On December 7, 2021, elected representative Victoria Villarruel (Buenos Aires, 48 years old) firmly entered the Argentine Chamber of Deputies to take office. “For the victims of terrorism, yes, I swear,” said this lawyer, who was born into a military family a year before the last coup. Her swearing in was met with shouts from some of the benches, but it was a reaction she was prepared for. The number two of the right-wing extremist party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) had been calling on Argentines at its rallies for months not to be ashamed of defending life, freedom and property, not to be silenced or to ask for permission to express your ideas and values. Cast as a crusader in a cultural battle to transform Argentina, Villarruel hugged that day with Javier Milei, the economist who leads the party, and walked toward her seat with a broad smile.
Villarruel is now a candidate for vice president of the LLA. At that time, two years ago, she was almost unknown to the Argentine public, although neither among human rights organizations nor among the military family. The granddaughter, daughter and niece of members of the Argentine Armed Forces, her springboard into politics was her group’s defense of the victims of attacks carried out by the guerrillas in the 1970s, the Center for Legal Studies on Terrorism. and his victims (Celtyv) and what he himself calls “complete memory”. The inclusion of Villarruel in the presidential formula meant that the initial base of young people who followed Milei on social networks expanded to include members of the most reactionary right.
The firstborn from the marriage of Eduardo Villarruel and Diana Destéfani was born on April 13, 1975 in the Argentine capital. He was a baby when his father, an army man, was sent to the north of the country as part of Operation Independence – which began in democracy and continued in dictatorship – against guerrillas of the People’s Revolutionary Army (ERP). Unlike other soldiers convicted of human rights violations during this operation, considered the beginning of state terrorism, the lieutenant colonel was never on the judicial radar. Intelligence officer Ernesto Villarruel, uncle of the deputy, yes. In 2015, a judge indicted him for the alleged crime of illegal imprisonment in the secret detention center of El Vesubio, although he later decided not to take action against him because he was not in good health to stand trial.
Conservative revolution
The formula spearheaded by Milei and Villarruel received the most votes in the August 13 primary, with nearly 30% of the vote. The polls, which had not predicted this victory, now see the duo as favorites for the general elections on October 22nd. While Milei promises a radical change in economic policy – with dollarization as the flagship – Villarruel represents a conservative revolution against abortion, sexual diversity and gender equality policies that have put Argentina at the forefront of these rights in Latin America.
Javier Milei speaks to his supporters, accompanied by Victoria Villarruel. Esteban Osorio (Getty Images)
“I defend the right to life because life begins at conception, and just as I had the right to be born, I want every other person to be able to have it, regardless of whether they want it or not. It is not a question of religion, it is pure biology and those who deny it live in an obscurantism that costs us innocent lives,” answers Villarruel EL PAÍS in writing. The candidate has expressed during the campaign that she is in favor of repealing the voluntary abortion law passed in 2020, but avoids the question of whether, if implemented, she will seek criminal prosecution of women who still implement their decision to terminate pregnancies . In the last two years, Argentina’s health system recorded more than 130,000 abortions.
The conservative agenda links Villarruel to Bolsonarism in Brazil, Trumpism in the United States and to Vox in Spain, with which he has had ties for years through his vice president, the Spanish-Argentine Javier Ortega Smith-Molina. “As my dear friends from Vox in Spain say: if you love your country and dare to say it, you are a Facho. If you complain about being suffocated with taxes, you are not a supporter and a specialist. If you disagree with female feminism and gender ideology that discriminates against men and women and favors some over others, you are sexist and of course a facho. If you defend your home or your land and demand that the government not usurp it by criminals or Mapuches, you are racist and of course a Facho. “Progressives have imposed the dictatorship of political correctness on us, and they view us from their dubious pedestal of moral superiority while silencing us,” the candidate said at the conclusion of the 2021 campaign.
Villarruel’s connections in Spain were the bridge that connected Milei to Vox. Santiago Abascal’s party welcomed the economist with open arms last October and he reciprocated. “I will always feel comfortable among those who defend freedom against all the threats that threaten it, such as the communism that plagues it,” Milei said at the festival on the outskirts of Madrid organized by the Ultra party.
Villarruel’s long, straight hair is not as prominent as his vice president’s. The candidate wears simple make-up and her gestures are less theatrical than Milei’s. But his moderation disappears when he speaks, which has made him the target of much criticism. “Every insult they said to me, whether genocidal, fascist, racist, homophobic, denialist, I took it all with a smile.” he added at another rally.
