"It will be hard". That is the warning that the new Argentine president, Javier Gregorio Milei, gave to his fellow citizens from the steps of Congress, in an act that had certain North American scenographic reminiscences. The lion, as he was known during the campaign, has been very clear and crude: “There is no possible alternative to the adjustment. “There is going to be a shock.”
His words were not spoken inside the legislative chamber before deputies and senators, as is customary in the tradition of this River Plate republic, but rather in front of the large public gathered in front of the Congress building, where the albiceleste tide of the omnipresent Argentine flag covers the road.
Milei has directed very harsh words at what he defines as the inheritance of Kischnerism. “They have managed to leave us in ruin,” she said. It is the result, she has clarified, “of the impoverishing ideas of collectivism.” “They have taken the State as a spoil of war.”
It is paradoxical that on each occasion in which the new president has said that faced with “the worst inheritance that an Argentine government has ever received,” his government will have to take very harsh measures that will inaugurate a transitional period of between 18 and 24 months of more stagflation. and impact on salaries, the public cheered him loudly.
“It's the last bad drink,” he shouted to those who cheered him. “In the short term, things will get worse.”
His speech has been mainly economic, much more, of course, than the one he made on election night, after his victory over the Peronist Sergio Massa, on November 20.
The Argentine president has announced an initial fiscal adjustment of five points on GDP. “The bill is going to be paid by the State and not the private sector,” he has pointed out on several occasions, making clear the ultraliberal seal – he also says “libertarian” – of his political ideology. The eventual dollarization, for now postponed, has not had space in the discourse.
He has also spoken of new measures in the field of citizen security, especially highlighting the pressing problem of drug trafficking and certain provinces and the shock measures that will have to be taken, strengthening the police system.
He has dedicated some space in his words to education (poor results of Argentine students in the Pisa tests) and to the health system, which he said was on the verge of collapse.
His words, in addition to the public, have been heard by all the foreign delegations present at the event, among which was the Spanish one headed by King Felipe VI. The presence of Volodomir Zelenski has been one of the outstanding notes within the ceremonial protocol of the inauguration, which in Argentina they call assumption.
A good part of Milei's route, from his departure from the Hotel Libertador, where he spent the night, and to the Congress and then to the Casa Rosada, has been marked by a large number of people, except for some specific sections. The audience had come not only from the province of Buenos Aires but from different parts of the country.
Only 12 hours before the celebrations and throughout the night, sound and street decoration workers, as well as police officers from different forces, were working on the operation that has allowed the presidential celebrations to take place.
While in the Astor Piazzolla Theater, on Florida Street, in Buenos Aires, the bars of the tango For a Head resounded, in a nocturnal and almost deserted Plaza de Mayo, the production staff of the great event put everything ready to begin “a new era.” ”: the Milei era and the collective hope that it will be a new era for Argentina.
