One would assume that the governments of Javier Milei in Argentina and Marrero in Cuba are opposite extremes, how true is that?

Javier Milei, now 53 years old, who considers himself a libertarian, rejects statist or IMF prescriptions. He is the president of Argentina from December 10, 2023. He believes that the exchange rate and prices of goods and services, as well as labor contracts, in the private and public sectors, should not have any anchor or guarantee. His statement was “there is no alternative to shock”, and days later he announced a decree with hundreds of measures to deregulate the economy and the space of power. He then presented a draft of an “omnibus bill” along the same lines, adding the possibility of declaring a “state of emergency” for at least two years, in which he could assume powers corresponding to Parliament. Milei claims that all this seeks to expand the freedom of Argentines, and describes his opponents as “useful idiots” and a “political caste” for maintaining privileges.

Manuel Marrero, now 60 years old, has been responsible for the tourism sector since the mid-1980s, and as of December 21, 2019, he is the Prime Minister of Cuba. Politically, in the higher hierarchy, there is President Miguel Díaz Canel, 63 years old, and as leader Raúl Castro, 92 years old, who succeeded his brother Fidel Castro, who died in 2016, at the age of 90. On the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the capture of Havana by the revolution – January 1, 1959 -, Marrero presented to the National Assembly the “Macroeconomic Stabilization Plan”, which defined it as a war economy, due to harassment and interventionism. United States. It drastically requires payment in foreign currency in various segments of supply and demand, removes subsidies from all non-residents, and adjusts the prices of services and fuel – but still maintaining the level of subsidies – to Cuban households. Raúl Castro addressed the country on the occasion of the 65th anniversary of the triumph of the revolution in the city of Santiago de Cuba. “I know that I am expressing the feelings of a historical generation by expressing confidence in those who today have leadership positions in our (communist) party and government (…). The Cuban revolution, after 65 years, far from weakening, is getting stronger,” Castro said.

The President of Cuba, Díaz-Canel, at the end of December 31, 2023, expressed that 2024 “will be a year full of challenges (…) to change everything that has to change.”

The essential difference between what Milei proposes and what Marrero proposes is that for Milei there is no alternative to shock, and for Marrero the adjustments must be made with focus and gradualness.

And in Ecuador? Even before the declaration of the war against terrorism and narco-power, the fiscal and social accounts showed bankruptcy, so it seems that we want to deceive ourselves by conditioning the temporality of the decisions that would be made on the costs of the war. internal. The essential thing will be transparency in public accounts and asset declarations, so that “cojudeo” does not prevail. (OR)