Argentines Outraged by Macri's 'Hypocritical' Last Address at Congress

On Friday, President Mauricio Macri delivered his last address, for the 2015-2019 period, to the Argentinean Congress. According to local media reports, his 60-minutes speech was full of challenging gestures, complaints, looks and other histrionic emotions towards his opponents, whereby he tried to project a leadership image in a moment of economic crisis.

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"I am the first to know what these months have been: how much pain and anguish! [Nevertheless] This generation has decided to face courageously what had never been done... a profound reform of our country, real changes that we needed and hoped for. Together we have committed ourselves to a society in earnest and together we are doing it," President Macri said and finished shouting "that's why I tell them: Let's go Argentines, we're going strong... let's go Argentina, let's go Argentina!"

Representatives of all opposition groups agreed that Macri's address was "violent", "cynical", "dishonest", "hypocritical" and "perverse." Deputies also stressed that he camouflaged a crisis which affects millions of Argentines.

"Macri did not say when the huge current fiscal austerity will end, a process which happens through endless increases in prices of public services, which are hitting the middle class, all workers and even businesses that cannot grow and generate jobs," Senator Miguel Angel Pichetto said.

"What does the Left say about Macri's speech in Congress? Deputies Nicolas del Caño and Nathalia Gonzalez Seligra denounced the President's various lies."

The Argentine president's speech was "full of cynicism, aggression and shouts at the opposition. There was not a single measure to alleviate the serious situation we have," Anabel Fernandez, a Senator from the Front for Victory (FPV), said, adding that "the next government will have to deactivate a time bomb, which has to do with inflation, unemployment, poverty, recession, and public debt."

This assessment was confirmed by another congressman, Agustin Rossi, who said that President Macri seemed like a man "angry and irascible... He did not talk about how to generate new jobs. He did not say anything about what the Argentines expected to hear: the possibility of freezing service price hikes."

"Macri spoke of a country different from the real one. Hearing that inflation will decrease or that employment is increasing is something completely different from what most of the Argentine people live," Nicolas del Caño, deputy of the Workers' Left Front, said and recalled that "If we don't break the colonial pact with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the working people will not have any favorable perspective."

"What the media wants to hide. Mauricio Macri, the people responded to your lies at the Congress. The "Huge Noise" was heard in Plaza de Mayo. Hundreds of protesters gathered to question the government over utility rates increases and harsh economic situation. (A sign saying 'It's not a crisis, it is a scam')."

Gender and reproductive rights defenders also expressed their anger at the president's last speech to the nation.

"Macri boasted of having enabled the abortion debate. However, he was also involved in avoiding that girls' rights and pregnant women's rights be fully approved and applied," the left-wing congresswoman Romina del Pla, said and commented that "there is great hypocrisy in Argentina."

During his address, President Macri also expressed his support for the U.S.-backed destabilization in Venezuela.

"We have a positive role in the region and in the global scene again," Macri boasted and explained that such role includes working with the Lima Group and recognizing the Venezuelan opposition lawmaker Juan Guaido as the "interim president" of Venezuela after he declared himself as such last month, in violation of the country's constitution and laws