Argentina, Milei’s privatizations reduced, clashes and protests in the streets

The ultra-liberal Argentine president Javier Milei was forced to make an about-face on some of the privatizations that were closest to his heart. After long negotiations, in fact, yesterday the Senate approved the reform package he strongly wanted but removed the national airline (Aeroláneas Argentinas), the post office (Correo Argentino) e public radio and television service (Rta) from the list of companies to be removed from state control. contained in the Basic Law, the reform package of Javier Milei’s government approved last night in the Senate after long negotiations and amid violent street demonstrations. She was also excluded both the repeal of the pension moratorium, and the creation of the proportional old-age benefit for people who have reached the age of 65 and who have not accrued the 30 years of contributions necessary to retire.

The vote went on all night. Yesterday there was a first yes to his reform project, strongly opposed by the population who took to the streets and clashed harshly with the police. The senators had voted with 37 votes in favor and 36 against the approval of the law after 11 hours of heated debate but when it came to the approval of individual measures some important privatizations were rejected.
“For the Argentines who suffer, who wait, who don’t want to see their children leave the country (…), my vote is affirmative”, he declared Victoria Villarruel, president of the Senate and also vice president of the country. His vote was decisive, given that Javier Milei’s party has only seven deputies out of 72 in the Senate.
After the Senate’s yes, the reform will have to receive the final approval from the Lower House before Milei can make his claim passing his first law since taking office last December.
The reform package was strongly opposed by the left-wing Peronist movement loyal to former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who has dominated Argentine politics for the past two decades and wields influence on the country’s powerful unions. Thousands of bankers, teachers, truck drivers and unionized workers demonstrated yesterday in front of Congress, beating drums, blowing trumpets and chanting: «Our country is not for sale!» and «We will defend the State!». But when some attempted to break through the security cordon that mimicked access to Congress, the police reacted with water cannons and tear gas. “We cannot believe that in Argentina we are discussing a law that will take us back 100 years,” said Fabio Nunez, a 55-year-old lawyer, one of the protesters.
The streets have become a battlefield with protesters who threw Molotov cocktails and stones, setting a car on fire. Several people were injured.
MIlei came to power with the promise that he would solve it Argentina’s worst economic crisis of the last two decades, with annual inflation rising towards 300% and an increasingly deep recession. But the political party only holds him a small minority of seats in Congress and has struggled to reach agreements with the opposition.
The immense scope of the proposal – and staunch opposition to it – have limited progress. “We have the weakest president we’ve ever seen that he’s trying to pass the biggest bill we’ve ever seen.” said Ana Iparraguirre, an Argentina-based analyst at the Washington strategy firm GBAO.
Unlike previous Argentine leaders after the return of democracy in 1983, Milei failed to pass a single piece of legislation during his first six months in office. Meanwhile, the populist outsider has relied on executive powers to cut government spending and sweep away economic restrictions.