IT IS difficult to empathise with a president who has laid waste to his country’s economy and mounted a sustained attack on the working class, but at last weekend’s G20 summit in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s Mauricio Macri looked like a small child who had been allowed to play with the big kids for a while, provided, of course, that he gave them everything they wanted.

In a cringe-inducing series of photo opportunities, the hapless leader was at pains to show the world that he was as important as Donald Trump, Angela Merkel and the rest and at a gala performance in the opulent surroundings of the Colon Theatre, he was moved to tears by a spectacular depiction of Argentine culture and society.

A more realistic portrayal of Argentina would have showed urban slums, rural poverty and the effects of neoliberal economic policies that threaten to bring about a repeat of the 2001 crisis when there was extensive civil disorder during a popular revolt that saw 39 people killed by the security forces in what has come to be known as the Argentinazo.

A report that emerged during the G20 showed that, since Macri took office at the end of 2015, 107,000 manufacturing jobs, or 8.5 per cent of the total, have been lost.

This is the result of a contraction in internal demand brought about by three-figure percentage increases in energy prices, the removal of import controls and the collapse of the peso against the dollar that has contributed to an estimated 45 per cent inflation figure by the end of the year.

Add to that a further 95,000 public-sector jobs lost in 2018 alone and it is not hard to understand the latest Unicef figures showing that 27.3 per cent of Argentinians live in poverty.

In a vivid demonstration of Albert Einstein’s definition of insanity, Macri’s answer to the immense problems that beset Argentina as a direct consequence of his policies is to advocate more of the same in the hope that repetition will bring a different outcome. In this he is supported or, more accurately, controlled by the International Monetary Fund which demands further cuts and austerity as a condition for underwriting the balance of payments deficit to the tune of U$56.3 billion.

In what could be seen as a patronising comment, Macri was congratulated for his “effective leadership” of the G20 by IMF managing director Christine Lagarde, but he took it as a compliment and, in a post-event press conference, stated that all the world leaders told him that Argentina had gone down the correct path and that there was no alternative.

What no alternative means in practice is that Argentina, along with other republics controlled by right-wing governments in the region, has abandoned the path of regional integration that could have provided a counterweight to the influence of the United States and has reverted to being a peripheral state in the global economy.

Under the leadership of the man Macri describes as “my friend Donald,” the US has reasserted its hegemony over the rest of the Americas and Trump was keen to enlist the support of Argentina against the “predatory” trade policy of China. Given that Macri subsequently signed 37 separate agreements with China, this was one dispute he was anxious to avoid.  

During his meeting with France’s President Macron, Macri was at pains to enlist his support for the stalled EU free trade agreement with  Mercosur, the South American common market, but was politely rebuffed by his French counterpart because of the effect it could have on his country’s farmers. Macron was also concerned about the apparent disregard shown for the effects of climate by change by Jair Bolsonaro, the newly elected far-right President of Mercosur member Brazil, in the context of the Paris agreement on reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Had he examined Argentina’s stance on the Paris agreement, he would have discovered that their supposed commitment did not stand up to scrutiny either, given the continued fracking of the Vaca Muerta shale deposits in Patagonia and Macri’s aim of exporting the oil and gas to China.

Where Macri was able to garner support for the Mercosur deal was from his meeting with Theresa May and, should Brexit become a reality, there is little doubt that an Argentina-UK free trade agreement would be on the cards, regardless of the effects either would have on European agriculture or Argentinian manufacturing, let alone the negative consequences for the internal cohesion of Mercosur.  

It will be argued by some that Macri is doing a good job in representing the interests of a national capitalist class that has its dollars salted away offshore and is making a tidy sum out of currency speculation, with bank interest rates hitting 60 per cent, but whether or not he really believes that his simplistic adherence to outdated concepts of comparative advantage and trickle-down economics will eventually benefit all Argentinians does not really matter.

What does matter is that in a vast country with abundant natural resources, his government cannot provide even the most basic needs for much of the population. Moreover, an extractivist economy based on the exploitation of primary products such as genetically modified soya on an immense scale and fracked oil is not only environmentally disastrous but utterly unsustainable.

What Argentina does have is a history of trade union militancy and popular struggle being met by violent repression. Despite the enormous difficulties in getting anywhere near the centre of Buenos Aires during the lockdown of the city during the G20, there was a large protest march on the first day of the summit.

With the eyes of the world focused on the city, on this occasion, the massed ranks of riot police allowed the demonstration to reach a peaceful conclusion. IMF-inspired austerity measures are bound to generate more industrial action and more mobilisations and, although President Macri’s new friends have all gone home, the fight to defeat neoliberalism goes on.