The message of austerity and sacrifice raised by Javier Milei to justify cuts in pensions, salaries and layoffs became a boomerang against the Argentine Government this week.
First, a 30% increase in the salaries and allowances of deputies and senators came to light.
It had been authorized by the leaders of the ruling party in each chamber and Milei, furious, ordered them both to suppress it.
This Saturday it was he himself who was caught in the eye of the storm: an opposition representative revealed that at the end of February the head of state had signed a decree that increased his salary and that of the rest of the Executive by 48%.
For the second time in a few days, the Argentine president had to back down.
In both cases, he denied any responsibility and attributed it to the opposition.
Milei argued that the increase in Executive Power was automatic due to a decree by Cristina Kirchner in 2010. “Every day that passes we find a new rule that favored politicians and harmed Argentines,” he noted on Saturday through X (previously Twitter) before anticipating that it would roll back any increase obtained by the political plant, as it did hours later.
“In a time of crisis like the current one in which Argentine society is making a heroic effort, politicians have to be the first to lend a helping hand.
The political joke is over,” she added.
Milei's explanation contradicts what the decrees signed by him show.
At the end of January he signed one in which he denied extending the increases to senior government officials;
In February, however, he signed another that did authorize them.
Kircher accused Milei of trying to divert attention.
“Oh President... you want to fight with me so we don't talk about the decree you signed giving a 48% increase to you and your officials while destroying the pensions and salaries of Argentines... and Argentine women too,” he tweeted he.
“Admit that you signed, got paid and they caught you,” he said.
Oh President... you want to fight with me so that we don't talk about the decree you signed giving a 48% increase to you and your officials while destroying the pensions and salaries of Argentinians... and Argentine women too.
Admit that you signed, collected and… pic.twitter.com/hLLb1v4aqb
— Cristina Kirchner (@CFKArgentina) March 9, 2024
Milei annulled the increase in the salaries of the entire Cabinet through a decree that repealed the one that had authorized them.
By announcing it in public, he launched a veiled threat against Kirchner.
“Since I saw you so concerned about retirements, what do you think if I cancel the $14,000,000 that you receive as a privilege retirement (about $14,200) and assign you a minimum retirement?
“Estimo is not going to complain,” she asked him in X after midnight.
The president told him to calm down and stressed that the last thing Argentina needs "is a president threatening over the internet."
Hello @cfkargentina.
I have just canceled the salary increases of the entire national cabinet.
Since I saw you so worried about retirements, what do you think if I cancel the $14,000,000 that you receive as a privilege retirement and assign you a minimum retirement?
I estimate it is not going to…
— Javier Milei (@JMilei) March 10, 2024
Milei tries to turn the setback into a new attack on the political caste, which he accuses of having impoverished the country and of hindering his radical reform of the State because he wants to maintain his privileges.
popular support
So far, the official discourse has been effective: Milei's image has suffered little during his first three months of Presidency and he retains the support of 52% of the population, according to the latest Opinaia survey.
Support for the president is much higher among men (65%) than among women (49%).
The scandal has broken out in a context of rapid deterioration in the country's economic situation.
In mid-2023, 40.1% of the Argentine population lived below the poverty line, according to the latest official figures, but it is estimated that today it is close to 60% due to an inflationary escalation that has pulverized salaries.
Prices increased 51% between December and February, but salaries grew by half.
It remains to be seen the impact that the controversy will have on Milei's image and also how opposition legislators will react to the populist decision to keep their salaries frozen when Argentina has the highest inflation in the world, at 254.2% year-on-year.
The increase has already been repealed in the Chamber of Deputies, but not in the Senate, where the ruling party La Libertad Avanza has only 7 of the 72 legislators.
Subscribe here to the EL PAÍS América newsletter and receive all the key information on current events in the region.