Press review of the Americas

In the headlines: In Argentina, Javier Milei announces massive deregulation of the economy

Demonstrators gather in front of the Congress of the Argentine Nation on December 21 in Buenos Aires, after Javier Milei's announcement of massive deregulation of the economy. © Rodrigo Abd/AP

By: Aabla Jounaïdi Follow

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Hostile slogans and a chorus of pots and pans. The Argentine population took to the streets for the first major protest against the policies of the new government. It must be said that it is a massive deregulation that the Argentine president wants to initiate. Javier Milei announced yesterday in a speech that he would modify or abolish several hundred standards governing many areas such as rents, privatizations and labor law, all by decree. The mega-decree, whose aim is to "deregulate markets, stimulate competition, simplify relations between the public and private sectors, will undoubtedly upset the interests of many entrepreneurs and trade unions," La Nación said.

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The decree affects more than3,500 standards in different activities, [...] between the deregulation of rents and the flexibilization of the laws governing work," with, for example, the reduction of the probationary period before hiring, according to the newspaper Clarín. "On social networks, the reaction of the opposition was not long in coming," the daily continues, "with accusations of unconstitutionality" of the project.

The so-called "DNU" decree (for "decree of necessity and emergency") is intended to respond to what the Argentine president describes as decades of failures by his predecessors. "Milei uses the classic euphemism of 'modernisation' to talk about work and the stagnation of the number of jobs in the private sector, for example," says Página 12. The newspaper breaks down Milei's three-stage plan: first, the stabilization plan of his economy minister with brutal devaluation and budgetary shock, then tax reforms to be passed by Congress, and finally this "DNU" drawn up by former central banker Federico Sturzenegger. All these measures which, given the parliamentary minority enjoyed by the government, will not easily pass the legislative test, but even less easily the test of the street, writes the left-wing newspaper.

Alex Saab, given a hero's welcome in Caracas

The prisoner swap between the U.S. and Venezuela has angered the opposition to Nicolas Maduro. Members of the Venezuelan exile community in South Florida criticize Joe Biden's decision to release a relative of the Venezuelan president Colombian Alex Saab writes in the Miami Herald. "The release of the diplomat and financial backer of the Venezuelan regime as part of an agreement between Washington and Caracas is likely to strengthen Maduro," according to community representatives interviewed by the newspaper. "Despite the lack of guarantees of regular elections in 2024, the United States is making a new concession by releasing him," the newspaper La Razón said. The Mexican daily recalls that among the facts of which Alex Saab is accused is the purchase of foodstuffs in Mexico and then resold at a high price in Venezuela, thus maintaining the humanitarian crisis in the country.

"One alleged corrupt against another"

However, the diplomat received a hero's welcome in Caracas. Smiling at the Miraflores Palace alongside Nicolas Maduro, he is presented by the Venezuelan president "as a victim and his release as a victory for the truth," according to Ultimas Noticias. Nicolás Maduro, in exchange, let go of a fugitive, Malaysian businessman Francis Leonard "Fat Leonard" Glenn because of his fatness. Wanted by the U.S. for his alleged role in the largest corruption scandal in the history of the U.S. Navy, in the 2000s in Asia. The man pleaded guilty in 2015, before managing to flee the United States after negotiating parole on health grounds. He could be heard again by a judge in San Diego, according to the Washington Post.

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The U.S. let go of one alleged corrupt man for another," summarized the Wall Street Journal. The terms of the agreement had been negotiated for months, with the surprising mediation of Qatar, the business daily said. It also led to the release of ten American citizens detained by the Caracas regime on charges including "terrorism". According to the U.S. administration, these accusations are fabricated. Their families applaud Joe Biden's gesture. "It's what Maduro always wanted, it's true," a relative of one of the released prisoners told the Wall Street Journal, "but at least 10 Americans are back home.

Among the others released are "nineteen Venezuelan political prisoners", most of them trade unionists, who were sentenced last August to 16 years in prison for conspiring against the regime, according to the Venezuelan daily Tal Cual.

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• Argentina
• Javier Milei
• Press review
• Press review of the Americas