Controversy in Argentina over the latest appointment of Milei due to his philonazi past
Politicians from the Argentine left, feminists and an association of the Jewish community of the South American country rejected this Friday the appointment of former Minister of Justice Rodolfo Barra as attorney of the National Treasury in the next Government of Javier Milei.
In a message published on her social networks, the former candidate for the Presidency of Argentina for the Left Front and Workers-Unity in the last elections, Myriam Bregman, described Barra as “anti-rights and ultra-right (sic).”
Bregman's message accompanied another from the feminist philosopher and director of the Gender in Justice Observatory of the Judicial Council of the City of Buenos Aires, Diana Maffía, who recalled Barra's intention to constitutionally prohibit abortion in Argentina during his stage as minister in the governments of neoliberal Peronist Carlos Menem (1989-1999).
Barra, who was minister of the Supreme Court between 1990 and 1993 and head of Justice between 1994 and 1996, had to leave the Menemist Executive when his past as a militant of the far-right youth organization Movimiento Nacionalista Tacuara, linked to fascism and the neo-Nazism, and anti-Semite.
The Argentine Forum against Antisemitism (FACA) also rejected the appointment of the former official by the president-elect and asked Milei to rectify his decision.
“We consider this election as a direct affront to the democratic and plural spirit of our country,” FACA members said in a message published on the forum's social networks.
For its part, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA) – which is, together with the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA), the main Jewish association of the South American country – recalled in a statement broadcast on its social networks that Barra apologized in the years ninety for his “horrible behaviors and manifestations when he was young.”
“It is important to highlight what happened, since it will be in charge of the highest body of the Corps of State Lawyers and will have as a central axis the fight against anti-Semitism and discrimination,” added the DAIA.
Argentina – and especially its capital, Buenos Aires – is home to one of the largest Jewish communities in the world outside of Israel: the first in Latin America and the fifth in the world, with between 300,000 and 400,000 people.
The elected president, Javier Milei, has recognized himself as Catholic, but has expressed on numerous occasions his intention to convert to Judaism.
Regarding abortion – recognized in the country as a right since 2020, after a long struggle by the Argentine feminist movement -, the libertarian expressed during the electoral campaign his intention to call a referendum on the issue and expressed his position contrary to it.