BUENOS AIRES.- The state reform of the Argentine president Javier Miley was approved with modifications early Thursday morning by the Senate, in a marathon session that was marked by riots in front of the Congress which left around twenty people injured and detained, as well as burning cars.
“For those Argentines who suffer, who wait, who do not want to see their children leave the country (…), my vote is affirmative,” said the leader of the Senate and also vice president of the country, Victoria Villarruel, who broke the tie from that way the parity of 36-36 in the “general” vote of the text, which was then discussed title by title.
The Presidency celebrated the “historic approval” of the so-called Basis law for the deregulation of the economy, which will return to the Chamber of Deputies for the final sanction of the “most ambitious legislative reform of the last 40 years.”
It is the first support from Congress after six months of Milei’s government, whose small La Libertad Avanza party is a minority in both chambers, with only seven of the 72 seats in the Senate.
That is why the legislative route was uphill. The project failed at the beginning of February in its first attempt in the Chamber of Deputies and to revive it the government made numerous concessions until reducing its original content from 600 articles to a third.
In the “particular” discussion of the ten titles, the senators approved the controversial delegation of legislative powers to the ultra-liberal president.
“Do you really want us to delegate legislative powers to improve the functioning of the State to the president who says he loves being the mole who is going to destroy the State from within?” Senator Juliana Di Tullio had said before the vote, quoting verbatim from a Milei’s recent statement.
On Thursday morning the Senate also debated and generally approved by 37 votes to 35 a fiscal package that introduces an asset regularization (money laundering) regime.
Investment incentive
With the Bases law, a controversial incentive for large investments was also approved that offers tax, customs and exchange advantages for 30 years to foreign capital greater than 200 million dollars.
“We are giving a blank check that we do not know how much it will cost for 30 years, in addition to the priority in the use of natural resources,” questioned Senator Martín Lousteau.
The American magnate Elon Musk, who participated on Wednesday in a video conference in which Milei presented his economic theory, encouraged Argentines to “give their full support to the president to carry out this experiment because clearly the policies of the past did not work.”
Owner of the electric car manufacturer Tesla, Musk has met with Milei a couple of times and has shown interest in Argentina, which has one of the world’s main reserves of lithium, key for the manufacture of batteries.
Among the 238 articles of the Bases law, the possibility of privatizing a handful of companies was also approved, as well as a labor reform that extends the trial period and makes the dismissal compensation regime more flexible.
“We came to transform reality,” said the ruling party Ezequiel Atauche when justifying his vote in favor.
Camp battle
During the day, thousands of people gathered around Congress to repudiate the project and the president’s draconian fiscal adjustment.
The police repelled a group that sought to circumvent the fences that isolated Congress with gas, rubber bullets and tanker trucks and the protesters responded by throwing stones at the uniformed officers, which led to a pitched battle and the burning of two cars.
Seven people, including five opposition deputies, were treated in a hospital after being gassed by the police, the Ministry of Health informed AFP, and dozens were affected by the fumes and treated at the scene.
A spokesman for the Ministry of Security assured AFP that at least ten people were arrested and nine federal police officers were injured.
“Roberto María La Cruz Gómez, I am a Peronist and I am here to ensure that the Bases law does not pass, because I am Argentine!” shouted a young man while being detained by federal police.
The Presidency denounced on network
The debate took place in a context of recession in which industrial activity and consumption have plummeted, half the population is in poverty, thousands have been laid off, inflation is almost 300% year-on-year.
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AP
Source: With information from AFP
