Three days after elections that upended Argentine society, three women sunbathe with their backs to the Río de la Plata in the exclusive Vicente López neighborhood, on the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires. In this part of the province, the far-right Javier Milei won 62% of the vote. The same thing happened in the so-called Northern Corridor, the wealthiest area of the Argentine capital and neighboring province, covering the neighborhoods and districts from Recoleta, Palermo, Belgrano and Núñez to Olivos and San Isidro. A large proportion of the wealthy people live there in a country where poverty is around 40%.
– “I support the military,” says one of the women, trying to get comfortable in her chair.
– “You see. “I didn’t know,” Marta jumps in, the only one of the three who wants to talk openly about her voice.
– “Yes, my father-in-law was a close friend of Videla.”
Martha, no. In contrast to those around her, she voted for Sergio Massa, the Peronist candidate and current economy minister. “I have a historical memory. I am a radical, how could I vote for someone who denies or criticizes the dictatorship? [Raúl] Alfonsín, who brought us democracy.” Marta talks about other concerns: that Milei will make life more difficult for pensioners like her; This puts an end to abortion rights and the denial of Milei’s elected Vice President Victoria Villarruel.
These days, in lounge chairs like these, at tables in thousands of Argentine houses, on the streets, there are such debates. Even in places like the northern area, where the vote seemed to be in Milei’s favor.
Héctor Barsola with his partner Noelia, on the coast of the Río de la Plata.Valentina Fusco
There is a traditional voter of the Republican Proposal (PRO), the party of Mauricio Macri and Patricia Bullrich, who left the election campaign as an orphan and would never vote for Peronism. Lisandro Varela is one of those voters from years ago. He is the creator of the 50argentinosdicen portal; He describes himself as a popular liberal and was press secretary for former Economy Minister Domingo Cavallo, the father of the convertibility of the peso to the dollar during the government of the Peronist Carlos Menem. “Part of the reason Milei is president is because the PRO has blurred over the last eight years. “He was too caught up in internal competition and didn’t talk to people too much,” says Varela.
He says it in Tabac, the bar where the mayor of the city of Buenos Aires and former presidential candidate Horacio Rodríguez Larreta usually goes and the most prestigious department of the PRO. Located in the center of one of the most exclusive neighborhoods in the Argentine capital, surrounded by parks, museums, embassies and old mansions, El Tabac is characterized by its profound resistance to Peronism. Varela voted for Bullrich in the first round, then overcame “some fears” and voted for Milei. “I was afraid of its lack of structure to face the fierce resistance that Peronism would generate. Argentina needs providential leadership. We’re not there for a normal situation,” he says, explaining that it wasn’t just the “Cheto” customers, by which he means the richest, who voted for Milei; also the waiters, those in the kitchen, the restaurant’s employees, as one of them proudly confirms.
Detail of the cover of a newspaper in the Tabac bar.Valentina Fusco
Doubts about the hot-tempered character of the elected president were one of the issues that frightened several original PRO voters, but in the final weeks of the campaign, Milei, on the advice of former President Macri, began to appear calmer. In the end they were conquered, although for many of them their hatred of Peronism was enough. “The majority of people vote for the other person not to stay. Not because I really like the guy who never ruled,” says María Luisa, 86, as she walks through the streets of Olivos, near the presidential residence. She too was orphaned after Bullrich’s defeat – in the general election the PRO candidate received 49% of the vote in the Northern Corridor; while Milei got 20.16% – shifting his vote to the right, as many people his age did across the country. “I voted for Macri [que ganó en 2015 y perdió la reelección en 2019] but these people [el peronismo] I’ll take it out. Bullrich lost and I had no choice, how was I supposed to vote for her, impossible. “Now everything is a surprise.”
At Vicente López, they follow Milei’s news closely. The last thing that appears on a television screen is that Joe Biden, the President of the United States, has called him. Many breathe a sigh of relief. It is almost impossible to find any traces of the campaign; there are no posters, advertisements or propaganda displays; There the vote was internalized and not just among rich people.
María Luisa, Milei voter, in Olivos. Valentina Fusco
Mari Luz, owner of a stationery store in the district’s commercial area, says she is “apolitical.” She is 70 years old, she is retired, but she has to continue working and she assures that she did not vote out of fear but out of hope. “In this area it is very rare that someone voted for Sergio Massa. The government distributed things and plans to the most needy people in the southern area, where it won.” “Everything is bad: security, the economy. “What we have doesn’t work, so we have to try what comes,” he says in front of his shop.
This feeling of uncertainty is present at every step. “We’re already dancing, now we have to dance,” says Tomás Aliz, a train security employee. He is 26 years old, comes from San Fernando and voted for Massa, unlike his colleague Roberto Cáceres, who voted for Milei. It’s a similar sensation to the Tabac bar in the most exclusive part of Palermo, where Lisandro Varela works and watches the country go by under Milei. “Today in Argentina we are in the hands of one man and the rain,” which irrigates the fields that produce Argentina’s most important export product.
Tomas Aliz and Roberto Cáceres in the Vicente López neighborhood. Valentina Fusco