Candidate Milei at a campaign rally on October 18 in Buenos Aires.Cristobal Basaure (Getty Images)
The 60-year-old Argentine Francisco Bello, from Córdoba, arrived this Thursday at ten in the morning on the promenade of Patio Olmos, a shopping center in the heart of the city of Córdoba, where the far-right Javier Milei completes his election campaign this Thursday, the second Sunday return. Milei won’t arrive until seven in the afternoon at the earliest, but Bello and another dozen militants beat their drums early to the rhythm of the song that says, “The caste is afraid,” and that has accompanied the entire economist campaign.
The city awaits Milei amid pro-him posters, anti-him street graffiti and a security and logistical operation that has paralyzed the city center to set the early stage on which the Ultras will end their campaign tonight. Bello and his group were among the first militants to arrive.
– Between the primaries that Milei won and the first round that Massa won, it was clear that the day after a Milei victory brought a stronger economic blow. Aren’t you afraid of what might happen?
– Fear of what? –Bello laughs–. It’s impossible to be scarier than these people are now. The fact that the dollar is rising, that prices are rising, that adjustments need to be made will not be Mileis’ fault. You can’t blame Milei for the devaluation, for making our currency useless.
As a member of Pumas Libertarios, a small local group that campaigned for Milei in Córdoba in these elections, Bello assures that Juan Schiaretti, the local governor who, from Peronism, opposes the national current that has been for almost two For decades it was led by the current vice president, Cristina Kirchner, but now she preferred Milei because “she has a better chance of defeating Kirchnerism.”
Members of the group “Pumas Libertarios”, this Thursday in the city of Córdoba before the conclusion of the campaign by Javier Milei.JPC
His vision, if statistics are taken into account, is in line with that of the majority of voters in this province. Milei won both the August primary and the October first round in Córdoba. In second place, like no other, was the governor, who will hand over power to a successor from his party in December.
Córdoba can tip the scales in Milei’s favor. The country’s second electoral district, distinguished by its already historic rejection of Kirchnerism, may give Milei the vote in the Córdoba election if the result is close on Sunday. Argentina is divided into 24 electoral districts, but more than half of the vote (60.82% of the vote) comes from just four: Buenos Aires (37.04%); Córdoba (8.66%), Santa Fe (7.96%) and the Federal Capital (7.16%).
Buenos Aires is a bastion of Peronism, which retained its governorship with 45% in October’s elections. But between two opposition options breathing down his neck, his vote stream was historically low. The elections in Buenos Aires are scheduled without a second round, and the Milei and traditional right candidates led by Patricia Bullrich, who refused to participate in the hope that the other would bow his head and give up control, finally added 50%. If Milei manages to close the gap with Peronism in Buenos Aires, the electorate in Córdoba, which already voted for him in the first round, can give him the election.
Córdoba claims to be Peronist, but from insurgent to hegemonic Peronism there were two battles with Cristina Kirchner: a draft law that proposed increasing taxes on agricultural exports up to 45% in 2008 was implemented by decree in March of the same year four months later it collapsed due to protests; and the same government’s refusal in December 2013 to deploy the national gendarmerie while Córdoba endured nights of looting and violence amid a police strike demanding higher salaries.
In the first round of voting, Milei won the province with 33.5% of the vote. Massa was fourth with 13.4%. The remaining almost 50% at stake on Sunday will most likely fall into the ultra basket: various analysts, including those from the Peronist campaign, believe that if Massa has 30% of Córdoba, it would be a good choice -votes would reach. The antipathy that Massa generates in the province is well described by María, Silvia and Evangelina, three friends in their seventies who were driving through the area of Patio Olmos and, as presumptive voters of Milei, stopped this Sunday to take photos with a poster of the to make ultra candidates.
– Did you vote for Milei in the first round?
– No – says the first –. Guess who we voted for?
They voted for former President Mauricio Macri’s candidate, conservative Patricia Bullrich. “We don’t want any more populism, we don’t want this government anymore that led us to ruin. “Everything has gotten worse,” María continues, saying: “And now, between a madman and a thief…”
– As a new millennial voter, don’t these outbursts of anger bother you?
– You would have to lower the decibels of your answers. I also don’t like some of her people, like this representative who wants parents to be able to ignore their children, says Silvia.
Evangelina, the shyest of the three, has a theory. “I believe that his vice will put him in his place,” he says of Victoria Villarruel, daughter and granddaughter of soldiers who have made it their mission to attack the consensus on the crimes of the military dictatorship. “I really like her, I think she will do a great job against the insecurity.”
María, Silvia and Evangelina, this Thursday in the city of Córdoba, during the preview of the conclusion of the campaign by Javier Milei.JPC