Argentine society is polarized between Peronists and anti-Peronists. But among the former, who regained power two years ago with the victory of Alberto Fernández in the presidential elections, coexistence is increasingly difficult. Less than a month before the legislative elections, the fragile unity within the ruling Frente de Todos is not maintained among its supporters, who celebrated Loyalty Day divided and with criticism. Kirchnerism marched to the central Plaza de Mayo on October 17, a day that is considered to be the foundation of the movement created by Juan Domingo Perón in 1945. The CGT, the largest Argentine trade union center, and most of the social movements related to the ruling party chose to delay the celebrations to today, Monday. The opposition took advantage of the fracture of Peronism to forcefully reject the dialogue proposal made days ago from the official ranks.
Kirchnerism, led by the vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, demands the Government of Alberto Fernández to expand social spending to face the harsh social reality of a country with 40.6% of its population living in poverty. It also opposes any policy of fiscal adjustment, despite the fact that the country is not in a position to repay the loan of 44,000 million dollars made by the International Monetary Fund in 2018 and is in negotiations to restructure that debt.
“I want to tell the president that this act is the beginning of a fight until we manage to not pay the debt,” said the head of Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo, Hebe de Bonafini, on Sunday. “I tell him that what happens makes us very sad, because he always hangs out with the rich,” added Bonafini, one of the leaders of the toughest wing of Kirchnerism. A few meters from Bonafini, some prominent Kirchnerist politicians were present, such as the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof, and candidates from the Frente de Todos such as Victoria Tolosa Paz and Daniel Gollan.
A day later, the Argentine unions showed their great convening power with a great mobilization to the Plaza de Mayo. “The CGT is the reserve from which the national movement can rebuild the social fabric and strengthen politics as a transforming tool,” said the official union central in a document read at the rally. One and the other accuse each other of the electoral defeat in the primaries of last September 12.
The different marches were marred by an attack on the monument of the victims of the covid-19 installed in the central Buenos Aires square. On Sunday, a group of people stepped on the stones representing some of the more than 116,000 deaths from the pandemic in the South American country to tear off posters that criticized the government’s management of the health crisis.
The attack was condemned by both government officials and opponents. For the latter, it is one more argument to reject the post-election dialogue proposal. “You cannot dialogue with a government that has a total lack of empathy with citizens,” tweeted Patricia Bullrich, head of Pro, one of the parties that make up the opposition alliance Together for Change. “They trample on the stones in memory of those who are no longer there, [Martín] Insaurralde insults [Mauricio] Macri and the star minister of the government continue with their mafia threats. In the meantime, [Sergio] Massa offers dialogue. Not even with smoke signals you can talk to these people. Are you from the yes campaign? ”He added.
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The electoral defeat of Peronism on September 12 caused a tough internal struggle that resulted in a renewal of the Executive. If the polls are confirmed, which predict a new punishment at the polls on November 14, the divisions will further complicate governance in the remaining two years of Fernández’s term.
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