Argentines don't look back as they wholeheartedly support the largest economic adjustment in their history

“Milei has not been in office for 48 hours. He took over on Sunday, yesterday was the first [day in office], and today he still hasn’t finished the second [day in office]. They are already killing him,” said the Argentine presenter, Esteban Trebucq, two days ago in one of his editorials after the first economic measures of Argentine President Javier Milei were announced.

Behind the journalist’s criticism of his colleagues, some of Milei’s main critics, hides an inescapable historical reality. Over the decades, in Latin America, countries sooner or later are forced to make necessary adjustments to try to solve problems such as fixing the fiscal deficit, combatting inflation and stabilizing their weakened economies. It happened in Argentina at the end of the fifties, in Venezuela in the eighties, and in Ecuador a few years ago.

When this happens, union groups, progressive movements and the opposition of the day almost automatically call on the popular sectors to rise up against the “neoliberal policies.” Most of these processes end with violence and the current ruler lukewarmly going back on his measures.

However, in Argentina, the exact opposite is happening. After decades of governments squandering public funds, the new President Javier Milei and his economic team decided in just 96 hours to address the state’s structural problems and present to Argentine society the largest and most aggressive fiscal, state and economic adjustment in its history.

Elimination of ministries and secretaries, devaluation of the national currency to stabilize the exchange rate with respect to the dollar, cuts in public spending everywhere, elimination of several subsidies (and increases in some in key sectors), and an impressive number of shock measures that seek to assume the political cost of an inherited economic crisis to, in the future, stabilize the situation and combat inflation in Argentina.

But what is surprising is not the adjustment and shock policies announced by Milei. No. What is most surprising is that, far from emboldening unions or progressive political groups, Milei receives unrestricted support from his so-called “intellectuals.”

Who are they? They are not writers, philosophers, analysts or great opinionators. No. Milei’s “intellectuals” are none other than ordinary Argentines, who voted for him at the polls and are now willing to endure intensive economic therapy to rid themselves of the Kirchners’ financial legacy.

“He took over on Sunday. You cannot today, Thursday, say: ‘Do we want to know more?’ They were silent for four years, we did not have a president present, and now that they give you information about the country’s current state, you get angry,” a woman told the TN network, after the announcement of several of Milei’s economic measures.

Another TN journalist, on the same day as Milei’s inauguration, asked a man why people applauded when the libertarian president presented a bleak economic outlook for the coming years.

“Because they know that adjustment is necessary,” the interviewee responded bluntly.

In a C5N broadcast, a journalist got on a train and began asking users if the situation in the country worried them after hearing Milei’s measures.

All those interviewed, absolutely all, responded that they were logically concerned about the current economic situation in Argentina. However, they also said they felt hopeful for a better future after the necessary adjustments announced by the new government.

“There is no choice but to tighten your seat belts,” said an electronic engineer on the bus.

Then, a Venezuelan spoke, who said he works installing cameras. His words were forceful: “As in my country, what is coming is strong. Milei decided to speak with the truth and the truth that hurts (…) many workers will find it hard, but together, by doing our bit, we can move the country forward.”

But Argentines are aware that the Milei government has inherited not only a terrible economic crisis but also tragic crime rates.

On Thursday, a worker was murdered in Quilmes. The neighbors went out together to look for the criminal, and one of them, while speaking directly to the cameras, urgently asked Milei himself to hold the criminals accountable. “The larvae [criminals] walk calmly; they enter and leave,” said the indignant citizen.

Milei is achieving, until now, something that seemed impossible: fulfilling, almost to the letter, his campaign promises while maintaining people’s support. Even though the measures will be painful in the short term, they will be profoundly successful for Argentina’s future.