During a parliamentary session in Buenos Aires on March 10, dozens of protesters arrived to throw stones and other projectiles at the Capitol to break windows and items in the office.
Some demonstrators set fire outdoors and burned the International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo.
President Alberto Fernandez’s peronist government was in the process of rebuilding its existing debt with the IMF. This ignited opposition from residents who had been angry for months against the country’s prolonged economic downturn spiral.
Police burned trash cans pressed against fences outside Congress and responded swiftly to contain opponents who wielded them as weapons against law enforcement officers.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) logo will appear outside the Washington headquarters building on September 4, 2018. (Yuri Gripas / Reuters)There are similarities between the March 10 incident and the December 2017 demonstration against the National Assembly on Pension Reform. This was another publicly contested ploy for debt reduction by former President Mauricio Macri.
In 2018, the IMF provided the institution’s largest-ever $ 57 billion loan for a perpetual debtor under Makuri’s control.
Vice President Christina Kirchner Post A video showing the damage done to her office on her Twitter account at the beginning of March 11.
“The image you’re looking at right now is an image of my office after the stone … Paradoxically, it was my office that they attacked, who confronted the Vulture Fund, which pushed the International Monetary Fund abroad. It was in the office. Kirchner said in a narration.
Kirchner explained that “massive political mobilization” was taking place against the new IMF agreement during the assault on parliament. She also said that until 9 de Julio Avenue, outside demonstrations occupied the entire square in front of the National Assembly and Mayo Avenue.
Current Vice President’s son Maximo Kirchner and 40 other lawmakers vote in favor of a new IMF agreement to allow additional financing to repay existing unprecedented $ 57 billion transactions from 2018 Did not throw.
A portion of the 15-page document submitted by the opposition to the House of Representatives states: [with the IMF] Not only will it not solve the structural problems of Argentina’s two-money economy, it will exacerbate them. “
Still, despite official and public resistance, Congress won enough votes to pass the new debt bill on Friday morning.
Even the IMF recognized stupidity in the 2018 mega loan in December 2021 Internal evaluation It criticized the agreement and terms.
“The program ended up in a cyclical policy stance of perhaps exacerbating capital flight rather than building confidence,” the report said, which should have been clarified based on past IMF research. I admitted that.
Borrowing money from organizations to cover money management issues has been a reliable move for the Argentine government since 1958. Inflation continues, despite the fact that the institute has provided huge amounts of money to various government agencies for decades.
Recently, living expenses in Argentina have risen by 50% in the past year alone, while the rate of increase has risen significantly since 2015.
Distorted price subsidies aimed at camouflaging the true damage of inflation were abolished in 2016, with interest rates jumping to 40%, the highest since 2003.
This week was the second time in two months that President Fernandez’s government met with IMF officials to discuss the extension of debt inherited from the previous administration.
The increase in living costs, coupled with the complexity of the economic recovery from the pandemic that infuriated Argentina, triggered 2,474 social protests against the socialist government last year.
In 2021, 4 out of 10 people in Argentina lived in poverty.
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Autumn is a South American-based reporter who focuses primarily on Latin American issues in the Epoch Times.