“Honestidad Brutal” (1999) is one of the most iconic and complex musical albums by Argentine singer-songwriter Andrés Calamaro. His album, which contains his classic rock songs as well as tango, blues, bossa nova and funk, was a hit that continues to generate fans and interest to this day. Today, Calamaro honored his great album with a political Instagram post that showcased a familiar characteristic: brutal honesty.
The Argentine spoke about the runoff election in his country, featuring the candidates Sergio Massa (current governing party) and Javier Milei (libertarian economist) on November 19. Calamaro was blunt. He said that Argentina is going through an extremely difficult time and that, in this context, the flag of change that Milei represents is logical.
Likewise, he criticized the ruling party represented by Sergio Massa, the current minister of economy of a country going through one of the worst inflationary crises in the region's history. Calamaro commented that the option of continuing with the current government, which is not presenting any new plan and its proposals, which are null in comparison to those of Milei, who, in the singer’s opinion, is at least proposing a different path than the one that led Argentina to this economic and sociopolitical crisis.
“Change for change’s sake is an option that makes sense in our country... As reality is far from perfect (quite the opposite), it is then when a change makes sense and results in a desired option. The opponents of change are not opposition, although they also do not look favorably on the ‘no change’ candidate, they only assume or imply that he is a lesser evil, stirring up the fear of ‘losing rights’ or privileges,” the Argentine singer wrote in a post that he later uploaded to his stories.
“The change debates the exact number of ‘disappeared’ and proposes a liberal turn inspired by the decade of Carlitos (Menem). It proposes dismantling the Central Bank and a mixed system of financing public order issues such as health and education. Reduce ministries and secretaries, fewer public servants. The ruling party proposes nothing new, it is continuity with the illusion of a change that we do not know what it consists of,” continued the singer-songwriter, making clear his discontent with the candidate Massa.
Subsequently, Calamaro addressed a more complex issue: the campaign of fear that the ruling party, along with a certain sector of the press, has launched against Milei.
“A fragment of the cultural, university and entertainment sector is opposed to change for various reasons, the fear of a theoretical return to the past (something unlikely) and the panic of ‘the loss of rights,’ which is an enigma. Rights or privileges, it remains to be seen. The country is currently experiencing a negative moment, worse than many can remember, the destruction of the middle class affects everyone but there has been a rejection of anyone who wants progress, accusing them of being ‘shit class’ or porteños (from Buenos Aires) with pretensions of migrating to Spain or Uruguay,” wrote Calamaro, who later warned about the electoral-political processes that occurred in other countries where similar fear campaigns were carried out against opposition political projects, just as is happening in Argentina.
“Defeat exudes resentment, we have already seen similar cases in Brazil or the United States; just months ago, Spain succumbed to a campaign of fear that is plunging the Kingdom into a kind of progressive communist dictatorship that could shatter a country that up until now boasts an exquisite quality of life,” said the singer. “We can choose between something new and shooting ourselves in the foot until there’s nothing left. I’m no genius, but I am intelligent and experienced, it is almost impossible for me to be wrong with these questions because I was exquisitely educated in social gatherings and among intellectuals, people from the entire political spectrum in the sixties and seventies, in being tolerant and without television.”
