The announcement, as always, was broadcast by spokesperson Manuel Adorni and later amplified by the President himself on his social networks. From his They needed to give good news. They needed to prove that they had put away the chainsaw to make way for the “small money plan.” They were, in short, retreating in flip flops.
The announcement in a clear electoral key would not have attracted so much attention if, until shortly before that, the Government had not been so stubborn in its endless adjustment or called “fiscal degenerates” those who wanted education and public health not to be defunded and not to attack retirees and the disabled while at the same time there was plenty of money for initiatives as bizarre as the Movistar Arena of the rockstar President. If Milei himself had not overacted so much in the opposite direction, today’s campaign promises would perhaps be more credible. But they are not, basically because everyone assumes that the promised investment will not be fulfilled – the money is for equipment and new expansion works – because it fundamentally contradicts Milei’s ideology.
The announcement of the 30 billion for Garrahan is also in line with what the President promised on the remembered national network after the blow of the Buenos Aires elections, when he said that in next year’s budget there would be strong increases in everything that was demanded of him, health, education, retirements and Disability. But how to trust him? Because in any of the post-October 26 scenarios, those words could be carried away by the wind. In the unlikely event of winning, because I would take it as a blank check and file away those promises. And in the event of a defeat, because he no longer felt obliged to fulfill what was announced: lost for lost, he would intensify the adjustment, his great leitmotif.
The announcement is reminiscent of Mauricio Macri’s last days in power, when, after the beating in the 2019 PASO, which meant the beginning of the end, he also announced that the adjustment was ending, apologized to the Argentines for “making them climb Aconcagua”, opened his wallet and paid each employee a monthly bonus of 5,000 pesos, which at the values of the time would be equivalent to about six to eight pizzas. Obviously that wasn’t enough. But the desperation of the gesture is the same as that seen now.
Milei says she already put away the chainsaw and tries to be more sensitive. But did he really stop being him?
