Argentine Teenagers Rally Behind Javier Milei: The Young Vote for Freedom

From the roof of a bus stop, Tiago Codevilla shouts “long live freedom, damn it!” by a megaphone. He is 17 years old, he is in high school and his first vote will be for Javier Milei, the Argentine libertarian who attracts the young vote in his country.

Milei, 52 years old and nicknamed “the lion” for his tousled mane, is a far-right deputy who shook the Argentine political scene with a speech confronting the “parasitic political caste” and controversial proposals that range from “dynamiting” the Central Bank and dollarize the economy, until allowing the free sale of human organs.

His popularity was cemented on television, where he was a regular economic panelist, and expanded on social networks. This is how Tiago and many other young people met him, captivated by his obfuscated speeches and now by the promise of conquering freedom. “I’ve seen him since I was 10, 11 years old,” Tiago explains to AFP at the rally in San Martín, in the province of Buenos Aires, the largest electoral center in Argentina, where Milei concentrates her energies.

“You see that your mother and father lack money, that they live insulting the politicians there are, and one day you see it on YouTube, you press play, you start listening to the guy talk and it is something that stays with you. He doesn’t want to see you as stupid like all the politicians,” continues the boy who wears a white shirt with a thin black tie, and wears his long blonde hair in a braid. “He goes straight, he is very explicit, he is not going to tell you lies.”

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A total of 35.3 million Argentines are called to the polls on October 22, of which 9.5 million are between 16 and 29 years old – suffrage is voluntary from the age of 16 and mandatory from the age of 18. According to the polls, Milei must first advance to the November 19 runoff with the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, a Peronist candidate. Conservative Patricia Bullrich is backing down.

Alfredo Serrano, director of the Latin American Strategic Center for Geopolitics (Celag), says that the vote for Milei is predominantly young people under 24 years of age. “It is explained by a crisis of representativeness of the parties,” says the expert, who assures that the young vote is not monolithic. “The relationship is highly volatile. “Now they are, tomorrow we don’t know.” “As Argentine citizens grow older, they end up moving away from these preferences,” he adds.

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Milei is the poll favorite to win the first round. Photo: @JMilei

Experts agree that Milei has more strength among young men, and that women reject it because they see in it a threat to won rights, such as abortion, or policies against gender violence. Noelia González (25) differs. “There are a lot of women working with him,” she says before joining a flyer in Vicente López, an elegant town also in the province of Buenos Aires.

Before, he has a meeting with five other young activists, all men, and the mayoral candidate, also a man. “I didn’t see a way out, I was about to go to Spain, visa, everything, and suddenly I see a crazy person on TV who says ‘don’t travel, stay, bet on the country’,” he remembers. He stayed, joined the campaign and even convinced his parents to vote for him and not for Massa.

“He greatly defends the family, private property… he is a revolutionary,” continues this woman who works in security systems and who likes Milei’s comparison with Jair Bolsonaro or Donald Trump. “Anyone who wants to do something different is called bad, a Nazi,” she complains.

Milei arrives at the caravan in San Martín. Aboard a pick-up truck she greets, signs books, bills, and waves a lit chainsaw, which has become the symbol of her campaign. One child even carries one, made from cardboard. She goes with her father to this rally of about 200 people, who are not only young people, there are people in their 40s, 50s and even the elderly, surrounding the vehicle during the one-block journey.

“Ooooooh, the caste is afraid!”, those present sing to the rhythm of traditional soccer chants. Among them Tiago, who hasn’t stopped: jumping, waving flags, encouraging people. When he leaves high school, he wants to be a chef. “I’m not passionate about politics,” he says. “I am here because I am forced by the situation.”

Fuente: AFP.

2023-10-05 13:55:06
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