On June 18, Argentine President Javier Milei was forced to witness a scene that made him cringe—1 million Argentines, most belonging to the Peronist movement, gathered at the historic Plaza de Mayo in Buenos Aires to defend and express solidarity with former two-term President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was just sentenced to six years of house arrest and banned for life from holding any political office. The case for which she was sentenced in 2002 is a legal travesty, so riddled with prosecutorial misconduct and lack of evidence that it could only be upheld in a 2024 appeals court and then recently by the Supreme Court by thoroughly corrupt judges following a political agenda.
The Plaza and surrounding streets were overflowing with supporters carrying banners reading “the resistance starts now,” and “Argentina with Cristina,” “the people have returned.” There were also marches in at least 12 other cities in Argentina, as well in other countries. It included mayors, governors, members of Congress, trade unions, social organizations and ordinary citizens. Many traveled long distances to attend.
Kirchner addressed the crowd once in a recorded message and then directly by phone transmitted over loudspeaker. As reported by Página 12, “We are going to return,” she said in her taped message, and it will be “with greater wisdom, more unity and more strength.” She took direct aim at Milei’s deadly Austrian School economic policies. “Their model has no future, it’s coming down, and that’s why I’m imprisoned.” Milei’s model is going down “not only because it’s unjust and unequal,” she said, “but fundamentally because it’s unsustainable economically.” She asserted: “They can lock me up, but they can’t lock up all the Argentine people. We’re not the scared ones. They are.”
