the Legislative Branch to obtain parliamentary support that will also needs. The political system has been even more fragmented by the division in Together for Change (Macri’s alliance) and Peronism without clear leadership and with the crisis unleashed by such a resounding defeat.
Many of the reforms that Milei proposes will be greatly rejected by those organizations that speak out against them and have great capacity for mobilization. This raises one of the most disturbing questions of his presidency: how he will manage the inevitable social conflict and how he will manage the security forces.
Although after winning the election he made great announcements about eras ending and eras beginning, the urgencies and demands of society, including his voters, do not seem to have the patience of long processes. The representation of rage does not even have the guarantee of lasting the four years of a presidential term.
Subscribe here to newsletter from EL PAÍS América and receive all the key information on current events in the region.
Subscribe to continue reading
Read without limits
_
#Anger