There are almost three weeks left until the presidential inauguration in Argentina. But the new political era of a radical right that is both libertarian and authoritarian is already underway.
Judging by the statements, the plan could be summarized as follows: the State will be dismembered, and everything public, despised by the government of Javier Milei and the elected vice president, Victoria Villarruel. Only some elements will be saved in the assault on the State and the so-called caste: the police and the military, even those of the dictatorship (1975-83).
Javier Milei reaffirmed, in an interview with private Argentine television on Tuesday, his commitment to implementing a radical plan to dismantle a large part of the public sector. It will begin with public works, even those that are already underway. “We don’t have money, so these works can be handed over to the private sector and they can finish them,” said the president-elect.
This, of course, assumes that there is enough interest in the private sector to undertake works in a country that is trying to avoid the danger of hyperinflation and a possible economic depression, which could be the consequence, according to many economists, of the dollarization plan of Milei, which would transfer responsibility for monetary policy to the Washington Federal Reserve.
Milei congratulated himself for being the only winner of the presidential elections in recent history who has spoken sincerely of the need to implement a strong adjustment. Only in this way can an inflation rate that is around 150% be lowered, he explained, and thus resolve the solvency crisis of the Argentine economy. “It is the first time in history that someone who campaigns saying that he is going to make adjustments wins,” said the future president.
Milei did not recognize what almost all international economists are very clear about: an adjustment based on a cut in public spending equivalent to 15% of GDP in tandem with dollarization will make the popular classes – without savings in dollars and very vulnerable to the rise of inflation and the subsequent recession – among the first victims of the plan. Milei said that “the adjustment is not going to be paid by good Argentines, it is going to be paid for by politicians and their partners. Call it caste.”
The incoming government team hopes that reducing the size of the State will create space for private investment. “We propose an adjustment and reform plan to generate economic growth.” But the experience of countries like Brazil during the Jair Bolsonaro years proves that cuts in public investment often discourage private investment.
While Javier Milei promotes the adjustment plan in the media, the new vice president, Victoria Villarruel, promotes the other parts of the change agenda, specifically reversing the memory for truth and justice program and helping the military of the dictatorship to get out of jail
Hence the symbolic importance of the meeting scheduled yesterday in the Senate between Villarruel and Cristina Fernández, the current vice president and historic Peronist leader. After the famous trials of military torturers in the eighties of the last century, under the presidency of Raúl Alfonsín, Néstor and Cristina Kirchner launched a second wave of trials in the first decade of this century. This generated strong opposition, and Villarruel became spokesperson for a campaign that wanted – and wants – to put an end to the search for those responsible for the atrocities committed and classified as crimes against humanity. Villarruel “is going to try to end that and has public support, because many soldiers are going to die in prison with preventive sentences without having been tried,” said analyst Enrique Zuleta, former advisor to Raúl Alfonsín. In Spain nothing was investigated; Everything has been investigated here and there is a majority – 70% in the surveys – who want to put an end to that [the trials] once and for all.”
A true believer in the battle against the system, Villarruel could be an obstacle for Milei when it comes to agreeing on more parliamentary support with the center-right, led by Mauricio Macri and Patricia Bullrich. Villarruel has described Macri as “a warm coffee with milk”, and Bullrich, as “a member of the caste”. It was rumored yesterday that Milei had blocked the vice president-elect’s attempt to be appointed Minister of Defense and Security.