A Lion and a Duck walk into a bar ...
Oct. 26, 2023
Defeated Argentine presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich endorsed libertarian Javier Milei, who will face off against Peronist Sergio Massa for the presidency in next month’s runoff election. The support of the third place candidate who obtained nearly 24% of the vote last Sunday was orchestrated by former President Mauricio Macri. (Ambito)
Bullrich and Milei held a joint press conference yesterday in which the apologized for the insults they traded in a heated campaign season. Among other things, Milei called Bullrich an “assassin” and falsely accused her of planting bombs in kindergartens during her militant leftist youth. She had originally responded by suing for defamation. She said yesterday she was dropping the charges and Milei claimed that what he had meant to say was that “she threw a bomb in a garden where there was a child.”
Milei has cast the runoff as an epic battle against Kirchnerism, pivoting from his trademark discourse against the established political class — which he calls “caste” — which, up until Sunday evening, included Bullrich and her allies.
But the alliance might come at the cost of the Juntos por el Cambio coalition, as moderate voices from within the conservative alliance publicly pushed back yesterday, saying Milei’s anti-democratic discourse is a line in the sand. (Guardian)
The centrist Unión Cívica Radical party, said in a statement that “the demagogic extremism of Javier Milei is at the antipodes of our thinking.” UCR chief Gerardo Morales, said he had felt “embarrassed” by Bullrich’s decision.
Elisa Carrió, of the Civic Coalition party a third constituent of the JxC alliance, said she remained horrified by Milei’s policy positions, including the legalization of the organ trade, potentially the sale of children and the dollarization of Argentina’s economy.
Former Sen. Ernesto Sanz, a UCR leader and one of the founding members of the coalition, raised the possibility that the coalition would disband if leaders of the party publicly expressed their support for Milei. (Associated Press)
The JxC senators, who will be the second majority in the upper chamber, said yesterday they will not ally with Milei’s Libertad Avanza force. (Ámbito)
Legendary political consultant Jaime Durán Barba, who played a central role in the accent of Macri and PRO, said he is convinced the party “has broken in pieces,” but also the decision is a tactical error for Milei as it undermines his struggle against the “caste,” reports Infobae.
La Política Online alleges that Macri’s hasty alliance with Milei was pushed by concern that a Massa victory could revitalize judicial cases against him, and El Destape refers to the former president’s obsession with vanquishing Kirchnerism.
On Milei’s side, union leader Luis Barrionuevo said he was withdrawing support from the Libertarian in rejection of the alliance with Bullrich. (Perfil)
And there is reportedly already infighting among Milei and Macri’s economic teams, according to La Política Online.
More Argentina
Swifties in Argentina put out a statement against Milei yesterday calling him a “representative of the anti-democratic right.” (Perfil)
Fanbases BTS Argentina criticized Milei’s running partner, Victoria Villarruel’s old criticism of the South Korean band, likening their name to a sexually transmitted disease. (Infobae)
Regional
The U.S. is a prime hiding place for money obtained by illegal loggers and miners in the Amazon rainforest, thanks to secrecy and lax oversight, according to a report by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (Fact) Coalition. (Guardian)
Mexico
At least 27 people were killed in Mexico by Hurricane Otis this week, after one of the most powerful storms to hit the country smashed into the Pacific resort city of Acapulco. (Guardian, Washington Post)
“Mexican officials have been working since yesterday to restore communication and power to the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca after Otis, which made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane, cut off power for more than half a million residents, battered hotels and ripped the roofs from buildings,” reports the New York Times.
Haiti
“Haitians face physical and systemic violence in nearly all of its manifestations, and behind much of that violence are criminal groups that have been growing in power and brutality.” InSight Crime chronicles the various forms this violence takes.
Chile
Chilean authorities are lagging on creating regulatory frameworks that incentivize green-hydrogen and allay local environmental concerns, argues Patricia Garip in Americas Quarterly.
Brazil
Research is uncovering connections between illegal slave trading and one of Brazil’s biggest and oldest banks — a history that remained under the radar because of a normalization of the 19th-century slave trade, reports the Guardian.
Venezuela
Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo, in the heart of oil territory is coated with slimy crude and neon green algae. Now fishers, scientists, local people and even human hair are being deployed to clean it up, reports the Guardian.
Letras
Peruvian author, Nobel-laureate Mario Vargas Llosa said his newly published novel, Le dedico mi silencio, will be his last, and that he wishes to cap his seven-decade career with an essay about Jean-Paul Sartre. (Guardian)