one year after his election, Argentine President Milei is not unanimous

Emmanuel Macron begins a tour of Latin America on Saturday via Argentina, where he will meet Javier Milei, in power since last December. The far-right president has implemented deep and brutal reforms, which have sparked widespread criticism in the country.

Javier Milei keeps his promises: reduction in public spending, drastic drop in inflation and economic deregulation… Everywhere, the anarcho-capitalist president spends his “chainsaw” and even boasts of economic recovery. But the results are slow in coming, a little less than a year after he came to power, and critical voices are being raised in Argentine society.

“Prices are certainly increasing at a slower rate, but they are still increasingnotes Hernan Letcher, economist and director of CEPA, Argentine Political Economy Center. The economy and industry have not yet recovered from the crisis. Employment has stabilized, but we are still at a very low level. We see a slight improvement of a few points, but the conditions are far from being met for real economic recovery.”

Nearly 35,000 civil servants were also laid off. The poverty rate is in the red at more than 50%, unemployment is increasing and purchasing power is very low. A part of society is worried about the loss of values ​​and acquired rights, like Luciana De Martis, a feminist activist. “We are constantly on alert because, for the president, feminism is a public and internal enemy, she confides. All this government generates is hunger, poverty, inequality and violence.”

Is Argentina being reborn in pain or is it a bomb about to explode? In any case, it remains a large libertarian laboratory, seeking above all foreign investors ready to bet on this still fragile country.