Milei lashes out at governors after key reform bill setback

Argentina’s President Javier Milei accused governors of seeking “to destroy” his sweeping economic reform bill, shortly after his ruling party abruptly withdrew the package from the floor of the country’s lower house.

The so-called “omnibus” bill, which had received support in general terms from opposition lawmakers last week, was rejected on Tuesday during an article-by-article approval process.

The package of measures is a core tenet of Milei’s push to reform Latin America’s third-largest economy. Among other issues, the bill seeks to privatize state entities, increase penalties for social protests and scale back some environmental protections.

Milei’s Libertad Avanza party has pledged to send the bill back to committees to be debated when governors “understand that it is the people who need it, not the government.”

In an official statement on social media platform X, Argentina’s presidential office said the governors “decided to turn their backs on the Argentines to protect their interests and prevent the national government from having the tools to solve Argentina’s structural problems,” according to a Google translation.

The libertarian leader, who won a presidential runoff vote late last year, has said there is no alternative to his proposed “shock therapy” if the government is to get a grip on Argentina’s profound economic crisis.

The purchasing power of Argentinians has been ravaged by an annual inflation rate of more than 211%, its highest level in 32 years, while two in five citizens now live in poverty after decades of financial mismanagement.

“The defeat of Milei’s omnibus bill in the lower house’s plenary debate speaks volumes about the…