Sebastian Fest Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Updated Sunday, March 10, 2024-17:00
Gone were the smiles and complicit comments they shared on December 10, the day of Javier Milei
's inauguration
: in a frantic exchange that reached a climax this Saturday night, the Argentine president and former president
Cristina Kirchner
fought on social networks
in a duel full of ironies and accusations.
Brief special guest, another former tenant of the Casa Rosada:
Alberto Fernández
.
"It made him braver, president
," was one of the sharpest phrases that Kirchner dedicated to Milei, a challenge that the current president did not know how to or wanted to avoid.
Everything was unleashed from the campaign that, not without demagogic overtones, Milei has been facing for days: that
national
deputies and senators
do not raise their salaries
in a country with monthly inflation above 20%.
Both the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies decreed an increase in their per diems of 30%, bringing them to between two and 2.7 million per month (between 2,000 and 2,700 euros).
When Milei found out about the increase, he ordered the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem, and Vice President Victoria Villarruel, head of the Senate, to annul these increases.
The president sought, once again, to expose the politicians, whom he considers members of a supposed "caste" that destroyed the country.
The surprise arose when
it was learned
that Milei had just
increased his salary and that of his officials by 48%
.
Thus, the president's salary increased from four to six million pesos per month (from 4,000 to 6,000 euros).
And then the storm broke out involving three presidents.
Milei argued that the increase in his salary had occurred
automatically by a decree signed in 2010 by Kirchner
.
The response of the former head of state was withering.
"It made you braver President. It turns out that it is discovered that you and your officials increased their salaries by 48% and you can't think of a better excuse than to blame me for a decree that I signed 14 years ago?
Better not even bother "I say who it reminds me
of, blaming a woman. You can't get more chaste and less original."
In a single tweet, Kirchner allowed himself to attack Milei and Fernández.
The first, for accusing her of something that is her responsibility, the second, whom after four years as vice president she detests, remembering that every time she was in difficulty
she reacted by blaming her partner or
her secretary.
Milei reacted with a strange message, in which she basically told him that it was not possible to maintain a dialogue if he was still blocked on X (former Twitter) by the former president.
"Mrs. Cristina Kirchner, to talk about courage you first have to name the people you criticize and
then unblock me on Twitter
. In addition, you could also start by taking charge once you are directly responsible for the 2019-2023 administration, that is , of the worst government in Argentine history".
The two-time president had an ace up her sleeve: it was Milei who had decided to increase her salary.
It was revealed by deputy Victoria Tolosa Paz, very close to Fernández, another former president who also took advantage of the moment: "Javier Milei has us used to changing our minds (...) We were much better than you are."
And Kirchner went deep: "Oh President... you want to fight with me so that we don't talk about the decree you signed giving a 48% increase to you and your officials
while destroying the pensions and salaries of Argentines
... and of the Argentines too. Admit that you signed, got paid and they caught you (...). I want to think that you read what you sign, right?"
Kirchner's mention of whether Milei knows what he is signing has to do with the fact that it was the president himself who signed the decree to increase his salary.
Milei returned to the attack: "Madam, how can you have the nerve to talk about retirements if the liquefaction of retirees' (income) is a product of the pension formula that your government established by decree."
And later he finished off the discussion with a direct threat to the former president: "Hello @cfkargentina.
I just canceled the salary increases of the entire national cabinet
. Since I saw you so worried about retirements, what do you think if I annul the salary increases?" 14 million pesos (
14,000 euros
) that you receive as a
privilege
retirement (monthly) and
I assign you a minimum retirement
? I think you are not going to complain. Regards."
The minimum retirement in Argentina is
below 200 euros
.
Kirchner did not respond to the challenge, but the debate generated alarm among many observers.
Miguel Angel Pichetto, a Peronist who was a spokesperson for the Kirchners in the Senate and later became a furious opponent and candidate for Mauricio Macri's vice president, said that "the president has to know what he signs."
"The Legal and Technical Secretary has to inform him what he signed. It is not a decree from Cristina. It is a decree that he signed in February and is published in the Official Gazette (...). A minister has to earn a sum "reasonable. Otherwise, Congress and places of public administration are filled with adventurers and marginal characters who are not going to help the country move forward."