Security and Defense
When he arrives at Casa Rosada, he will be in charge of the security and defense departments. In contrast to Milei’s expected cuts in areas such as science, health and education, the candidate promises to expand the military budget. The armed forces carried out six coups between 1930 and 1976. They have been deprived of resources since the end of the last dictatorship and are not a relevant player in Argentine politics, which celebrates 40 uninterrupted years of democracy this year.
The MP is seeking the support of the conservative base for her first and major cultural battlehorse: blowing up the consensus on the crimes against humanity committed by the dictatorship and changing the history of the political violence of the 1970s.
The fight involves language. In his speeches he rejects “the dictatorship of the individual thought” and “the dictatorship of minorities”, but avoids using this term to name the regime that ruled Argentina between March 1976 and December 1983. Instead, he speaks of a de facto government. . “What happened in Argentina was an internal armed conflict, a low-intensity war,” said the candidate in early 2021 in a talk about the 1970s broadcast on her social networks. For the MP, the story told in schools and universities is “partial and distorted” because it silences the violence of guerrilla organizations such as ERP and Montoneros of Peronist origin. He considers the figure of 30,000 missing, defended by organizations such as “Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo,” to be “a myth.”
Victoria Villarruel walks through Buenos Aires after attending a tribute to victims of terrorism. JUAN IGNACIO RONCORONI (EFE)
Villarruel frequently attacks these organizations and their leaders, symbols of the fight for human rights in Argentina. Last week he shot his arrows at the president of Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto. “The truth is that Carlotto was a pretty scary character for our country because with the appearance of a good grandma, he actually justified terrorism,” Villarruel said. The daughter of the president of Abuelas, Laura Carlotto, was a member of the Peronist University Youth when she was kidnapped in November 1977. She was three months pregnant. The military held her in a secret center until she went into labor on June 28, 1978. She gave birth tied up on a stretcher in the military hospital and the newborn was taken away from her. Laura was murdered two months later and her son grew up in a family that raised him as their own child. Until 2014, he lived without knowing his true identity.
“He comes to claim something when he should admit that of course he may feel pain over the death of his daughter, but he has to say that his daughter was a Montoneros fighter. So let’s say everything. “Carlotto is a great example of the great hypocrisy of the left,” Villarruel said. Carlotto, 92 years old, replied: “I fought and risked my life for 45 years; They wanted to kill me. That is my life. “It doesn’t make sense what this beast says because that’s how it is, it’s not a human, it’s a beast.”
Meeting with Videla
The vice presidential candidate visited the dictator Jorge Rafael Videla, who died in 2013, in prison. He did this, he says, as part of research for his books “They Call Them… Young Idealists and The Other Dead,” in which he compiles the names of more than a thousand guerrilla victims.
As part of the fine line he walks, he admits that human rights violations were committed during the dictatorship and says that he thinks it is good that the crimes be prosecuted, but he calls for the same treatment for the members of the ERP and Montoneros. “My family suffered from terrorism, but fortunately without the death of a loved one. But I would like to highlight the story of Arturo Mor Roig, a Spaniard who lived in Argentina, where he raised his family, pursued politics and was murdered by Montoneros in the midst of democracy. Spain has never claimed on his behalf or asserted his rights against discrimination between victims by the Argentine state,” he replies. “I have legally demanded that victims of terrorism be given the right to bring terrorists to justice, an issue that the state has denied in order to protect their impunity,” he added. The justice system considers the crimes that Villarruel denounces as prescribed.
His influence on Milei became more and more evident as the months went by. The presidential candidate of La Libertad Avanza had stayed out of the debate about the number of missing people, but when asked at a press conference in Tucumán, he replied that the fact that “the left has managed to impose these types of questions, “That doesn’t mean.” It’s true.” “Can you show me the full list of the 30,000 disappeared?” he asked a journalist. Last week, Milei used the past of her Together for Change rival Patricia Bullrich in Montoneros to attack her . “You’re fielding a presidential candidate who dropped bombs in the ’70s,” he said. “I’ve overcome violence,” Bullrich replied. Villarruel has managed to put his agenda at the center of the debate.
Javier Milei reacts with Ramiro Marra and Victoria Villarruel at a rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina.STRINGER (Portal)