After turning on the chainsaw against the economy, the government of Javier Milei has announced its tough plan against the protests in Argentina. The new Security Minister Patricia Bullrich announced this Thursday a new protocol against street demonstrations. “We will put the country in order so that people can live in peace. The streets are not occupied. Let them know that if they take to the streets there will be consequences,” Bullrich said at a news conference. The announcement sent shockwaves through the country, which has struggled with skyrocketing prices and a 50% devaluation of the currency in the first week of the far-right government.
The new protocol against demonstrations calls for the four security forces dependent on the security ministry – the federal police, the gendarmerie, the naval prefecture and the airport security police – to disperse street protests that block roads and paths. “We will act until the traffic area is completely opened,” threatened Bullrich. “The armed forces will deploy the necessary and sufficient force, graduated in proportion to the resistance.” The minister and former presidential candidate of the traditional right, who allied with Milei after her defeat, appealed to one of the grievances of her voters: the idea that Road closures lead to unrest that “does not allow people to live normally and in order.” Peace.” “We have lived in complete and utter disorder for many years,” Bullrich said. “It is time to put an end to this methodology, with the blackmail that citizens are suffering from.”
Federal forces will have the power to arrest those who “commit crimes” during protests; they will be able to confiscate “material” from protests “such as sticks” on public transport and target “hooded men” or people, who go there to investigate protests “that are trying not to be recognized”.
Bullrich has stated that a register will be drawn up of the social organizations – unions, unions and associations – that are “inciting” the protests and that he will send those responsible “the bill” for “the costs” of the repression. “The state will not pay for the use of security forces, organizations with legal status or individuals will have to pay for it,” said the minister, who also announced that foreigners living in the country will be reported to the migration agency. the country a temporary permit to take part in the protests.
“They can manifest on the sidewalk. “We don’t want any road or route cuts,” said the minister. “This is not a problem of ideologies, it is a problem of understanding once and for all that the country must live in peace and order.”
The announcement came as temperatures rise in Buenos Aires due to the economic adjustment plan presented by the Ministry of Economy this Tuesday. The government increased the value of the dollar from 400 to 800 pesos, promised not to renew the contracts of civil servants who had been in office for less than a year, and announced increases in tariffs for basic services and public transportation.
According to Economy Minister Luis Caputo, the government-sponsored increases will not be announced until February, but Argentina is used to highlighting street prices in the face of political earthquakes. This week prices in supermarkets have risen by up to 40% and the price of fuel has risen by at least 30% following the end of the Peronism-sponsored freeze on basic baskets.
“We found a patient in the intensive care unit who was dying. “We are not prepared to let him die,” presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni defended on Wednesday, and unions and guilds responded with urgent calls for answers. Eyes are turned to next Wednesday, a new anniversary of the 2001 Corralito crisis, when commemorative demonstrations are expected to take place in Buenos Aires to commemorate the police repression that left 38 dead in the streets amid the worst economic crisis in recent history country.