“There is no money, there is no money!”: a crowd of Argentines sang Javier Milei’s mantra this Sunday when greeting his arrival to the presidency. That thousands of people celebrated the absence of money while announcing a very severe adjustment, never seen before, and warning of the danger of hyperinflation speaks of the fundamental political shift that is taking place in the third largest economy in Latin America.
“Today a new era begins in Argentina, today we end a long era of decadence and decline, and we begin the reconstruction of the country,” said the new president in an unprecedented speech from the steps of Congress, in which he The economic legacy of Kirchnerism was harshly criticized after two decades of political dominance in the country.
“There is a will for change that has no return. There is no turning back, today we bury decades of failure, internal fights and meaningless discussions,” Milei added, while promising “growth, development, freedom and progress.”
The new president recalled that Argentina was the “beacon of the West” and the land to which immigrants from all over the world arrived before “embracing the impoverishing theories of collectivism.”
“Let me be clear about this: no government has received a worse inheritance than what we are receiving (…). There is no viable solution that avoids attacking the fiscal deficit. The solution involves a five-point fiscal adjustment of GDP in the national public sector, which will fall almost entirely on the State, and not on the private sector!” Milei shouted before a euphoric and hopeful crowd.
True to his disruptive ways, Milei, 53, has limited himself to swearing in before the Legislative Assembly and has not given the usual speech before deputies and senators. After asking the legislators to remain in their places, Milei and the new vice president, Victoria Villarruel, headed to the steps of the Congress Palace. His speech was followed in the front row, to Milei’s right, by King Felipe VI, one of the heads of state present in Buenos Aires.
The ultraliberal, who does not belong to either Peronism or pan-radicalism, the two political families that have historically governed the country, arrived at the Congress building aboard a car that traveled completely along the emblematic Avenida de Mayo on a splendid late morning. spring in the southern hemisphere.
The inauguration ceremony has shown an unusual prominence of the now former vice president Cristina Kirchner, dressed in intense red. After showing the middle finger to a Milei supporter upon entering Congress, he gave orders left and right as he greeted him upon his arrival at the Legislative Palace and then, with his hands in his pockets, he moved incessantly on the stage while the new president was sworn into office.
The two-time president has held brief conversations with the new tenant of the Casa Rosada and did not spare a glance at the outgoing president, Alberto Fernández, when he approached to greet her.
It was later learned that something that caught Kirchner’s attention was the silver handle of the presidential cane: there, in relief, are the figures of Conan, Milei’s English mastiff who died in 2017, and the four cloned dogs that he gave him. they replaced. When signing the minute book, Milei added a dedication: “Long live freedom, damn it.”
Former president Mauricio Macri, who between 2015 and 2019 marked an interregnum to 20 years of Kirchnerist hegemony, attended the ceremony with visible joy that was reflected on social networks: “Congratulations President Milei, I wouldn’t take a single comma out of your speech “Long live freedom, damn it!”
Milei’s arrival to power implies more than a change of era, it is a change of paradigm. If for decades the majority of Argentines lived convinced that what was essential began and ended in the State (“the present State”, one of the successful workhorses of Kirchnerism), Milei’s devastating victory in the November 19 elections has revealed another Argentina. The word “freedom” has become fashionable, shouted by many young people who 10 or 20 years ago would have experienced Cristina.
Milei had a brief conversation with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, for the first time in Latin America since the war with Russia began, before addressing the crowd. Later, at the Casa Rosada, both leaders would give each other a long and heartfelt hug and then hold a bilateral meeting. The Ukrainian, who went to Buenos Aires to seek support from Latin America, now has an unconditional ally in Argentina.
Also attending were the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, the former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who arrived on foot to Congress, and the heads of state of Armenia, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Ecuador. He has highlighted the absence of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in what was the briefest and most disconcerting formal inauguration ceremony in the 40 years of the current democratic stage.
Faithful to his passion for the economy, Milei has spoken of “consolidated liabilities” and “monetary policy” in an excessively technical speech, and has added that the uncontrolled monetary issue during the Fernández government “is not free” and could have led the country to be “the Venezuela of Chávez and Maduro.” “The outgoing government has left us with hyperinflation, and it is our duty to make every effort to avoid such a catastrophe, which would take poverty above 90%.” The closing of the massive demonstration in front of Congress showed the attendees collecting everything the garbage generated, a novel image, which local media defined as almost “Japanese.”
After proposing “a new social contract” in which the State does not “direct the lives of Argentines”, but rather ensures “their rights”, Milei addressed “the Argentine political class”, which he labeled as “caste ” during his campaign.
“We do not ask for blind support, but we will not tolerate hypocrisy, dishonesty or the ambition for power to interfere with the change that we Argentines choose.”
“We know it will be hard,” added the new president of Argentina, who this Monday will reactivate the process of joining the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in which Macri had made progress and that Fernández put on the freezer.
“We neither seek nor desire the hard decisions that will have to be made in the coming weeks, but unfortunately they have left us no choice,” insisted Milei, who said he had one more ally, in addition to his voters: he cited a phrase from the Book of Maccabees. , “victory in battle does not depend on the number of soldiers, but on the forces that come from heaven.”