The fight between President Javier Milei and the governors of the Argentine provinces has escalated this Friday night to the brink of an institutional crisis.
Milei has been tightening the rope for weeks with the provincial governments, whom he accuses of being among the culprits of having run aground on his great law to scrap the State after its discussion in Congress and to whom he has cut transfers from federal tax collection to reduce his government's expenses. Government.
This Friday, tension has escalated even against governors that the president could consider political allies.
The conflict broke out on Friday, when the governor of the Patagonian province of Chubut, Ignacio Torres, threatened at a rally to cut off the supply of gas and oil to the federal government if it did not release almost 13.5 billion pesos (about 16 million dollars). in withheld federal sharing funds.
“We give the national government time until Wednesday,” Torres said.
“If he doesn't get off our backs and one more barrel of oil doesn't come out of Chubut for Argentina.
And I want to see them there, to see if they are as handsome.”
The Government, through the Minister of the Interior, has responded that the money was withheld due to debts.
Governor Torres, 35, came to office in December as a representative of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party, founded and still led by conservative former president Mauricio Macri.
The PRO has been Milei's great ally in Congress, and even gave territorial strength to an incipient Milei in last November's elections to monitor the vote in his favor throughout the country.
The governors of this party and its alliance, however, have come out in support of Torres.
President, I want to tell you that, unlike others, I am not afraid of you.
We will not give in to his insults, threats or pressures.
I do not believe in violence and I am going to defend the people of Chubut to the last consequences.
You have to govern for all Argentines,… https://t.co/jYKW8pahFG
— Nacho Torres (@NachoTorresCH) February 24, 2024
“Not complying with the law and the agreements between the Nation and provinces does not affect the governors but rather the 50 million Argentines who live in the 24 jurisdictions of the country,” the leaders said in a statement, released by the governor of the province of Santa Fe, Maximiliano Pullaro, and signed by his peers from the provinces of Chaco, Corrientes, Entre Ríos, Jujuy, Mendoza, San Juan, San Luis, and the mayor of the Federal Capital.
It has also received the support of the six Patagonian provinces, which have told Milei that “taking away from a province more than a third of its share is a criminal action that pursues the deliberate objective of making its inhabitants suffer in order to force his government to adopt certain political decisions.”
In one shot, Milei has encountered the opposition of more than half of the political leaders of the 24 Argentine jurisdictions.
“Hello Nachito and accomplices, I'll give you something from the Penal Code,” Milei responded, who has plunged into another frenetic night of threats and insults on her social networks, endorsing messages from her followers who tried to be “extortionist,” “stupid.” ”, “crybaby” or “chavista” to Torres, and described the governors as “playing dumb” to “not pay their debts, they have to keep the money.”
“Seeing how the entire caste that has ruined the lives of good Argentines come together to defend their obscene privileges with sky-high poverty disgusts me…” Milei wrote on her X account.
I never thought in my life that I would have so many joys together with the Principle of Revelation...
Also, seeing how the entire caste that has ruined the lives of good Argentines all come together to defend their obscene privileges with sky-high poverty It makes me sick... pic.twitter.com/Ri7o0kzw2p
— Javier Milei (@JMilei) February 24, 2024
“The president looks for imaginary enemies so he doesn't take charge of what he has to do: govern,” Torres doubled down this Saturday in a radio interview.
“There was no national government that aimed to kill like this one has done with the province of Chubut.
“We are not asking for a single peso, we are asking for respect.”
The fight, framed in a legal dispute over public funds, uncovers another fight in the PRO, which has already seen its electoral alliance, called Together for Change, divided in the support it has given to Milei in Congress.
Torres denounced this Saturday that Milei seeks to divide the party to which he belongs, the one founded by Macri, which next month will have internal elections to elect the new president and define its political course between a total alliance with Milei in Congress or remaining free. .
The favorite candidate is former President Macri, who remains in contact with Milei after giving him his support in the elections.
And, according to Governor Torres, he has sought channels of dialogue with the president to de-escalate the crisis.
The current president of the party is former presidential candidate and current Minister of Security of Milei, Patricia Bullrich, who has sided with the president in the dispute.
“No member of the PRO can agree or validate the threat to confiscate private property,” he told Torres on his social networks.
“The dilemma is simple: either everything remains the same or we embrace freedom and change.”
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