Disabling The Messenger
A new corruption scandal and headwinds endangering Argentina's surplus
Welcome Avatar! For the first time since the start of the Milei presidency, the Chamber of Deputies annulled one of his vetoes, originally destined to maintain the fiscal surplus goals no matter what. In tandem, multiple La Libertad Avanza deputies jumped the Milei ship, and audio recordings were released that have unleashed a new corruption scandal.
In the second half of this year everything is political in Argentina and has to be analyzed as such, since the October midterms are closing in. This week, the government faced difficult days in the Chamber of Deputies following the closing of the final lists with candidates — approved and assembled by Javier Milei’s sibling Karina.
On Wednesday, the session started with 136 representatives, including Carlos D'Alessandro, a native of San Luis who was left off Karina Milei's list. He ran on a separate list in his province, and his party was intervened. Along with Marcela Pagano, whose main enemy is the Speaker of the House, Martín Menem, D'Alessandro also rejected Milei’s veto on the disability emergency.
With 172 votes in favor, 73 against, and 2 abstentions, the House of Representatives insisted on the Disability Emergency Act that Milei vetoed because it endangers the fiscal surplus, destining a larger spend on disability subsidies. Until the Senate rules, his veto remains in effect.
The remaining vetoes to be discussed are a pension increase, the pension moratorium, and the Bahía Blanca bill, all of which could potentially undo the fiscal surplus.
After voting against Milei’s veto, Pagano and D’Alessandro finally sealed their rift with the creation of a new opposition bloc coined “Coherencia”, along with former La Libertad Avanza deputy Lourdes Arrieta, and Gerardo González from Formosa.
This means 4 seats less for La Libertad Avanza, and judging by their voting patterns in the recent past instead of acting coherently, they will just vote against whatever Milei’s party proposes.
But a more troubling development for Milei’s core political structure is the leak of certain audio’s, that cast a shadow on key government officials belonging to his closest circle. Let’s dig in.