The Senate of Argentina approved this morning what is known in the streets as the chainsaw law, due to the drastic cuts proposed by the Government of Javier Milei. The officially called Law Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of Argentines has … came forward in extremis and while serious riots broke out in the streets of Buenos Aires that have left dozens of people injured and arrested. The entire country was called for a general strike in protest of the controversial reform.
The regulations, which many blame for the dismantling of the State, have been approved after several modifications and with the vote of the country’s vice president, Victoria Villarruel, who presides over the Senate. Only she was able to break the tie of 36 votes. «Today we saw two Argentinas: a violent one, which set cars on fire and threw stones, and which debates the exercise of democracy; and another, that of the workers, who are waiting with a lot of pain and sacrifice for the vote that in November of last year elected a change to be respected,” Villarruel argued amid boos from the opposition senators who did not understand that he took the floor to justify your vote. She continued: “For those Argentines who suffer, who hope that a situation that has been perpetuated in pain for many years will be changed, who do not want to see their children leave the country, and who deserve the pride of being Argentine: my vote It is affirmative.
The text, of more than 200 articles, includes a controversial labor reform and the privatization of certain public companies, which has generated great controversy and rejection among unions. After its approval in the Upper House, it must be endorsed again in Parliament due to the modifications introduced last night. And, to move forward, the rule had to be substantially modified during the session.
The Executive had to renounce Milei’s desire to privatize more than 40 state companies. In the end, only eight firms will pass into private hands. Also falling were the elimination of the moratorium that allows retirements with less contributions than required, which especially affects women, the stoppage of public works already underway or the dissolution of public organizations linked to science and culture.
However, in the street the numerous marches against the law ended in a pitched battle. The Police have intervened to disperse the protesters gathered around Congress. 1,200 agents have been deployed who used tear gas, water cannon vehicles and rubber bullets.
The police forces have tried to contain the push of hundreds of people, many of them hooded, who have separated from the bulk of the march and have begun to throw stones, glass bottles and Molotov cocktails, in addition to breaking the security fence around to Congress. About thirty people have been arrested and many others, both protesters and agents, have been injured. In addition, a group of hooded men have overturned a Cadena 3 station car and set it on fire.
President Milei, for his part, has congratulated the Police and the Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, while accusing the protesters of being “terrorists” and of wanting to carry out a “coup d’état.” «We are facing a bifurcation: either we persist on the path of decadence or we dare to travel the path of freedom. This battle is even taking place in the streets,” declared the president, who has assured that his government “is putting the streets in order,” as he promised in the electoral campaign.
