The Latin American Report # 620

Argentina

The main political event this Sunday in the region is the national legislative elections in Argentina, key to defining how much organic political muscle Javier Milei will have for the remainder of this term. La Libertad Avanza entered the Pink House with few members in Congress, and so aspires to achieve a better balance in today's electoral exercise, an objective that seems achievable, whatever the outcome.

The legislative elections in the province of Buenos Aires, which is home to almost 4 out of every 10 registered voters in the national registry, and consequently set a certain general electoral trend, were a severe blow for the ruling party the past month, amid strong questions about the sustainability of the orthodox fiscal adjustment advanced by the government, whose management has also been tarnished by the classic corruption scandals that plague Latin American politics—for example, the LIBRA cryptocurrency case or the alleged bribes in favor of Karina Milei, Secretary of the Presidency.

_{Milei and Axel Kicillof, a Peronist rival (source).}

On economic matters, a recurring question among people and in media debates is when the luminous future prophesied by the ultra-conservative leader will be reflected in the table of the common Argentine. But despite resounding defeats in Congress, Milei insists that the current path is the right one; it is long and involves sacrifices, and even boasts that in less than two years, he lifted 12 million people out of poverty, in a narrative strategy that, in my opinion, makes a biased, excessive, and immature use of statistics.

“If we maintain the path we are traveling and Argentines decide to accompany us until 2031, we will be able to have growth that could range between 7% and 10% (annually). Do you know what this means? That in 5 or 7 years we could resemble Spain, in 15 years Germany, in 25 or 30 years the United States, and in 40 years we could be the richest country in the world,” defended the head of Balcarce 50 recently. But estimates are sometimes different. For example, at the end of September, he had said that it would take 10 years—not between 5 and 7—to resemble Spain, and 20 to reach Germany's level—not 15. And instead, in 40 years, Argentina would not necessarily be "the richest country in the world" but would be in the top 3. In any case, these are timeframes that I don't know if they will meet the urgent interests and needs of millions of Argentines who today, with their vote, will decide how much legislative support Milei will have, and also how relevant the conditioned and extraordinary support provided by the Trump administration is for them.

On a sad note on this election date, an accident in the province of Misiones resulted in the death of 8 people and 29 injured, as a consequence of a collision between a double-decker bus and a car that were traveling on a bridge. The bus plunged into the Yazá stream.

An update on Melissa

Via AP 👇

This is all for today’s report.