The Latin American Report # 393

Hello Hive fam. I have been a few days away from the blockchain due to a family emergency that came up with my 99-year-old grandmother, victim of an ischemic stroke that has left her hemiplegic on her left side. The matriarch of the house has already fighting for years against those health obstacles that life throws at us. More recently, she first lost her sight at the age of 85, a condition that would later lead to the development of an unfair dementia. To make matters more difficult, she also lost her mobility, which has demanded a superhuman effort, especially from her sons, to take care of such a complicated health condition.

It is hard the fact that every year that we celebrate my grandmother's long life—even in her unconsciousness—is physically and psychologically exhausting for us. The so-called caregiver syndrome. With the stroke she suffered last week, I traveled from Havana to my native home in eastern Cuba to help in this new, very painful situation. Just now, after an extremely exhausting day, I can resume this informative project so as not to lose too much the pulse of the events moving this interesting and neglected region that is Latin America. Thanks to you always for joining this exclusive initiative for our Hive blockchain.

The “truths” of Milei

_{Javier Milei and the Italian PM Giorgia Meloni (source of the image).}

The Argentine president is a classic in our reports, something to be expected considering that he never ceases to be in the spotlight for his iconoclastic style of politics, the same that brought him to the Pink House by building a very attractive narrative from the citizen's sentence against the status quo. On a visit to Italy, where he was controversially granted the citizenship of that country, Milei has once again defended his record at the head of Balcarce 50, although I believe it is necessary to make some critical remarks about it. Although it is fair first of all to recognize that it is true that many predicted that this fanatic of the Austrian school was to be extracted by helicopter a few weeks after assuming power, as a consequence of an electric, swift popular uprising against his harsh fiscal adjustment policies. This has not been the case, and instead he enjoys an interesting support base one year after sitting in the Rivadavia chair for the first time. Besides, he should be given credit for lowering inflation, although at a very high social cost. He says very true things, such as that an uncomfortable, hard truth is preferable to a comfortable lie, or that the size of the State should be limited because bureaucracy ends up being a parasite slowing down the organic development of the productive forces.

Of course, it must also be said that he was not consistent with that uncomfortable truth that he summarizes very well in the phrase “there is no money”, because he blessed the purchase of fighter jets and demanded authority to spend money at will on intelligence operations, both moves without any critical emergency related. In Rome, Milei referred to a sort of political decalogue, where I found two principles that do not reconcile with his record or the Argentine reality. For example, he observes that “one should never negotiate ideas to win votes”, but he did it to win not one but millions of critical votes to become president. He also presented as a non-negotiable principle that “the free market produces prosperity for all”, but that is not a reality, and we will see if at some point there is interest in proving that theory. Milei does not see the precarious situation of many Argentines as a problem to be solved—except to throw dirt on the politicians who preceded him. His commitment ends up demonstrating that by enforcing a zero-deficit policy, inflation goes down and the economy consolidates in the green. “If the pill is bitter, it is better to take it all at once,” he also said in the Italian capital. The problem has always been what happens to the people who don't stop taking those bitter pills ever, and particularly those who don't have stomachs strong enough to endure them forever.

Discurso del Presidente Javier Milei en el festival Atreju 2024, en Roma, Italia. pic.twitter.com/5pE0LVJQPK

— Oficina del Presidente (@OPRArgentina) December 14, 2024

And this is all for our report today. I have referenced the sources dynamically in the text, and remember you can learn how and where to follow the LATAM trail news by reading my work here. Have a nice day.