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BUENOS AIRES – In his 30 years as a priest, Rodolfo Viano never imagined he would be here, knocking on doors to warn neighbors of a threat to democracy.
But days before Argentina’s presidential election, he walked the dirt road of his working-class neighborhood outside Buenos Aires for at least the 10th time in recent months, hoping to persuade undecided voters to “make the best decision possible.”
“We are a group of Christians, of priests, and we are handing out leaflets for you to consider next Sunday,” Viano, a 64-year-old Franciscan, told a young man under the blazing sun. “We’re not telling you who to vote for. But we don’t want to get carried away by hatred, anger or enthusiasm.”
He didn’t have to mention the candidate’s name so that the young man knew who he was talking about: Javier Milei, the brash libertarian economist who once called Argentina’s Pope Francis “evil” and who now promises to tear down the political establishment.
The wild-haired, charismatic 53-year-old Milei has drawn comparisons to Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro. Like them, he has galvanized masses of voters with populist rhetoric – exploiting anger at a Peronist government that has struggled to get to grips with the country’s worst economic crisis in two decades.
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He has also mobilized a throng of Argentines like Viano to take to the streets and urge people to vote against him – even if that means voting for Sergio Massa, the minister currently overseeing the faltering economy.
“Democracy is in danger. The moment justifies it,” Viano said. Since the end of the Argentine military dictatorship 40 years ago he said, “This is the moment when democracy is in greatest danger.”
“Milei no” can be read on billboards in Buenos Aires. Several of Argentina’s most important football clubs and a small army of Swifties, have spoken out against him. Coalitions of academic researchers, leading economists and victims of the country’s military dictatorship have signed statements raising concerns about a possible Milei presidency. Viral videos circulated showing Argentines in subway cars taking action against him.
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The monologues in the subway and the priests knocking on doors are part of a wave of “micro-activism” in the country’s presidential election campaign, said Argentine pollster Shila Vilker.
“People who don’t normally go out took to the streets,” Vilker said. “The question is what impact this will have on voters.”
Will things be different in Argentina after similar “anyone but this guy” campaigns failed to stop Trump in the United States and Bolsonaro in Brazil?
Just as in the United States in the 2016 presidential campaign, religious leaders played an unusually active role in the campaign against Milei. A group of 40 Catholic priests published a letter saying they were “convinced that it is a moral imperative to do everything in our power to prevent Milei from becoming president.” Pope Francis himself seemed in made a subtle reference to Milei in an interview with an Argentine news outlet, criticizing what he described as “messianic” solutions to a crisis.
Last week in Matanza, a suburb of Buenos Aires, about two dozen priests held a mass for the first time since the beginning of his papacy to pray for Francis’ return to Argentina. But the fair also had a political undertone. Two ministers from the current government were present and welcomed the various priests.
“This city dreams of peace and freedom,” said a priest from Cordoba province. “But true freedom, not the selfish freedom they try to sell us. We dream of Francisco’s return. But it is also important that each of us recognize that we carry the shepherd’s crook, and we must bring it out at this crucial moment in our history.”
The grassroots campaign against Milei and the formal Massa campaign emphasize the idea that Milei represents a threat to democracy.
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Milei, like Trump, has a tendency to fight with the news media and make unsubstantiated claims of voter fraud. In presidential debates, he cast doubt on the symbolic but widely accepted list of killings during the country’s Dirty War from 1976 to 1983. His vice president, Victoria Villarruel, rose to prominence by advocating for soldiers convicted of human rights abuses during the dictatorship.
However, some of the fears about Milei are exaggerated, argued political scientist Lucas Romero. And the warnings may not resonate with voters who are concerned that their salaries have not kept up with inflation and who have watched their savings disappear as the Argentine peso plummeted.
“They are trying to intimidate the public with fear of a democratic rupture,” Romero said. “But it is an electorate that is afraid of an economic situation that is much more urgent than democracy.”
Political analyst Federico Aurelio estimated that the increase in activism and attempts to stoke fears of a Milei presidency would do little to sway voters demanding drastic change.
“It’s not that people aren’t interested in democracy,” he said. “Even if they have some doubts about Milei’s cause, his voters simply don’t believe that democracy is at stake.”
Milei has promised to close the central bank and get government spending under control. His surprise victory in the August primary sent shockwaves through the economy, and fears of a Milei presidency helped Massa gain a lead in the first round of voting last month. But now, after Milei has managed to consolidate support from the center-right establishment, the libertarian has a razor-thin lead over Massa in the polls.
“They will try to continue to spread fear,” he said at one of his final campaign rallies before the vote. It is the poverty rate and the inflation rate that are the real “tunnel of terror,” he said.
Many Argentines feel overwhelmed by what they see as two bad options: a continuation of Peronism or a radical shift to the right.
As Viano went door-to-door in the neighborhood outside Buenos Aires, the priest knew that many families were still undecided — even in a neighborhood known as the bastion of Peronismo, whose walls featured blue pro-Massa murals .
“We have to quicken our pace,” he told his aide, Emma Almirón, a 76-year-old activist who was exiled to Spain during the military dictatorship.
At each door, Viano clapped over the dogs barking to attract the residents’ attention. Then he stuck a flyer in the gate or mailbox. While the leaflet did not name Milei, it offered a subtle warning: “While democracy has returned, there are false politicians who are trying to implement a destructive plan and thus slow down the common good.”
Many of those who came to the door were lifelong Peronists who already planned to vote for Massa. But many others were undecided – or leaning towards milei. There was the 48-year-old woman who drank mate and wanted change but was afraid of what a Milei presidency would bring. There was the 60-year-old blacksmith in a paint-spattered shirt, unable to find work, barely able to afford meat, and arguing that the Peronists in power were ultimately benefiting “their own pockets.”
There was the tattooed 24-year-old who smoked a cigarette and worked as a bricklayer for eight years but he’s finding it difficult to save for a house or his own car – and to keep up with rising inflation.
He plans to vote for Milei.
“He is the only person I see who is different from what we already have and have had,” said Marcelo Revainera. “A lot of what he says doesn’t convince me. But I’d rather have someone different, not the same one we’ve had for 15 years. I want a change.”