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Unexpected. The “remontada”, the comeback of Peronism, surprised observers and analysts. Sergio Massa, Minister of Economy, the prodigal son of Peronism, defeated el loco, the madman, as they call him, Javier Milei, 53 years old, the anarcho-liberalist seemed unstoppable. Argentina goes to the run-off on 19 November, but the victory in the first round of the histrionic Milei has been averted. Massa obtained 36.6% of the votes, Milei 30%. From tomorrow the two winners will have to deal with “la piba”, the girl, Patricia Bullrich, who collected 23% of it on Sunday. The piba, 67 years old, a past in the Montoneros, exiled in Brazil during the Argentine dictatorship, now a passionarian. But she’s right-wing.
Today, however, is Massa’s day. Of Italian origins, 51 years old, he is a long-time Peronist capable, in his thirty years of political career, of swearing loyalty to the party leaders (Nestor Kirchner and his wife, Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner) and then changing his mind, distrusting them and hoping that « go to jail for corruption.” Now… counter-order comrades, there is full harmony again. Fickle ideology and boundless ambition. This is how people talk about him, not even off the records. One of whom, to “explain” Sergio Massa to foreign journalists, says that in life, in Argentina, people often change wives, jobs and places of residence. But not his favorite team, the football team, of course he is. Well, Massa was a die-hard fan first of San Lorenzo, then of Chacarita and finally of Tigre. «Why do Argentines still vote Peronist? Not for the economy (in pieces), not for corruption (high), not for insecurity (heavy). So ? It’s an act of faith.” This is an analysis by Carlos Malamud, an authoritative commentator from the Real Instituto Elcano in Madrid.
El loco Milei, (the madman, ed.), still goes to the run-off with the prodigal son of Peronism and should not be underestimated: It is impossible to know if Conad, Milei’s English hound, who died in 2017, had foreseen the result. Certainly, the presidential candidate Milei, through a medium, comes into “contact” with the dead dog and talks. He tells it himself. The others, of dogs, the living ones, are heteronyms, Fernando Pessoa would say, of liberal economists whose owner (always Milei) draws inspiration in TV programs when he illustrates his economic policy programs. That’s right, his dogs are Milton, (like Milton Friedman), Murray (Rothbard), Robert and Lucas (like Robert Lucas).
Well yes. The Buenos Aires of bookshops open day and night, the city with an extraordinary theater program that rivals Paris, the cultured city with the largest number of psychoanalysts per inhabitant, is witnessing a grotesque show: the election of a president who, whatever happens the ballot will reach the lowest point in 40 years of democracy. A (non)debate centered on swear words, the chainsaw with which Milei would like to exterminate the corrupt opponents of the “Caste” and the painful replies of a Peronist, the current Minister of Economy, Massa, who promises to solve problems of macro-financial stability which has only worsened in the last 4 years. Inflation is at 140%, the poor exceed 40% of the population and the devaluation of the peso, the Argentine currency, reaches new records every day. Central Bank reserves? Reset.
The blue dolar, the one that can be bought in the streets of the city, has exceeded 1000 pesos, three times as much as the official one. And this produces the unhealthy idea, accepted by a few million Argentines, that it is plausible todollarize the country, that is, abolish the Argentine currency and use the greenback. A choice already made by the former Minister of Economy Domingo Cavallo which led to the default and deaths in the streets in 2001.