Argentines vote on Milei's austerity agenda as economy falters

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (OSV News) -- Passionist Sister Florencia Buruchaga reluctantly voted in the 2023 election for Argentine President Javier Milei -- the libertarian firebrand who disparaged Pope Francis as a "communist" and promised to pull the South American country out of an economic crisis marked by triple-digit inflation.

Sister Flor, who works with disadvantaged women in a suburban Buenos Aires shantytown, doesn't regret her vote; she disliked the ruling Peronists' practice of forming patronage groups, which she said made the poor "hostages" whose needs were only attended to when their votes were required.

She has no interest in seeing the Peronists return to power. But she's circumspect on Milei's performance ahead of the Oct. 26 midterm elections. "Inflation has dropped considerably. Even so, this only impacts the country's macroeconomy," Sister Flor told OSV News. "The popular economy is what's been the hardest hit, since with less consumption, there's no production."

Milei rose to power promising to take a chainsaw to the state. He eliminated entire government ministries, imposed austerity and scrapped regulations -- such as rent controls. He promised economic pain upon taking office, telling Argentines, "There's no money."

Milei fascinated foreign audiences with his austerity agenda -- especially in the United States, where he became an unabashed ally of President Donald Trump.

His polls remained stable at around 45% support for the first 18 months after his December 2023 inauguration, even though the economy contracted 1.7% last year, according to the World Bank.

Signs of pain included prescriptions going unfilled, meat consumption remaining below 2023 levels and seniors' pensions not being indexed to inflation. But people remained patient because they "no longer want to go back to the way things were before," Sister Flor said in a December 2024 interview.

Patience appears to be running thin in Argentina -- just as the country goes to the polls for midterm elections, which will renew Congress and determine if Milei can deepen his austerity agenda rather than continuing to govern by decree.

And Milei has been hit by scandals, including one of his party's top candidates admitting that he accepted $200,000 from a businessman under investigation for drug trafficking. Karina Milei, the president's sister and secretary to the president, allegedly benefited from a bribery scheme in Argentina's disability agency -- a charge she denies.

"They lost the moral high ground," Fernando Farías, a host with Argentine public radio, told OSV News. Milei often rails against the political class as "the caste," enjoying privileges -- something evaporating with the scandals, Farías said. "It's not (an election) about the economy anymore."

Analysts say the Milei government had a policy of keeping the Argentine peso strong, along with not printing money, to contain inflation. But the peso was so strong that wealthy Argentines increasingly vacationed abroad and bought imported luxury cars – and the central bank risked exhausting its reserves by defending the currency.

"They bet on a strong peso … so everyone expected a devaluation," Sergio Berensztein, an Argentine political analyst, told OSV News. "He thought the economy would be growing" by now.

Growth returned to Argentina in early 2025, but slumped in the second half of the year.

"His government based its efforts on two premises: lowering inflation and reducing the fiscal deficit," said Mariano De Vedia, religion writer at the newspaper La Nación. "The achievement was to lower inflation, but without any economic recovery. There's no growth, no job or wage growth. There's discontent and a very weak situation."

Argentina's Catholic leaders have stayed somewhat mum on political topics during Milei's administration, but have voiced concerns over poverty. Cáritas chapters and parishes across the country operate soup kitchens and clothing banks for those lacking resources.

"You find yourself with 70% of people who can't make ends meet and can't afford to buy medication," Father Roberto Ferrari told OSV News of the situation in his parish in San Isidro near Buenos Aires.

"In every shanty, neighborhood and settlement the reality today is crueler than ever," Sister Flor said. "This reality is exacerbating drug dealing in the most vulnerable sectors, as well as prostitution and the sale of stolen goods. All in collusion with the police and politicians."

Argentina's church leaders have called on the faithful to pray and make their voices heard in the election.

"Elections are approaching to elect national representatives and senators. It's understandable that we may feel tired or disappointed, but we bear a hope that should encourage us to get involved," the bishops' National Secretariat for the Laity said in an Oct. 20 statement. "Let's commit to participating with our vote! Your commitment and your vote are the foundation of our democracy."