Massa or Milei? Leaders from Latin America and Europe give their opinion on the Argentine election

Former Latin American presidents and intellectuals marked their positions regarding Sunday’s Argentine runoff: Mario Vargas LlosaMariano Rajoy and Iván Duque called to vote for the libertarian Javier Mileiafter José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, Michelle Bachelet and Rigoberta Menchú raised the official flag Sergio Massa.

Vargas Llosa, Peruvian writer and Nobel laureate, joined former Spanish Prime Minister Rajoy and eight former Latin American leaders in a manifesto that describes Massa, current Minister of Economy, as “the continuity of a failed corporate economic model” that keeps Argentina in stagnation.

Less than a week before the ballot, inflation stood at 142.7% year-on-year, one of the highest rates in the world, while poverty is calculated in 40% in a context of strong polarization and uncertainty about the economic future of the country.

“Faced with this threat, the option of Javier Milei is presented, a new candidate in politics, with whom we undoubtedly have many differences, but who believes in the ideas of freedom,” the signatories wrote.

The economist Milei presents himself as a “outsider”proposes dollarizing the economy and “dynamite” the Central Bank to eliminate Argentina’s chronic inflation; while Massa, an experienced politician, seeks to attract voters critical of the Peronism to which he belongs by promising to lead a “unity government”.

The manifesto was released on Twitter by La Libertad Avanza, Milei’s party, and is also signed by former Argentine president Mauricio Macri, as well as Felipe Calderón and Vicente Fox (Mexico), Iván Duque and Andrés Pastrana (Colombia), Sebastián Piñera ( Chile) and Jorge Quiroga (Bolivia).

“Concord”

In the opposite corner, the leftist rulers of Brazil and Spain, as well as former European and Latin American presidents and intellectuals, spoke out in favor of Massa.

This Tuesday, the president of the Spanish government, the socialist Pedro Sánchez, said in a video that “Sergio Massa represents the commitment to democratic coexistence, to harmony, and offers a project of unity, of solidarity”. “Luck and win”he concluded.

From Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partner, President Lula da Silva indirectly expressed his support for Massa against Milei, who described the president as “corrupt” and “communist”.

“How much we can grow together (…) For that we need a president who likes democracy, who respects institutions, who likes Mercosur and South America,” Lula said on social networks.

Rodríguez Zapatero, former ruler of Spain; Bachelet, former president of Chile and UN high commissioner for human rights until 2022; and Nobel Peace Prize winners Menchú and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel joined other leaders in a call in “defense of democracy”.

They also asked to put “I stop Milei’s anti-democratic positions and his neoliberal proposals that in the past have been lethal for Argentine society and the entire region.”

Echoing a campaign slogan of the official candidate, the signatories asked “the end of the ‘rift’”, in reference to the strong polarization of Argentine politics, “and recover national harmony.”

Polls indicate a technical tie between both candidates for the November 19 elections.

Source: AFP