In the City of Buenos Aires, the government of Jorge Macri seems to have found a clear axis to recompose political initiative: the order. This is not a new slogan in the PRO DNAbut yes in a resignification in the face of the wear and tear of recent years and a previous management that had prioritized, at least in its narrative, the integration over control.
The decision to speak again “Villa 31” —and no longer from “Barrio 31”, as during the stage of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta— it is not semantics but politics. Mark a change of focus. Where before they sought to emphasize urbanization and symbolic integration, today the emphasis is placed on need to reestablish clear rules. The message is direct: the law is not optional.
In this framework, recent measures show a strategy of saturation and territorial control. The deployment of 300 permanent police officers —and a total of 1000 troops-, he closure of illegal corralsthe pedestrianization of accesses and the demolition of a drug bunker In the last week, they were part of a policy that aims to dismantle both disorderly expansion and illegal economies. “Order in Villa 31. There are no liberated areas here. There are no exceptions. There are no places where the law is optional“said the head of government, reinforcing a narrative without nuances.
The Buenos Aires legislator Silvia Lospennato has become one of the main spokespersons of this turn. In dialogue with Delta 90.3was blunt: “La 31 has an urbanization law that prohibits the existence of corralones.” His intervention is not accidental. After the defeat against Adorni in 2025, Lospennato seeks reposition in front of the electorate, and he does so by clearly embracing the order agenda.
His statements point to a critical diagnosis of the previous stage: uncontrolled height growth, lack of oversight and expansion of informal activities. “No one was controlling whether this happened or not,” he said, implicitly marking a rupture with “larretismo”. Today, he assures, “there is a decision to control,” which began by “closing the corrales inside the neighborhood” and advanced with a broader scheme of ordering.
But the turn is not limited to Villa 31. The politics of evictions from seized properties and the police saturation on the subway They are part of the same scheme: recover state presence where absence was perceived. In parallel, the Buenos Aires government tries to balance the message with policies aimed at middle classlike the housing loansin contrast to a narrative that hardens its stance towards the usurpations.
Jorge Macri himself reinforces this contrast by stating that “the City is one and that implies the same rights, but also the same obligations for everyone.” Along these lines, he justified the measures by pointing out that “The entry of material has ended to continue enlarging this“, in reference to the uncontrolled growth of the town, and concluded: “Law and order govern every square meter of the City.”
The political background also plays its part. The fall from grace of the chief of staff Manuel Adorni—today under the judicial microscope and with a growing rejection in sectors of society—opens a window of opportunity to rearrange the scene. In this context, the emphasis on order works as a discursive re-anchoring and as a way of regain legitimacy after a complex 2025.
However, the bet is not without risks. He hardening can consolidate support in sectors that demand greater security, but it also reopens debates on inclusion, rights and the role of the State in the most vulnerable sectors: the turn to Jorge Macri once again gives him weight in the fight with the libertarians and in the approval of the middle class (even in the progressive one that prioritizes security and order when voting).
The underlying question is whether this new balance between order and development It will manage to sustain itself as a communication and political sword. For now, the truth is that the City once again speaks the language that historically was most comfortable for the PRO. And in that language, Jorge Macri managed to reconstruct own narrative, he starting point to seek re-election.
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