Patricia Bullrich He followed the entire security operation in Congress from his office in the Ministry of Security, in the Recoleta neighborhood. In his office he has several monitors that transmit the different operations in real time. On Thursday, February 1, images showed how a few hundred people were stationed in front of the Legislative Palace to protest against the omnibus law. The scene was far from being chaos, the street was far from being taken over by protesters and the police were far from being attacked, but the minister lowered one “political order”: evict.
The situation, which was relatively calmit escalated quickly. There were incidents and several injuries, in addition to an unprecedented attack on press workers.
However, this situation is far from the most surprising. The most striking thing is that, according to the numbers that this ministry manages and what other pollsters show, this whole raid – which is added to the “anti-picketing protocol” and bombastic announcements such as the arrest of alleged terrorists who later ended up being a hairdresser and a ping pong player – generates an effect opposite to what anyone could imagine.
Bullrich rises in the polls. The actions of the forces he commands go down well. The thing is that she is not just another Cabinet official, but rather she is beginning to occupy a central role: she is the minister of Milei’s story.
Alliances.
The crossover between libertarians and conservatives is something that is in the gene of the former movement. Murray Rotbhard – founder of this ideology, in honor of whom Milei named one of her cloned dogs – raised it in several of his books. The thesis he maintained was that libertarians lacked territorial power, and that by getting closer to conservatives they could capture a certain percentage of the Republican Party voter, which he smelled was decomposing.
If one transfers that idea to Milei’s experience, the coincidences that appear are amazing. The libertarian came to politics taking Villarruel as his second. It was the alliance with the conservatives, to which was added the crisis of Together for Change.
Villarruel, that during the first two years of Milei’s political life he occupied the place of being the incarnation of the iron fist, now he fell into disgrace. And the one who replaced that void was Bullrich. A curiosity: one dropped points after approaching Macri, and another rose after fighting with him, while they maintain a fight for the presidency of the PRO.
In any case, the truth is that Rothbard seems to have anticipated the Argentine reality. The numbers that the ministry manages show that almost 80% of those consulted say that they “are in favor” of the anti-picketing protocol that debuted in a left-wing march in the first days of Milei’s government. According to the pollster Zubán Córdoba, Bullrich has an approval rating of 44.4%, one decimal above Milei itself. Hence the importance they give to the discourse of “order” and “all or nothing.” It is going to be one of the scaffolding of the Government, which so far in the economy has no results to show.
Firm hand.
Bullrich moves freely in Security. He talks to his acquaintances about how better it is to work for Milei than for Macri. “Now Peña doesn’t call you every five minutes, the President gives me total freedom,” is a phrase that is often heard. This margin of action was noted in that she was the only beneficiary of the Cabinet with a special gift: she was able to assemble the ministry as she wanted, unlike other portfolios where the positions were divided up. And, furthermore, she managed to sneak people into other places, such as Cult or the second lines of the Chancellery.
You also have to see the past to predict the future. Bullrich in 2015 without much political capital. He ended up four years later with the Presidency of the PRO, and at that time he faced Peña and other heavyweights. ¿What will happen now, in a cabinet where the majority has no political experience?
Wounded. The incidents that occurred in Congress during the omnibus law left another sad balance. The thing is that on the outskirts of the Legislative Palace the Security forces attacked the press like never before seen. Sipreba detected 36 cases of journalists who were attacked. However, even more striking was the response that the Minister of Security later gave. She assured that they were not well identified during the events, and that that is why it had been “very difficult to distinguish them” from the protesters.
However, the images prove that statement to be false. There is a photo that he took Hernan Zenteno in which police officers are seen attacking a C5N driver, where it is clearly seen that he was wearing the channel’s insignia. Serious unprecedented event in democracy in Argentina.
