A-Infos (en) France, UCL AL #345 - Politics, Argentina: From now on, stop the chainsaw (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

The accession to power of Javier Milei will considerably worsen the 
social situation of an Argentina already out of breath. The first 
announcements set the scene: cuts to public sector jobs, increase in 
energy and transport prices (+900%), brutal inflation and announced 
layoffs... Contrary to what he displayed in his speeches, this It is 
therefore not "the political caste" but rather the poor who will have to 
pay. The question then arises: how will it hold up?
We must not make the mistake of thinking that Javier Milei is a new 
Trump. He is not a fascist in the classic sense, but a true libertarian. 
Its objective is not to strengthen the State, but to weaken it with a 
view to a more authoritarian society, certainly, but devoted to profits 
and the laws of the market. No fewer than nine ministries have been 
abolished, consolidating everything related to the public sector into 
two catch-all super-ministries, while four of the remaining ministries 
will be dedicated to security and justice.

Economically, we could compare the program of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) 
to that of Trump, but Argentina has more to lose than the USA. Even 
though the country is experiencing a catastrophic social and economic 
situation and public services are suffering enormously, they still exist 
and represent one of the final defenses in this extremely fragile 
situation. We can imagine that Milei will not be able to eliminate the 
entire public system at once, but he will tackle its dismantling by all 
means.

In terms of privatization, he has already announced his first 
objectives: YPF (oil) and Aerolíneas Argentinas (civil aviation), two 
strategic sectors.

On the social side, the ministry dedicated to the rights of women and 
minorities has been abolished and the right to abortion is being called 
into question. The anti-feminist rhetoric of Milei or his 
vice-president, Victoria Villaruel, a fundamentalist Catholic, also 
portends serious attacks against the LGBTI community.

In the days following the election, we were able to observe the 
deterioration of commemorative plaques, homophobic attacks and the 
damage to an LGBTI bar.

Victoria Villarruel
Vox España, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
Victoria Villaruel, more fascist than liberal
Villarruel represents the security and nostalgic side of the LLA 
dictatorship. His views and family background raise concerns about his 
influence on Argentine politics. Her position as vice-president gives 
her the key position of president of Congress (the national assembly), a 
place of choice which puts her at the center of the political spectrum. 
Daughter of a soldier and Holocaust denier, she contests the figure of 
30,000 missing during the dictatorship, claiming a lower figure of 
around 8,000, and defends the so-called "Two Demons" theory according to 
which the crimes committed during the dictatorship were a proportionate 
response to "left-wing terrorism", to justify crimes and torture against 
opponents.

It mobilizes the most dangerous elements of the LLA electorate and is in 
many respects its fascistic facet. This is shown by various posts on 
social networks such as that of a far-right TikToker who threatened 
several representatives of the social movement by declaring about future 
mobilizations: "wear vests, because on our side, the balls will not be 
rubber."

However, it is necessary to take a step back on a few points. The vote 
in favor of Milei largely benefited from the general fed up of the 
population with years of inflation and devaluation, which culminated in 
a record year 2023: 145% inflation and 40% of the population under the 
poverty line.

Disavowals in perspective
There is therefore an expectation on the part of his electorate who 
hopes to see his promises come to fruition, in particular that of 
dollarization, one of the major arguments of his campaign. From our 
point of view, it is certain that everything will only get worse for 
those who already find themselves in intolerable situations. 
Multinationals began to take advantage of the opportunity by increasing 
the prices of their products by up to +100%, arguing for future market 
deregulation. The discontent of part of its electorate is therefore 
likely to manifest itself quickly, and it is not impossible to see a 
general conflagration.

https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?Argentine-Des-maintenant-enrayer-la-tronconneuse
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
Subscribe/Unsubscribe https://ainfos.ca/mailman/listinfo/a-infos-en
Archive: http://ainfos.ca/en