The harsh crosses that Javier Milei and Sergio Massa exchanged in the presidential debate

The Minister of Economy Sergio Massa and the libertarian leader Javier Milei accused each other of “thief” and “mentally unbalanced” this Sunday in the last presidential debate in search of attracting more votes one week before the second presidential round in Argentina, which polls show in a technical tie.

“Argentines have to choose who has the temperance, the mental balance and the contact with reality to be able to take Argentina forward,” said Massa, a centrist Peronist who made an effort to show serenity while insisting on the importance that both applicants undergo a psychotechnical test.

(Also read: The thorny path that the next president of Argentina must travel)

At the same time, Milei, an economist who proclaims himself an anarcho-capitalist, attacked Massa by defining him as part of the “corrupt and stupid (thief) caste.” and asserted that “his political sign has been in power for 16 years.”

The caste “is made up of thieving politicians. You have them all with you, they are the Kirchnerists. Another component is the prebendary businessmen, the vast majority are your friends or you have business with them.”said Milei de Massa in this last debate in the auditorium of the Faculty of Law of the University of Buenos Aires.

The two candidates sought to convince the undecided sector before the second presidential round on November 19, which is predicted to be close and in which many voters feel that they will opt for the lesser evil in the midst of a serious economic crisis with annualized inflation of 140% and 40% poverty.

In the first round on October 22, Massa came first with almost 37% of the votes and Milei second with 30%. The third candidate, Patricia Bullrich, who obtained 24%, asked her followers to support the libertarian in the runoff.

(You can read: Javier Milei, a libertarian who approaches populism in Argentina)

“I want to be president knowing that some will vote for me without being convinced, as a vehicle for not choosing a path that is one of violence and harm,” declared Massa, who offers a government of national unity, broader than Peronism, if he wins the elections. elections.

Milei, meanwhile, described the election as a dilemma between inflation or stability, decline or economic growth, populism or republic, and called to “vote without fear because fear paralyzes, and if you paralyze you benefit the status quo that impoverishes us.”

The harsh accusations between Massa and Milei

The head of the Palacio de Hacienda Massa jumped to bite his adversary’s jugular from his first intervention, in which, instead of offering his proposals on the economyused his minutes to question Milei, knowing that cornering the libertarian or removing him from the moderate state in which he started could tip the balance on his side.

“Javier, yes or no, I want to ask you: You said on (journalist Eduardo) Feinmann’s program that you are going to eliminate subsidies. Are you going to eliminate them yes or no? Yes or no, are you going to privatize (the site of) Vaca Muerta (…)? Yes or no, are you going to dollarize the economy as you proposed in the letter you presented to the electoral justice system? Yes or no? Yes or no, yes or no? Are you going to privatize rivers and seas (…)? By yes or no, are you going to eliminate the Central Bank?” Massa snapped.

(Also: What must Sergio Massa and Javier Milei do to win the presidency of Argentina?)

Given this battery of questions, Milei got upset and told his rival that he was not going to “condition” him to answer “yes or no” and, after resolving some of the questions, he summarized that was going to “end the Central Bank” and the “cancer of inflation.”

The Minister of Economy called Milei a “liar” so many times that the libertarian said: “If a liar says that someone is a liar, the one who is being accused is the one who tells the truth. Because if you were Pinocchio, I would already “You would have hurt an eye.”

Aware that the event could serve to capture the vote of those who elected other political forces in the October 22 elections and, above all, try to convince the undecided, both candidates aimed more at revealing the rival’s weaknesses than at offering their proposals.

Beyond the reiteration of his economic policies, Milei stated in international relations that he will go to “all diplomatic instances so that the Malvinas become Argentine again” and that he will promote closeness with “the United States, Israel and the free world”, as well as as a modification of the national security law.

In addition, he praised the security measures implemented by Massa when he was mayor of the Buenos Aires town of Tigre (2007-2008 and 2009-2013).

For his part, the official candidate proposed as his objective the creation of two million formal jobs and the increase in exports, especially promoting relations with countries “that open arms and markets to Argentine work”, in addition to the installation of a ‘Argentine FBI’ in Rosario, a city hit hard by violence associated with drug trafficking.

Macri vs. Cristina Fernandez

A fierce critic of Kirchnerism – a wing of Peronism linked to the deceased former president Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007) and the current vice president and former president, Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) -, Milei reproached Massa for “having returned to the K”, who created Frente Renovador as a dissident current after being Fernández’s chief of staff (2008-2009) and now part of Unión por la Patria.

(Keep reading: Argentina: how did Sergio Massa manage to beat Javier Milei in the first round?)

In that regard, The official candidate reproached him for the support of former president Mauricio Macri, a leader of Together for Change (center-right), whose candidate, Patricia Bullrich, was third in the October votes.

“It seems to me that you didn’t learn anything because you ended up going to ask Macri to please help you. And this is not about Macri or Cristina, I repeat again: you or me? Who is going to govern Argentina? Who “Are you prepared?” said the Minister of Economy.

Macri and Fernández have been two of the great protagonists of Argentine political life in recent decades and, although both gave up running for election – among other reasons, due to the little support they expected to receive -, they continue to be leaders in their respective forces.

(More news: Peronism first minority and strong advance of the radical right in the Argentine Congress)

However, the vice president has remained in a discreet background in the campaign, while Macri, especially after the October 22 elections and the crisis unleashed in his coalition due to the support expressed by him and Bullrich for Milei, had a strong leadership.

After confronting his ideas about the economy, Argentina’s relations with the world, education and health, production and work, security, and human rights and democratic coexistence for two hours, Massa and Milei asked the Argentines to vote and met for the second round next Sunday.

INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
*With EFE and AFP