MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Argentina: Libertarians not to insist on so-called Omnibus Law bill

The bill served its purpose of exposing “the caste,” Milei argued from Israel

After Tuesday's failure at the Lower House to move forward with the so-called Omnibus Law bill targetting government spending, Argentine President Javier Milei said Wednesday from Israel that La Libertad Avanza (LLA) would not insist on that initiative which has achieved its goal of exposing “the caste.”

LLA bloc leader Oscar Zago confirmed that, as per Milei's instructions, the bill would not be sent back to the various House committees and that no further drafts would be entered this year, although one project to repeal the ”Voluntary Pregnancy Interruption (Interrupción Voluntaria del Embarazo - IVE)“ Act was put forward by LLA, Zago being one of its signatories.

Interior Minister Guillermo Francos and Lower House Speaker Martín Menem, met at Casa Rosada to review Tuesday's session resulting in the ”Bases and Starting Points for the Freedom of the Argentines“ bill going back to square one.

”I'm not interested in it being dealt with any further, the caste has been exposed,“ Milei argued from Israel. ”Their mask fell off,“ he added after various governors had reportedly agreed with Francos and Menem to endorse the federal government's initiative in Congress. Milei also branded the lawmakers who voted against his draft of over 600 provisions as ”delinquents“ and ”saboteurs.“

”The reason why the project was sabotaged yesterday is that the discretionary allocations to the provinces fell by 98%, which explains the betrayal of the governors, who tell you that they want change as long as theirs is not touched,“ Milei explained. ”Those who vote against these reforms fill their mouths talking about the poor and helping the poor, that is why I say that leftist progressives talk so much about the poor that all they do is multiply them, it is like King Midas, but the other way around, King Midas turned everything he touched into gold, everything a lefty touches turns it into poverty,“ the president went on.

Despite this Parliamentarian setback, ”the economic program is not at risk,“ Milei insisted. Economy Minister Luis Toto Caputo concurred: ”The vote (...) will not change the economic course“ because the Argentine Government ”is not going to spend more than what is collected and the Central Bank is not going to finance the treasury. This is what will guarantee that the problems of the last 20 years will not happen again.“

”Come in and see the enemies of a better Argentina,“ Milei wrote on social media as he listed the lawmakers who voted against the LLA's initiative and made a clear distinction between the ”loyal“ ones and the ”traitors.“

”Here is the list of the loyalists and traitors who used the discourse of change in order to steal a seat... Come in and see the enemies of a better Argentina,“ he wrote from Israel. ”The people will never forget the names of those who, being able to facilitate the reforms that were elected by 56% of Argentines, decided to continue playing the game to the caste,“ he went on.

Meanwhile, LLA Congressman Carlos D'Alessandro admitted in a radio interview that Libertarian lawmakers were still going to file the bills ”that we believe the country needs“ during 2024. He added that dialogue with the other political forces would continue because ”we cannot have the Congress at a standstill.“

According to the new bill introduced by Congresswoman Rocío Bonacci and endorsed by Lilia Lemoine, Manuel Quintar, Beltrán Benedit, Maria Fernanda Araujo, and Zago, abortion would be punishable even in cases of rape except in cases where a judge has previously ruled otherwise.

The Libertarians said they found that the law providing for safe, legal, and free abortion was unconstitutional and opposite to the general feeling of the Argentine people while at the same time disregarding the dignity of the human person. They argued that the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy is a ''falsification by calling the act what it is, plainly and undoubtedly an abortion, for which the intention was clearly to confuse by means of a euphemism that the only thing it pursues is to make believe the recognition by law of a right to abortion, while it is really the right to end the life of the unborn person,” which in the end showed the moral crisis the country was going through.