Argentina’s second presidential debate caused a stir as heated disagreements erupted over security, the economy and corruption. Together for Change candidate Patricia Bullrich showed a much more offensive stance than a week ago and repeatedly launched attacks against the Peronist Sergio Massa and the ultra Javier Milei, whom she accused of ganging up against her. It was an expected strategy: Bullrich is third behind Milei and Massa in the polls ahead of the Oct. 22 general election and needs to win votes to seek a second round in November.
The debate took place in a headquarters of the University of Buenos Aires and the five candidates to succeed Alberto Fernández took part: Milei, Massa, Bullrich, the progressive MP Myriam Bregman and the governor of the province of Córdoba for the dissident Peronism, Juan Schiaretti. For two hours, the candidates exchanged opinions on the topics of security, labor and human development, housing and the environment.
Massa, who is alternately aiming for his position as economics minister and the presidential candidacy of the ruling “Union for the Homeland” alliance, was once again the target of the main criticism. Bullrich attacked him incessantly over the economic situation and scandals such as the recent vacation on a luxury yacht of a high-ranking Buenos Aires official who was forced to resign and the corruption cases against Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. He also brought up old cases of corruption from Kirchnerism, such as the sacks of millions of dollars that the former public works minister threw over the wall of a monastery in 2016.
“Lopez’s bags, Cristina’s hotels and Insaurralde’s yacht. Massa, the whole country is wondering when they will stop rushing [robar]Bullrich asked Massa in the final block of direct questions and answers. “Patricia, being vulgar or speaking Cayengue will not make you more popular in the election. “It is not enough to shout to run or to correct the bad election results you are having,” Massa replied. The candidate called on Together for Change to vote for legislation “that would allow us to find out who the relatives are who fled money to the United States.”
Milei criticized Massa for bringing Argentina “to the brink of hyperinflation” and failing to take measures to reduce the deficit and lead Argentina to growth. “The number of jobs in the formal sector is estimated at 6 million. “The imbalance in the labor market is so scandalous that eight million people work in the informal market,” said Milei. In his opinion, the only solution is for Argentina to grow again and for this to happen it needs investment. “Nobody will invest if they can’t make money,” he warned.
Milei’s misstep
The ultra-liberal economist maintained a calm tone in his prepared interventions, but could not prevent his aggressive style from emerging when he had to improvise. “They all have jets [ladrones] from Massa on the lists, you have it[l líder sindical Luis] With so many jets on your list, do you think you will change anything in Barrionuevo?” Bullrich asked Milei. Her response did not dispute the Conservative candidate’s accusation, which was her biggest misstep of the evening: “There are also a lot of people on your lists who come from elsewhere.” Immediately afterward, he launched into a frontal attack that drew murmurs of disapproval in the room: ” While you can wash away your Montonera past.” [la guerrilla peronista de los setenta] Murderers, we who just scream and say things, can’t we change, can’t we take on other people?
Javier Milei, during one of his interventions. Agustin Marcarian / POOL (EFE)
The tension escalated again when Massa asked the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) candidate about his negative vote on a law aimed at treating congenital heart disease. In response, Milei blamed the executive branch’s response to the health crisis due to the Covid pandemic: “If we had done something with a mediocre country, we would have had 30,000 deaths, and we have 130,000 because of this genocidal government.” After his attempt, For ridiculing Bregman with mocking words and gestures, he was disapproved of by Massa: “You’ve come this far, Milei, stop respecting women,” Massa told him. “We know how to defend ourselves,” Bullrich snapped at Massa shortly afterwards.
The topics of this second debate allowed Bullrich to tread far more comfortable ground for him than last week, particularly in security, the department he led between 2015 and 2019, involving the Army. His debating skills are weak compared to his competitors and he got stuck several times, but he has improved compared to the first debate.
Agenda 2030
The environment was the biggest absentee from this election campaign, and despite the public vote to include it in the debate, it played only a minor role in front of the cameras. The only one who clearly defended himself was Bregman, who called for a wetlands law and took a position against open-pit mining and offshore oil exploration. “Milei defends the freedom of companies to pollute rivers. He even went so far as to say that climate change was an invention of socialism,” Bregman said. Milei, who denies that climate change is caused by humans, also flatly refused to honor Argentina’s environmental commitments to the international community. “We will not stick to the 2030 Agenda. We do not adhere to cultural Marxism,” he replied to Schiaretti.
Juan Schiaretti. AGUSTIN MARCARIAN (Portal)
The last minute was the final bullet of the debate and Milei and Massa were the ones who made the most of it. The Ultra candidate gave a great summary of the entire campaign strategy of the far-right party La Libertad Avanza. “The political caste is joking with us,” said Milei, emphasizing that politicians “cannot be the solution to the problem because they are part of the problem,” and asked Argentines out loud if they believe “that another Argentina is the usual can be”. For his part, Massa tried to differentiate himself from his rivals by urging Argentines not to vote backwards, citing Bullrich or the “leap into the void” that Milei suggests. Argentines will be called to vote in two weeks.