MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Milei says Argentine opposition leaders are corrupt sadists

The objections to his reforms are orchestrated by the opposition, Milei argued

Argentine President Javier Milei on Monday called the opposition “corrupt” and “sadistic” as he defended his emergency decree (DNU) deregulating most aspects of the South American country's economy to recover from the ongoing crisis through fiscal adjustments and cuts in public spending.

“It seems that some, out of sadism, and others, out of corruption, want to keep in chains those Argentines who want to get out of their misery,” Milei wrote on X, somehow quoting former President Arturo Frondizi (1958-1962) when he enacted a series of reforms to nationalize, monopolize and self-serve Argentina's oil.

Textual de Arturo Frondizi respecto al DNU enviado por el caso de los contratos petroleros que fueron el pilar del despegue de su gobierno.
Pareciera que algunos por sadismo y otros por corruptos quieren mantener encadenados a los argentinos que desean salir de la miseria.
VLLC! pic.twitter.com/aivWTNMv0q

— Javier Milei (@JMilei) December 25, 2023

The pro-industry Frondizi said: “The plan of drastic reforms and rapid mobilization of resources that we are carrying out requires the breakdown of administrative routine. If we had not avoided this routine, we would still be discussing the oil contracts and capital transfers that were the battering ram that opened the way for the profound transformation of our economic structure.” He was forced to resign by a military uprising that maintained all legal forms by promoting Senator José María Guido to the presidency, who was second in line as provisional Speaker of the Upper House.

In the wake of this year's electoral defeat, the opposition is rallying behind Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, although former Economy Minister and defeated presidential candidate Sergio Massa has also called on Argentines to resist Milei's rule.

“We have the obligation and the responsibility to represent an entire province in the face of this adjustment plan, in the face of a fiscal and monetary squeeze and a very strong devaluation that decalibrates the income of the popular sectors,” Kicillof said, while Argentina's main unions are planning a demonstration next Wednesday in front of the main Courthouse building to demand the DNU's repeal through a declaration of unconstitutionality.

In Sunday's Christmas message, Milei wrote on social media that he hoped the new year's holidays would mark “the beginning of a new era for Argentines, and may we make Argentina the country we have always dreamed of.” To that end, he issued DNU 70/23, proposing “reforms that will begin to unblock an oppressive legal and institutional framework” for the country to begin its “path of reconstruction.”

Latin America's third-largest economy accumulated 148.2% inflation in the first 11 months of the year, according to the National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (Indec). But Milei's speech announcing the new measures sparked a pot-baning objection in many cities plus a nationwide uproar. The president downplayed these reactions, saying it was all orchestrated by the opposition because - he wondered - how people could read his entire decree so quickly.