Sergio Massa and Javier Milei.AGUSTIN MARCARIAN (Portal)
This Sunday, Argentina elected the far-right Javier Milei as president and enters a period of deep uncertainty. The economist, who will take office on December 10, has to deal with a severe crisis with high levels of poverty, reserve constraints and outstanding payments to the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The solutions for both couldn’t be more different. Milei proposes to reduce the state to a minimum and trusts that the market alone, thanks to the development of trade and exports, will solve the problems. It also proposes a review of the values of equality and social justice that have characterized Argentine society since the beginning of the last century.
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Towards the end of the campaign, the leader La Libertad Avanza clarified his most controversial ideas, such as the free carrying of weapons, the end of social plans or the free sale of organs. These are their proposals in the areas of economics, security, foreign policy, health, education and human rights:
Business
Milei proposes a “comprehensive reform” so that Argentina becomes “the prosperous country” of the early 20th century. For the ultra-liberal, the “paternalistic state” is the beginning of all evil and therefore suggests reducing it to a minimum. Among other things, Milei intends to reduce the number of ministries from 18 to eight, “gradually” abolish social welfare plans and cut pension and pension funds. His main economic proposals are dollarization and the “liquidation” of the central bank. Milei also promises a “deep adjustment” that “the public sector will pay for” and the abolition “in three months” of the exchange rate, the regime that today restricts the buying and selling of foreign currencies.
Security
While campaigning ahead of the Simultaneous and Mandatory Open Primaries (PASO), security forces breached when an 11-year-old girl was attacked by two criminals and died in hospital. La Libertad Avanza devotes the largest part of its electoral program to this issue. The Ultra proposes to consider lowering the age of eligibility, banning the entry of “foreigners with criminal records” into the country and deregulating the “legal market” in firearms, a measure that has caused controversy in the election campaign and qualifies the candidate has. It also proposes equipping, training and providing technology to security forces to restore their “professional and moral authority” and achieve “zero tolerance” for crime. Milei’s vice president, Victoria Villarruel, supports the idea of Argentina’s armed forces taking part in internal security tasks, a task that is currently banned, and promises that the military budget will rise from 0.6% of GDP to 2% if it does the government arrives.
Foreign policy
Milei aligns himself with the United States, Israel and “the free world” and declared that he would break with Brazil and China, Argentina’s two main trading partners, if he reached the Casa Rosada. However, during the last presidential debate, he said this was “wrong” and got confused trying to explain himself: “I strongly believe in openness to international trade.” However, I also believe that the state should not intervene in trade relations must. “It’s a private matter.” Milei also pointed out that Mercosur is “stuck” and opposed Argentina’s entry into the BRICS group of emerging economies. The ultra-liberal also confronted the Vatican: he said that the Pope was a “disgusting leftist” and the “representative of evil,” but then explained that if he came to the country he would receive him “with the honors of a head of the State” and “the main spirituality of the church”.
Education and health
Two of the ministries Milei has promised to close are the ministries of education and health, which will be merged with those of social development and labor to form a ministry of “human capital,” as outlined in his election manifesto. The Ultra candidate has proposed creating an “education check voucher system” and giving the education budget to parents “instead of giving it to the ministry.” In this area it is also proposed to abolish the compulsory nature of comprehensive sexuality education. In the health sector, Milei proposes the transition to a health insurance system: stop subsidizing supply, i.e. hospitals, and finance demand, i.e. patients. In this part of its program, La Libertad Avanza also defends the protection of the child “before conception” and thus the prevention of voluntary abortion, legal since 2020.
Democracy and human rights
During the election campaign, the far right attacked part of the basic consensus built after the end of the last dictatorship (1976-1983). Milei and her future vice president Victoria Villarruel question many of the agreements reached in the democratic transition and believe that there is “a job” in Argentina. [estafa] with human rights. Both deny state terrorism recognized by the judiciary and instead claim that the military juntas’ systematic plan was “a war” in which “excesses” were committed. Milei’s vice president also promotes what she calls “full remembrance” and recently proposed the demolition of the Esma Memorial Museum, which housed the dictatorship’s largest extermination center and was declared a world heritage site in September.