The beginning of his reign was characterized by impressive instability, even by Argentine standards. More than one of his predecessors faced protests, but never before had a general strike been called in the first weeks of his taking office. It is true that the paralysis of Buenos Aires happens quite regularly and that the unions do not spare politicians of the right or the left – it is enough to mention the ten-day interruption of the operation of the metro under the government of Cristina de Kirchner in 2012 – but union workers are not the only ones taking to the streets against Milei. There were also mothers with children, students, truckers who are traditionally strong in collective disputes and retirees. This is not surprising, because according to calculations by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the new president’s first reforms reduced living standards by up to 90%. Argentinians.

Lumberjack Javier Milei

Since taking office, Milei has taken numerous steps in line with his announcements of radical reductions in administration and public spending. It reduced the number of ministries from 18 to eight, bringing together the ministries of culture, education, health, labor and social development into one, now operating under the euphemistic name “Argentinian Agency of human ressources “. It suspended subsidies for energy bills and public transport tickets. He froze virtually all public investment and the peso-to-dollar exchange rate fell by 54 percent.

This last change, in particular, was greeted with great enthusiasm by the capital markets, on which Argentina depends like no other country. It is a record debtor to the International Monetary Fund: it still has more than $30 billion to repay.