Announcement of economic reforms in Argentina provokes ‘cacerolazos’ against Javier Milei

Argentine President Javier Milei’s announcement to submit a bill for the change of statehood sparked protests in the streets of Buenos Aires since Wednesday evening and this morning.

Javier Milei presented an ambitious project on national radio and television that plans to reform more than three hundred rules and laws.

The aim of the ultra-liberal president, an economist by profession, is to deregulate those sectors of the economy that, in his view, are in the grip of a tangle of bureaucratic and protectionist provisions that prevent productive investment from recovering and economic activity from strengthening .

“We have discovered nearly 380,000 regulations among the laws, regulations and other regulations that hinder the functioning of the economy and a free society. “We want to dismantle this prevention machine,” he declared on radio Rivadavia on Thursday.

But the series of measures to deregulate the economy and the public sector was met with displeasure by some citizens.

The overnight mobilization, which lasted until the early morning hours, was also felt in several neighborhoods of the capital and other cities in the country, where residents loudly protested from their windows and balconies, banging on pots, pans and household utensils. .

‘Cacerolazos’

Between midnight and early morning this Thursday, the streets of Buenos Aires were covered in the metallic roar caused by the banging of kitchen utensils against pans. Accompanied by honking horns and the cry ‘The people are not a caste!’ Hundreds of people surrounded the headquarters of the National Congress in Buenos Aires to protest the economic shock therapy imposed by President Javier Milei.

Armed with a wooden spoon and an old pot, Darío, a 55-year-old railway worker, watched with an approving gesture as demonstrators hung from the bars of parliament to address the nearby crowd. His indignation as a citizen and as a worker had led him to that place, he admitted to EFE.

“The measures that Milei announced by decree, after forty years of democracy, are something unthinkable in Argentina. I felt in my heart the need to be here to show my disapproval. “I am full of joy to see that thousands of Argentines have felt the same,” he said.

On Wednesday afternoon, some 3,000 people, gathered by social and left-wing organizations, took over the Plaza de Mayo under the watchful eye of a police wall to show their disgust at the ultra-liberal government’s adjustment policies.

Three hundred measures

At night, Milei appeared on a national television network surrounded by his entire cabinet to announce a plan to deregulate the economy and the public sector with more than 300 measures deregulating laws and regulations, although he limited himself to reading of only thirty of them. . Dissatisfaction with the new ads spread quickly.

“Workers’ Unity! And if you don’t like it, you’re screwed!” was another slogan repeated by the crowd that reached Parliament and stayed there until the early hours.

For Juan Ignacio, a 31-year-old pension lawyer, what started as a brief display of exhaustion on the corner of his house before going to sleep turned into a 20-block procession from Buenos Aires’ San Telmo neighborhood. to the Plaza del Congreso in Balvanera.

“It started on the corner, but together with my girlfriend and some neighbors we marched here. The horrible measures we have just heard, such as the repeal of the gondola law, are a shame. “This man (Milei) came to destroy the rights of the workers and the people,” he said, hitting a used pot with a fork.

Simple laws such as the Gondola Law, the Rent Law and the Supply Law, approved during the mandate of former President Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), aimed to regulate the market for the basic needs of the middle class. They were also the first to be revoked by the Urgent Needs Decree (DNU), which was signed by Milei on Wednesday.

After seeing the presidential announcement on television, Natalia, a 30-year-old computer scientist, decided to follow the noise generated by the self-convened people and join the march. She places her democratic expectations on Argentina’s deputies and senators.

“After the elections, the first thing I thought was: we have a diverse Congress that will produce interesting debates. We understand that reforms are needed, but governing a country governs us all,” he reflected last night.

Historic protests

The protests, which arose spontaneously, multiplied in several areas of the city, as well as in the periphery of the suburbs and in the city of La Plata, the capital of the province of Buenos Aires. In all cases, police avoided those areas as if they were radioactive.

The ‘cacerolazos’ are the symbol par excellence of the Argentinians, commemorating the beginning of the end of a society steeped in economic crises. They were born during the 2001 protests, which resulted in 39 deaths and the resignation of then-president Fernando De la Rúa (1999-2001).

The memories of the past are made present by the hollow sound produced by the metal in the hands of the tormented citizens; in their voices of disapproval lies fear and general anxiety, but also hope for real change. (JO)