Argentine Senate passes Milei reform bill

BUENOS AIRES — Argentine President Javier Milei's economic reform package won Senate approval on Thursday, after police and protesters violently clashed outside Congress.

The bill, designed to boost investment by privatizing state entities and providing incentives for businesses, passed after a marathon debate on Wednesday evening.

The upper house was split down the middle over the bill, which was passed in a general vote after the head of the chamber, Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, broke the 36-36 tie.

Its separate articles were then addressed point by point and approved with modifications in a full vote in the early hours of Thursday. The measure now heads to the lower house for a final green light.

"Today there are two Argentinas," Villarruel said. "A violent Argentina that sets a car on fire, throws rocks and debates the exercise of democracy, and another Argentina with workers waiting with great pain and sacrifice for the change that they voted for."

Milei's party is in the minority in both houses of Congress, which he has described as a "nest of rats", and the Senate's approval early on Thursday is the first legislative success for the president since he took office in December.

The main left-leaning Peronist opposition bloc, closely allied to the unions, had voted down what is known as the "bases" bill, with voting still pending on a separate fiscal package.

The measure is opposed by social organizations, leftist political parties, retirees, teachers and labor unions.

"We cannot believe that in Argentina we are discussing a law that will put us back 100 years," Fabio Nunez, a 55-year-old lawyer among the protesters, said.

The bill is key to Milei's plans to overhaul an embattled economy, with inflation near 300 percent, and includes plans for privatizing public companies, granting special powers to the president and spurring investment.

Reuters footage from the streets of Buenos Aires showed a car ablaze, with protesters throwing rocks and bottles, while police with riot gear used tear gas, water hoses and rubber bullets.

Milei's office celebrated the bill's passage.

"What happened tonight is a triumph for the Argentine people and the first step to recovering our greatness," the presidential office said in a statement.

Agencies Via Xinhua