In his speech, Milei spoke of “a new era, of reconciliation with the Armed Forces”. The president’s statements were made a few days after the date of March 24, which marks the 1976 military coup in the country and which was remembered with wide concentration in the Argentine capital. His words, on April 2, which marks the beginning of the war to reconquer the Falkland Islands in 1982, received a positive reaction among the military. But, as Daniel Santoro says in this Wednesday’s edition of Clarín in Spanish (3), currently the military is concerned, for example, with the possible call to combat drug trafficking, with the limited budget for the Armed Forces and with low wages.
Political analyst Rosendo Fraga, from the Centro de Estudos Nova Maioria, observed that Milei’s speech was more focused on the “nationalist” alignment that presidents Jair Bolsonaro, of Brazil, and Donald Trump, of the United States, sought to impress, sought to impress. to the White House in the November election this year. Furthermore, the analyst noted, with this speech Milei sought to differentiate himself, once again, from the opposition Kirchnerism, defeated in last year’s presidential elections. In his speech, Milei did not make it clear whether his speech about “reconciliation with the Armed Forces” was a reference to the military dictatorship (1976-1983). Milei intends for the Armed Forces to participate in what he called the May Pact, a political agreement to face the crisis in the country.
According to historians, the last time a president called on the military to participate in political issues, in democratic times, was during the government of María Estela Martínez de Perón. Better known as Isabelita Perón, she was the third wife of former president Juan Domingo Perón, assumed the Presidency after his death in 1974, and was overthrown by the 1976 military coup.