Rosary/12
Javier Milei arrived in Rosario to celebrate Flag Day and take in the crowds. The event was short and the President – with a non-confrontational speech – took the opportunity to revive the May Pact that he will celebrate on July 9 in Tucumán and summoned former presidents, governors, legislators, judges, union members but did not name the Catholic Church . Of course, he was left with the desire to enjoy a crowd. There were few of them until the Monument to the Flag, although they were fervent for the leader of La Libertad Avanza, but very negative towards, for example, Governor Maximiliano Pullaro, whom they whistled at when he demanded “real federalism” from the President and the lack of “infrastructure works to develop and deploy all the potential” that the country in general and the province of Santa Fe in particular has. At his turn, Milei did not counterattack and just listened.
Milei had arrived accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei, the vice president, Victoria Villarruel, the chief of staff, Guillermos Francos and the ministers Mario Russo (Health), Patricia Bullrich (Security), Sandra Pettovello (Human Capital), Luis Petri (Defense), Chancellor Diana Mondino and Mariano Cúneo Libarona (Justice).
Upon arriving in Rosario, the delegation stayed at the Prefecture premises, where it was speculated that some type of meeting could take place with the local and provincial authorities. But it didn’t happen. As it turned out, the president stayed reviewing the speech that he later ended up reading. In parallel, while the front of the Flag Monument began to fill with leaders, Pullaro and Mayor Pablo Javkin remained in the Hall of Flags, where officials from the national delegation also passed by. “They are ways of governing,” Pullaro later told the press, minimizing the impossibility of meeting with the President. It is the second time that the governor receives Milei in the province in less than two weeks and he has never achieved a bilateral meeting. He also couldn’t speak when Milei and his entourage left.
By 10 in the morning, Milei arrived at the Monument. In the official schedule, the closing of the event and her return to Buenos Aires was stipulated for that time. Pullaro and Javkin waited for the President on Santa Fe Street, where part of the workshop corresponding to the renovation works of the Monument still remains, which remained unfinished due to the lack of payments from the government itself under the premise of “zero public works.” The repairs were announced precisely on June 20, 2015. Three tenders later, the works remain unfinished. “As people from Rosario, we continue to ask for answers about peace, security and recovering this Monument that I began to value and that is still pending. A national shame,” former mayor Mónica Fein told local radio.
Milei arrived with his presidential sash and cane, which he only took off to read the speech. The organization divided the authorities and officials into separate platforms. On the one hand, national and related leaders. Pullaro and Javkin were placed in that first row, interspersed with Milei and Villarruel. The rest of the local and provincial officials, most of whom were present, remained in the other gallery of chairs.
The speeches began almost in sync with the arrival of the social and political organizations that mobilized to repudiate Milei’s presence. They did not manage to reach the Monument because the security operation did not allow them to. Only a few people managed to evade the guard and entered with a series of signs that they displayed only when Milei began to speak.
The speeches
The first to speak was Javkin. Before starting, a football field-type whistle was already coming down from the sides. The mayor of Rosario pointed out that the city has been experiencing “difficult days” in terms of security for a long time, but he celebrated that the situation is beginning to reverse. “With great caution today we can say that we are beginning to see that something is changing. And it is very important, because the main concern of the good people who live in this city is security. It is being able to walk in freedom,” he expressed.
Despite the praise, the mayor demanded a more federal view from the Casa Rosada: “Welcome to this city of the proud interior that fights firmly for real federalism, always giving everything it has, because that is the history of our people that is good, austere, hardworking, respectful, that takes care of the mango and acts clean. And that she is always willing to contribute to Argentina.” The response of the libertarians was the cry of “the caste is afraid.”
In turn, Pullaro celebrated Milei’s visit to the event on June 20. Since the arrival of Mauricio Macri in 2017, an Argentine leader has not participated in the official event in the city. For this reason, the governor spoke of an act “that for many years has been forgotten, ignored and has even been politicized.” The leader also focused part of his speech on the issue of security: “We are putting order in the prison and order in the streets. And we are the three powers of the State together and the three levels of the State together, because we are a town of working people who want to live in peace and tranquility.”
From the sides, the whistles were also growing from time to time. But far from intimidating him, Pullaro doubled down: he changed his tone and spoke directly to Milei, who was listening to him a few meters away. President, look at the productive interior that we lack infrastructure works to develop and be able to deploy all the potential that our country has. But we also need our young people to be in universities to unite knowledge with the productive system,” he questioned. Then he added: “Of course we need fiscal balance, but we also need economic development, growth, and unifying our educational system with our productive system. “We need federalism.”
Milei did not take any notice. She received Pullaro’s greeting and went to give her speech, which was brief and had little to highlight. He conducted a historical review of the national insignia and the figure of Manuel Belgrano, criticizing the political leadership of yesterday and today. What stands out is the new call for the frustrated May Pact, which at some point was speculated to do so on June 20 in this city, although the idea never took shape.
With the Base Law about to be approved, the invitation is launched for July 9 in Tucumán, where the president finally hopes to be able to sign, with a broad spectrum of the Argentine political field, ten strategic guidelines to be sustained over time. Much of the resistance to this pact occurs because the points have already been written and the government wants support, while the governors want to reach a consensus.
“In order to achieve the dream of a prosperous and free Argentina, it is essential that all of us who share the cause of freedom, that all of us who understand that Argentina has to once again embrace the ideas that made us great, put aside our partisan blinders, Let’s get rid of our particular interests and work together to establish the new economic order that Argentina needs to become a world power again,” he said. “I want this year to be remembered in Argentine history as the turning point in which we began to be great,” she concluded.
