After President Javier Milei led a parade of thousands of soldiers, tanks and planes down Libertador Street in Buenos Aires City on July 9, a little over a month ago, he was now present at an event at the Ministry of Defense to present sabres to senior officers of these forces with a history of repression. The visit comes as the scandal continues over another visit: the one made by several deputies from La Libertad Avanza to soldiers convicted of crimes against humanity during the last military dictatorship.
This is a systematic effort by the government to try to restore the legitimacy of armed forces hated by millions in our country after the genocidal coup d’état and the military dictatorship. In his speech, the president praised the military, stating that previous governments “hid, out of revenge or ignorance, the role of those who literally gave their lives for the country” and continued by exclaiming that “We came to turn this sad page of our history and honor the legacy of Roca and San Martín. And, also, we want to honor the demand for recognition that arises from society itself, which never turned its back on the Armed Forces, despite the incessant campaign of discredit mounted by many politicians for decades.”
As he has already made a habit of, the president claims two genocidal legacies in one fell swoop, not only by speaking of a “smear campaign” to refer to the demands for crimes considered crimes against humanity, but also to the genocide of the late 19th century by referring to Roca as a “hero,” when he is the main person responsible for the massacre against the indigenous peoples who inhabited these lands.
In his speech, Milei himself, who says that “there is no money” for salaries and pensions, made it clear that he “is attracted” by the uniform: “We are not going to ignore the historical debt with the Armed Forces. We are going to make efforts to gradually restore salaries as we stabilize the economic situation.”
Villarruel’s absence and the fight for the right-wing agenda
The absence of Vice President Victoria Villarruel has been the talk of the town again, in a government marked by internal conflicts from the start. Those close to her responded to various media outlets that “She would have loved to accompany the Armed Forces as always, but the Presidency of the Nation, which handles the invitations, and the Ministry of Defense did not invite her. Therefore, she regrets not being able to accompany her father and grandfather’s comrades.”
In this way, she rekindled the flames of an internal dispute that continues to give new chapters. Let us remember that after the absence of the “natural daughter” of the “military family” and staunch denier at the signing of the May Pact, Villarruel finally appeared posing in a war tank next to the president.
On this occasion, Javier Milei seems to have taken advantage of the absence of the second in line to the presidency to take charge of the friendly discourse with the uniformed personnel.
Although there are different explanations for the underlying causes of this conflict, including differences over the distribution of power within the cabinet, what is clear is that there are many allusions to the reactionary discourse promoted by the Vice President and they come from different sides.
For example, in recent weeks, outstanding examples of these winks came directly from Peronism. This was the case of Guillermo Moreno, who on the program Duro de Domar stated that Villarruel “has nothing to do with the boys from the process”, where he also vindicated genocidal military officers who were part of the Operation Independence (he and no one else brought the genocidal Milani closer to the PJ under the government of Cristina Kirchner). Sergio Berni also said these days that “I want Villarruel on my team because I see a Peronist, I see a person with a nationalist imprint, which is what this government has an absolute lack of.” This is where the “lesser evil” ends.
Although the internal conflict between the different wings of the libertarian government continues and threatens to be another factor of instability in a political situation full of contradictions, what is certain is that there are those who write the right-wing discourse of reconciliation with those who murdered thousands of workers and youth to impose a national plan at the service of big capital and imperialism.
Responding to these right-wing attempts is urgent. It is part of a fight against impunity that they seek to make concrete, as seen in the visit of the libertarian deputies to genocides in the Ezeiza prison, including nefarious characters such as Alfredo Astiz himself, seeking to grant them house arrest and also seeking to deny the memory of the 30,000 disappeared detainees.
Source: www.laizquierdadiario.com
