Controversial legislative package: riots during government debate in Argentina

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Riots in Buenos Aires: Against Milei's reform plans (here already on Wednesday)

Photo: Luis Robayo / AFP

A marathon debate in the Argentine Congress about a legislative package from the ultra-liberal government has caused heated arguments in Buenos Aires. Trade unionists and socially committed activists fought wild battles with security forces: demonstrators hit the officers with sticks, police fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd, as was seen on television on Thursday. Local media reported three people injured and two arrested.

Meanwhile, lawmakers in Congress debated a comprehensive reform package from new President Javier Milei for the second day in a row. The opposition is demanding far-reaching changes and is threatening to tear the text apart in separate debates.

“We cannot hold a meeting under these circumstances”

Controversial issues include, in particular, the transfer of special powers to the government in the event of an economic emergency, the scope and extent of privatization of state-owned companies, and deregulation and austerity measures in areas such as the electoral system, privatization, pensions, education, culture, criminal and family law. Parliament is fragmented, and Milei's La Libertad Avanza party is only the third strongest force.

Left-wing lawmaker and former presidential candidate Myriam Bregman told reporters that a group of about 40 lawmakers called on police to stop the violence. The left-wing MP Mariano Del Cano said as he left the building: "We cannot hold a meeting under these circumstances." The MP and Milei supporter Alejandro Finocchiaro accused his colleagues who left the meeting of wanting to delay the debate.

The economist Milei took office in mid-December and prescribed a radical cure for the country, which was badly hit economically. Since he does not have his own majority in parliament, he recently deleted a number of projects from the legislative package in order to secure the approval of other parties.

The government is putting pressure on parliamentarians to agree to the reforms given the economic situation. Argentina is in a serious economic crisis. The inflation rate is over 200 percent, and around 40 percent of people in the once wealthy country live below the poverty line. South America's second largest economy suffers from a bloated state apparatus, low industrial productivity and a large shadow economy that deprives the state of a lot of tax revenue. The national currency, the peso, continues to lose value against the US dollar and the mountain of debt is constantly growing.

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