“Long live freedom, damn it!” It is Javier Milei’s war cry, in the campaign and now. The new president of Argentina, an anarcho-capitalist libertarian, uses the term freedom to justify all the authoritarian measures that he has taken since he arrived at the Casa Rosada on December 10.
The latest example is the so-called omnibus law, a decree sent to Congress on Wednesday by the president, which consists of 664 articles that seek to fundamentally transform the Argentine political system by decree, declaring at the same time the “public emergency in economic, financial and , fiscal, pension, security, defense, tariff, energy, health, administrative and social until December 31, 2025”, thus assuming legislative powers. This date could be extended for two more years, that is, it would apply during Milei’s four-year term.
Among the dozens of measures, which involve the modification of twenty laws, there is one that exemplifies the risk that Argentine democracy runs with a populist president whose vice president, Victoria Villarruel, openly defends the last dictatorship (1976-1983). The “intentional and temporary assembly of three or more people” that prevents free movement or the provision of public services could be punished with up to six years in prison.
The decree is titled: “Law of bases and starting points for the freedom of Argentines” and includes, according to Milei himself, two thirds of his electoral promises. In addition to advancing the privatization of the nearly forty Argentine public companies or eliminating protections for the book sector, for example, the omnibus law also includes a radical reform of the electoral system, eliminating the mandatory primaries that precede the presidential elections and changing the legislative lists of proportional representation of a territory by constituencies of single-member candidates.
The omnibus law is the third major package of measures that Milei announces in less than a month. As soon as he took office, the Government announced a dozen urgent economic actions in a country that has 161% inflation, warning that in the short term this price index would continue to increase. The Executive devalued the peso by 50%, suspended public works bidding, eliminated energy and transportation subsidies, announced a reduction in the number of public officials or suspended institutional advertising in the media.
A few days later, on December 20, the far-right president sanctioned another megadecree – which came into force this Friday, although it must also be ratified by Congress – that modifies or repeals more than 300 laws and whose objective is to accelerate the deregulation of the economy, laying the foundations for the privatization of public companies, the promotion of private medicine or the liberalization of sectors such as wine, airlines or real estate.
This week, the dismissal of 5,000 temporary public employees who had entered the administration during 2023 and whose contracts, which end tomorrow, December 31, will not be renewed, has already been completed.
The two megadecrees must be ratified by Congress, where Milei and his allies on the Macrista right are far from the majority and where opposition Peronism has much more weight. However, the president or his spokesperson launch libertarian proclamations every day despising Parliament and arguing that 55% of the votes give him the right to carry out his proposals without the interference of the legislature. Milei threatens a referendum to approve his reforms if Congress does not validate them.
Meanwhile, the streets are quiet although there have been small protests closely controlled by the police. The unions, led by the Peronist General Confederation of Labor (CGT), held their first timid protest against Milei in Buenos Aires this Wednesday and have called a general strike for January 24.
On the other hand, the Government confirmed this Friday that on January 1, Argentina will not join – as planned – the BRICS group, a bloc of emerging countries made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
