In addition to oppositionist Javier Milei going to the second round of the presidential elections in Argentina, the libertarians of the Liberdade Avança party managed to transform themselves into the third political force in the Chamber and the Senate.
Milei’s movement went from having a minimal bench — just three parliamentarians — in Congress to having 37 deputies and eight senators. It will be behind, in the new legislature, União pela Pátria (by Sergio Massa) and Juntos pela Change (coalition led by Patricia Bullrich).
Massa and Bullrich’s groups, however, significantly decreased in size. In the Chamber, União pela Pátria fell from 118 to 108 deputies and Juntos pela Change went from 118 to 93 representatives.
Among those elected by Liberdade Avança there are very controversial profiles: the son of a military dictatorship repressor convicted of torture, Milei’s makeup artist, an economist who proposed breaking Argentina’s relations with the Vatican.
Elected by the province of Tucumán (northwest of the country), Ricardo Bussi is the son of Argentine general Antonio Bussi. Killed in 2011, he was one of the symbols of repression during the Argentine dictatorship (1976-1983) and responsible for 30 clandestine detention centers for political prisoners. The general was convicted of kidnapping, torture and murder during the military regime.
Lilia Lemoine, who will take up a seat in the Chamber for the province of Buenos Aires, is a photographer and celebrity in the world of cosplay (people who dress up, with accessories, representing a character). She is the makeup artist for the presidential candidate who presents himself as an “anarcho-capitalist”.
Lemoine promised that he will present, at the beginning of the new legislature, a bill to allow men to “renounce paternity”. “It’s not fair for a man to have to financially support a child until he turns 18 when he doesn’t want to have one,” said the elected deputy.
In an interview, she explained how she intends to forward her proposal: the law would establish that a woman, upon learning of the pregnancy, would have 15 days to notify the father — who “could decide whether to recognize the child or not”.
Another victor in the parliamentary elections was 83-year-old economist Alberto Benegas Lynch, who proposed the severing of diplomatic ties between Argentina and the Vatican because of Pope Francis’ “totalitarian spirit”.
Lynch defended this idea at the end of Milei’s campaign in the first round, an event that brought together thousands of people at the Movistar Arena, the most modern space for shows and indoor sports competitions in Buenos Aires.
Milei himself, in a recent interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson (former Fox News anchor), criticized the pontiff: “[Ele] has an affinity for murderous communists. In fact, he does not condemn them and is also quite condescending towards the Venezuelan dictatorship. He is condescending to everyone on the left, even if they are real murderers.”
The Liberdade Avança party also elected names such as Martín Menem, nephew of former president Carlos Menem, to the Chamber and Juan Carlos Pagotto, a lawyer defending military personnel convicted of crimes against humanity during the dictatorship, to the Senate.
Source: CNN Brasil
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