In 2001, it all came crashing down. December 21st, 2001 was the beginning of the end of neoliberalism, as president Fernando de la Rua fled Buenos Aires in helicopter amidst massive riots and an economy in shambles. For 25 years–7 years of military dictatorship and 3 elected presidents–conformity with the West had reigned king. As of the 1980s, this meant the Washington Consensus: cuts in government spending, privatization of public assets, and economic liberalization. This process, neoliberalism, was especially strong in the 90s, in Argentina and in the world. However, for reasons that far beyond my level of economic understanding, it caused Argentina ´s economy to collapse beginning in 1999. By 2002, people nationwide were without food, work, basic services, and all personal savings had completely evaporated. All this on top of the widespread unhappiness with the recent cuts in government spending.
Needless to day, this did not leave people feeling terribly thrilled with the old-order; politics took a full-swing to the left. The PJ (los Peronistas) and the UCR (los Radicales), the two dominant political parties, both took a full swing to the left. Today, right-wing ideologies do not surface in electoral politics. “La derecha,” the right, is simply a word used to refer to ideologies that are centrist or slightly left of center. PRO, the most right-wing party, runs on a platform of economic liberalization accompanied by a massive public-housing project and a nation-wide network of free Wi-Fi. Their politics are too-‘far right to stand a chance on the national’political stage.
More relevant on the national-political scene are FpV and FAP, Frente para la Victoria (Front for Victory) and Frente Amplio Progressista (Broad Front for Progress). In October, president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner was re-elected in a landslide victory of 54%. Trailing far behind was her challenger from the left, Hermes Binner, with 18%, and her challenger from the right with 11%.
Kirchnerist governance is by all standards, left’wing. It has involved a controlled economy with high import/export taxes, the socialization of retirement plans, and increased social spending at all sides. Most controversial is the Universal Allowance per Child. Every low-income family that sends their children to school recieves 270 pesos ($60) per month, per child. Rumor has it, this creates vagrancy by discouraging people from working. Many people in the middle-class are infuriated that the government would dare give out money to vagrants, or rather, use their tax-dollars to ensure that hard-working people get a very minimal economic right.
However, Argenitina is not Venezuela; there is no strong right-wing opposition to pose a threat to such policies. The disenchanted middle-class have nowhere to run since the only viable opposition is further left. Binner considers Cristina ´s social policies to be inadequate. Additionally, he he criticizes Cristina ´s government for being hegemonic and corrupt (every so often, exorbitant sums of money disappear without a trace). Ironically, much of Binner ´s electoral success is due to “right’wingers” (in the Argentine sense) voting for the only viable alternative because of their infuriation over corruption. Argentina is a unique case in politics, and it took a national crisis to bring the country to this point.
