This Wednesday the Congress began the debate on the re-foundation of Argentina proposed by Javier Milei. It was a long day in the Chamber of Deputies, with congressmen debating all day in a session that will likely extend into Friday, and there was tension on the streets of Buenos Aires, where federal police repressed and arrested some of the thousands of protesters, who had gathered in the Chamber of Deputies in front of the Congress. At around midnight, after almost twelve hours of debate, a break was taken and the meeting resumed this Thursday.
The session began after 10 a.m. in the presence of 137 deputies, just over half of those who make up the lower house of Argentina's Congress. To make the debate possible, the ruling party needed at least 129 of the 257 MPs. The quorum was guaranteed by the 38 seats of the ruling party, 37 of former conservative President Mauricio Macri's PRO, 34 of the center-right Radical Civic Union (UCR), and a large bloc of federal forces and other minority groups, as well as some deputies from the Peronist alliance Unión por la Patria and from the Left, who made the debate possible with their presence, although they reject the project.
Protesters confront police as the law is debated, in Buenos Aires on January 31.AGUSTIN MARCARIAN (Portal)
The debate began with the swearing in of two new deputies. Mónica Ferreyra of the ruling party filled the seat in the ruling party vacated by Milei's Chancellor Diana Mondino and dedicated her inauguration to “the children growing in the womb.” On the other hand, the Peronist Ernesto Nader Ali did it out of “loyalty” to his “ideological doctrine.” The formal debate had not yet begun, but excitement was guaranteed. Argentine MPs then began a debate that will last at least 40 hours as they discuss point by point the nearly 400 articles of the mega-law, through which Milei seeks to seize special legislative powers, privatize state-owned companies and deregulate the Argentine economy.
The ruling party is guaranteed 38 votes, the PRO 37. He will have to convince some of the deputies from the UCR or the federal forces, who have guaranteed a quorum but will not write a blank check.
With the debate just beginning, the leader of the Union por la Patria deputies, Germán Martínez, tried to have the dossier returned to the committee, but the proposal was rejected with 149 votes against. Another bench member summarized the Peronist coalition's position: “There are no redeemable things. The content contradicts the interests of Argentines.” The left joined the criticism. “I hope that in the days that this session lasts there will be many, many on the streets,” asked MP and former presidential candidate Myriam Bregman. “The only language governments understand is that of mobilization, which is the only tool that guarantees they don’t blow everything up.”
The convention was fenced off early in the morning and federal security forces guarded the building and waited for demonstrations in the streets. When around five o'clock in the afternoon some of the people, gathered mainly from left-wing organizations, demonstrated on the square in front of the congress, the police operation escalated. Security Minister Patricia Bullrich activated the new government's protocol to suppress road closures, and federal police beat protesters, fired tear gas, and used their forces in water cannons and officers on motorcycles who pushed protesters onto the sidewalks. The protesters directly opposed this Protocol that they consider illegal because it restricts the right to protest and prohibits blocking streets, demonstrating with covered faces or taking children to the marches.
Lawmakers in the lower house of Congress, this Wednesday.AGUSTIN MARCARIAN (Portal)
Those present assured that at that moment gendarmerie agents – a militarized force – were on duty, two fire hydrant trucks that were not switched on appeared and pepper spray was fired. “There are prisoners, there are wounded, I myself am wounded. They dragged me and scratched me. And no one attacked a police officer,” said left-wing leader Eduardo Belliboni, who blamed the security minister for the incidents. “We’ll continue here. The law will make this an everyday thing,” he hinted.
While Belliboni spoke of a blocked street, agents from the various security forces detained some of the demonstrators on the sidewalks and dispersed them in the square in front of the Congress. “This operation is unnecessary,” said one of the protesters, Azul Paredes, 23, who is active in the Socialist Workers Movement. “If there is this operation to suppress a peaceful demonstration, it is because the law neither supports the law nor the DNU. “The government is trying to prove something, it's a show for the voters of La Libertad Avanza and those who don't want road closures,” she said, surrounded by flags of left-wing movements.
Santiago Cafiero, former Chancellor and Union MP for the Homeland, listens to the debate on January 31st. MATIAS MARTIN CAMPAYA (EFE)
The debate will take place in extraordinary sessions called by the government during the summer break. The Board intended to specifically address the project, which in its original version included more than 600 articles, but had to extend the deadline for the extraordinary meetings until next February 15. Lawmakers debated the initiative in specialized commissions for a month and after negotiations, the project lost nearly 200 articles. The ruling party acknowledged “mistakes” in the letter and agreed to give in on some points.
Milei is no longer seeking up to four years of special powers that allow him to rule by decree, now he is asking for just two years. He also accepted the “errors” in writing the security chapter, in which an article proposed the control of public gatherings of more than three people, and removed the oil company YPF from the list of 41 state-owned companies that he wants to privatize. There are now 37, and three others, such as Banco Nación, the power producer Nucleoeléctrica and the satellite telecommunications company ARSAT, are only open to partial capitalization. Nor will it attempt to reform the electoral system.
This Wednesday, at the beginning of the session, the articles deleted from the law were read aloud: “13, 31, 71, 72, 81…”. The remaining law will be announced after one of the longest debates in the history of Argentina's Congress.