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full screen Police and protesters clashed outside Congress in Buenos Aires on Thursday. Photo: Rodrigo Abd/AP/TT
Argentine police fired rubber-coated bullets to disperse protesters gathered outside Congress in the capital, Buenos Aires. Tensions are rising around the new president’s radical attempt to introduce an “anarcho-capitalist” policy.
The drama unfolded during the second day of what is expected to be a marathon debate on the plans of libertarian Javier Milei.
The 53-year-old political outsider won a landslide victory in December’s presidential election, riding a wave of discontent after decades of economic crises with huge national debts and galloping inflation.
Milei decided in mid-December to devalue the peso by 50 percent. In the same vein, he announced that, via presidential decree, privatization of state-owned companies would be carried out, climate and environmental laws repealed and protective rules for tenants loosened. Parts of the plans have encountered legal setbacks and tens of thousands of Argentines have already taken to the streets to protest the proposals.
In addition to problems with the law, Milei also has a tough task in terms of the country’s parliament because his party La libertad avanza is not that big. This means that approval is needed from many of the members of the other political parties.
Several opposition politicians chose to leave Thursday’s debate as a result of the violence outside the congress.