MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Pot and pan-banging protests staged after positive outcome at the Senate

While some protesters took to the streets, Milei's government praised “the patriotic” Senators who voted in favor of the bill

Residents and natives of the Argentine capital - known collectively as “porteños”- took to the streets of Buenos Aires on Wednesday evening banging pots and pans to protest against the Senatorial broad approval of the Libertarian Administration's Bases Law bill in addition to the police repression outside Congress against demonstrators earlier on.

On the other hand, President Javier Milei's Government celebrated the outcome and pledged to summon all those who supported the bill to work together. This bill is “the most important legislative reform of the last forty years,” said the Office of the President (OPRA) in a statement. It represented “a triumph for the Argentine people,” it added.

Ley de Bases: Cacerolazo en Caballito, CABA. pic.twitter.com/AImoccnaKQ

— El Corresponsal (@CorresponsalNet) June 13, 2024

“Starting from 38 deputies and 7 senators, with terrorist groups attacking Congress, having to deploy the Security Forces in defense of democracy, with the political caste resisting and operating until the last moment, and having to resort to the runoff of the Vice President of the Nation, Victoria Villarruel, tonight's is a triumph of the Argentine people,” the OPRA document read.

It is “the first step towards the recovery of our greatness, having approved the most ambitious legislative reform of the last forty years,” the Libertarian administration went on.

“The Executive Branch highlights the patriotic work of the National Senators who contributed with their positive vote to the approval of this law, and hopes to continue counting on their commitment to leave behind the policies of failure and misery, and to reinsert the Argentine Republic in the path of prosperity and growth,” the document further explained.

“Once the changes are debated in particular in the Honorable Chamber of Deputies, and the legislative process is concluded, the President will summon governors, former presidents, legislators who supported the Bases Law, and leaders of the main parties to abandon the old recipes of failure, forget political differences, embrace the ideas of freedom and establish ten foundational policies to give back the future to the Argentines,” the OPRA also pointed out.

“This process will culminate with the signing of the May Pact, a historic commitment to pull Argentina out of the pit into which it has been plunged by personal vendettas, petty interests, and the impoverishing ideology of the last 100 years,” the Government also noted.