Prisoners of panic, the Kirchnerists do not know what to do to escape the trap they have set for themselves. Without money to buy more wills and without ideas about what they could do so that the long months that they have left in government according to the Constitution are not filled with humiliating oversights like the one that has just taken place. Alberto Fernandez, some seek refuge in foolish fanaticism. Faced with the economic disaster that they have engendered by rebelling not only against “orthodoxy”, which according to them is “neoliberal”, but also against mathematics, which they do by printing astronomical amounts of colorful bills that are worth less and less, it does not occur to them nothing better than blaming the judges, merchants, businessmen and, Needless to say, to the damn porteñosdue to inflation, already bordering on hyperinflation, which they themselves are promoting.
Faithful to the logic thus assumed, a little over a week ago the Kirchnerists had the pleasure of attacking legality itself, to then retreat, affirming that they would abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court that forced them to return to the City of Buenos Aires what they had taken from him in 2020 to benefit Axel Kiciloffalthough they would do so by giving him bonuses.
It would seem that they were frightened that in the eyes of the world Argentina was taken by “a country outside the law”, to quote the well-remembered Carlos Nino who, shortly before his death in 1993, wrote a book with that title. For the rest, Sergio Massa will have warned his partners in the government that, in the prevailing circumstances, it would be suicidal to make contempt for legal certainty – a filth, Axel would say – a State policy. What Argentina needs the most is to convince the wealthy in the rest of the world, in addition to those who still remain in the country, that they can trust local Justice because even the most slippery and arrogant politicians respect it.
As is often the case with the Kirchnerists, at the bottom of the problem is the scarcity of genuine resources. In his opinion, those available should go first to those who deserve them, beginning with their own bosses and the militants who help them, followed by their electoral clientele. Thus, in 2020, when the men from Buenos Aires threatened them by demanding a salary increase, they chose to give Kiciloff co-participation funds that corresponded to that hateful Macrista fiefdom, the City of Buenos Aires. After taking its time, the Supreme Court ruled against the maneuver, which, as it could not be otherwise, greatly outraged those who believe they are exclusive owners of the truth.
As Humpty Dumpty, the talking egg that Alice ran into in Wonderland, asserted, the meaning of the words depends on the boss, so that Justice is what those who have power say. Based on this principle, Cristina and her family fantasize about replacing the old Justice, which in their opinion is rotten with bourgeois liberalism, with a new one that, they say, would be authentically democratic, that is, popular, because it would allow them to do everything they were asked to do. whim
It is possible that, a few years ago, the majority would have been willing to uphold the claims of Cristina, Axel and, sometimes, the law professor Alberto, but those days have passed. To the disbelief of those who still boast of being Kirchnerists, everything suggests that the people want to deposit them in the garbage dump of history. Those who best display this attitude are the members of the team that won the most coveted sports award of all, the World Cup; Upon arriving in the country, they utterly ignored the national government, refusing to make a ritual visit to the Casa Rosada. For the Kirchnerists, and also for many Peronists who have supported them for pragmatic reasons, it was an even more painful blow than those recently dealt by the Supreme Court, since it reminded them that they have lost touch with popular sentiment. Even though
If the legal tricks deployed by those angry Kirchnerists protesting against the most recent Supreme Court decision were worthless, the same cannot be said of the President’s assertion that it was a ruling “impossible to comply with”. It happens that, as things are, the financial situation is so serious that the money managed by the different government entities, including the one managed by Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, evaporates very quickly. If the inflationary heat intensifies much more, no official will have enough to fulfill any of his obligations.
The piqueteros caciques understand it very well; They are determined to prevent the government from depriving them of the money they have become accustomed to receiving, knowing that many of the “plans” they defend have their days numbered. And so? No one quite knows what will happen when there are no more funds to distribute among the genuinely needy and the many infiltrators who have managed to take advantage of the mess that is typical of institutions created to help the poor and destitute. It goes without saying that, however violent it might be, a “social outbreak” would not help professional piqueteros and those who depend on them to obtain more genuine resources; Rather, it would make the disaster caused by characters who, in order to cling to a fanciful story, have had to repudiate reality even worse.
Since Kirchnerism cannot prosper in a law-abiding society, which would presuppose a certain adherence to moderation, it is undoubtedly natural that Alberto, instigated by Cristina and his supporters, has threatened to enter into conflict with the Judiciary, whose function is to set limits to what the rulers intend to do. It is not only about the will of the vice president to solve her problems with Justice by decree, but also about the incompatibility with constitutional democracy of a confused and undeniably authoritarian ideology. Alberto’s initial decision, backed by a band of governors
Like-minded provincial leaders, by refusing to abide by the Supreme Court ruling, formalized a clash of powers that began when the Kirchners chose to appropriate chunks of public funds to finance their activities and increase family wealth, in addition to those of their accomplices and figureheads
Although almost immediately he realized that he had made a very serious mistake and that it would have been much more convenient for him to pretend to obey the Court by paying drop by drop what was due to the City, justifying the delays with frequent allusions to his willingness to give priority to the fight against inflation,
Alberto was impressed by both the vehemence of provincial governors and Jorge Capitanich from Chaco who assumed a defiant stance that he would soon feel constrained to modify.
Unfortunately, it took a couple of decades before those committed to legality, finally led by the judges of the country’s highest court, could react effectively to the outrages perpetrated by the Kirchnerists. The fact that the counteroffensive that is gaining momentum has coincided with an apparently terminal economic crisis is far from being a coincidence; Without the discomfort caused by the depressing material consequences of the extremely clumsy attempts by Cristina and her cohorts to reshape the country to match what their narratives predicted, none of this would have happened. Opposition members wanted all those involved in the fortunately very brief rebellion against the Constitution to be impeached. While attempts to do so were always unlikely to succeed, they proved convincing enough for the President to opt for a retreat. Even so, it would be surprising if there were no Kirchnerists who wanted to be forced to leave the Government in the midst of a phenomenal constitutional crisis, since in such a case their adversaries would have to deal with a broken economy that is not in a position to offer the population more a fraction of what you think you deserve.
Cristina is trying to disassociate herself from the government of which she is not merely the spiritual leader because she wants to lead a furious campaign against the adjustment that she knows is inevitable. From her point of view, it would be very good if the country suffered a socio-economic catastrophe. She believes that the group that she leads would be able to stay afloat in a chaotic situation in which others would sink, directed as they would be by people who are more respectful of democratic norms such as Rodríguez Larreta, Patricia Bullrich, Alfredo Cornejo, Mauricio Macri or even Javier. Milei. It is possible that the lady was wrong but, given the situation she finds herself in, she has every reason to understand that a convulsive period would do her good, since for her “normality” would mean years behind bars or, if she was lucky, and Justice would allow him to keep “his place in the world”, from house arrest in southern Patagonia.
