Argentina: Milei's DNU decree sparks protests and price surges

Milei's first test: Controversial decree and skyrocketing prices

Argentina closed December 2023 with a new president and prices rewriting themselves. Javier Milei signed a decree of necessity and urgency (DNU, an emergency executive decree) to deregulate the economy; simultaneously, businesses began updating their lists: fuel rose by 70%, food by 80%, and some utility rates jumped by 100% in just one week. On the streets, the response arrived quickly, though with less intensity than many had anticipated. The question echoing through Buenos Aires and Córdoba is whether this is the promised adjustment or the beginning of something else.

Is the economic deregulation decree constitutional?

The most delicate front is not in the streets, but in the courts. The decree is based on Article 99, Clause 3 of the National Constitution, which only authorizes governing by decree when "exceptional circumstances" make the ordinary legislative process impossible. Everything depends on this wording: whether Argentina is experiencing an exceptionality that justifies bypassing Congress. Some analyses deem it unconstitutional and reversible, and most experts expect the matter to end up in the Supreme Court, potentially resolved through the per saltum fast-track procedure. If the court upholds it, the adjustment gains legal strength; if it strikes it down, it opens a scenario no one has rehearsed.

Fuel up 70%, food up 80%: The map of price hikes

The first price records presented a difficult picture to digest. Fuel, an input that drives almost everything else, saw increases of around 70%, while food climbed near 80% and some lists were updated by 100%. There are two opposing views on the cause. One maintains that Milei has unleashed the very hyperinflation he promised to avoid. The other responds that the real price was always there and that what has changed is who pays it: the State is stopping subsidies, and that cost reappears through prices.

This is no minor detail. If the hike is a one-off spike, the adjustment has a way out; if it becomes entrenched, any stabilization plan will lack the social base to support it.

From street clashes to peaceful marches

Some argue that the nature of protests has changed. Despite images of serious incidents circulating on social media—many of which correspond to old episodes rather than the days trinc the inauguration—recent calls have appeared as mild marches, without traffic blockades and with far fewer people. Lacking the leverage once provided by the antiestéticar of losing social welfare programs, the mobilization is losing its impact. Several accounts describe pot-banging protests (*caceroladas*) that respect traffic lights and return to the sidewalk when pedestrians pass. A change in repertoire that, if confirmed, leaves radical organizations without their classic tool: the blockade.

Security

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Government to charge for operations as Córdoba reports arrests

The official response has been both economic and judicial. The Executive announced it will charge leftist organizations for the security operation of the march, a move that turns protest into a budgetary matter. In Córdoba, incidents resulted in five arrests, charged with resisting authority, obstructing public roads, and assault, pending investigations into their backgrounds. These are small figures, but they mark a line: protesting will no longer be free.

Ten million employed, but only six million in the private sector

Beneath the political noise lies a labor structure that explains much of the problem. Analyst data paints a picture of a country with a population similar to Spain's, where about ten million people work, and of those, only six million are in the private sector. The rest live on stipends, social plans, and public employment. This is the playing field for the "there is no money" (*no hay plata*) mantra repeated by the Government: every spending cut is simultaneously an income cut for hundreds of thousands of households. It explains why every reduction immediately translates into a street mobilization.

A 345 euro salary versus Mar del Plata real estate

The financial picture is clearer in the real estate market. There are properties in Mar del Plata listed in dollars at prices that do not align with an average salary of around 345 euros per month, or about 350 dollars. The paradox dissolves when looking at who buys: those earning that amount do not buy apartments, but there are two or three million people who can pay cash. Argentine real estate is not governed by the average wage, but by the dollarized savings pool that has survived everything. One detail illustrates this: houses with six-meter fences and three-meter iron bars, as if security were just another item in the price.

The Peruvian shock mirror

The most frequent comparison is with Peru, which applied a severe adjustment to cut through hyperinflation that seemed unstoppable. Those who remember that era highlight two things: that the blow was extremely hard yet endured, and that the big difference is that there, the country maintained a standard of living that here is sustained by debt. The parallel has limits. Argentina enters the shock with a smaller cushion, more years of deficit, and a society accustomed to someone else paying the difference.

And that is where the analysis stalls. The Court has not yet ruled on whether the DNU is constitutional, marches have decreased in intensity but have not disappeared, and prices continue to respond to stimuli that no law controls. The struggle remains open. No one knows yet if the adjustment will hold or if the next price hike will reopen the streets.