Macri: ‘We have a government that has tried to diminish freedoms’
Former president Mauricio Macri broke a four-month public silence on Wednesday, lamenting in an interview “the global leadership vacuum” that, according to him, has led to governments taking hasty decisions to face the coronavirus pandemic.
“Due to a lack of global leadership, the world launched into measures that it later had to begin to correct on the fly, and this lack of global coordination affected a lot,” Macri said in an online interview with journalist Álvaro Vargas Llosa, the first one he has granted since his presidency ended last December.
The Cambiemos leader urged citizens and leaders “not to be carried away by fear and panic, but by data.”
Macri was quizzed on a number of global issues, as well as the strengthening of democracies in Latin America and the challenges facing leaders in office today. The president avoided casting scorn on leaders such as Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, US President Donald Trump and Chinese premier Xing Jingping, while words of praise were also offered to Colombian President Iván Duque.
Highlighting its upcoming election, Macri said the US “is going to be focused on its internal politics,” but he rejected the idea that the world is going to witness “a decline of the United States as a global leader.”
The former president said he maintains “a commitment” to his Argentina’s politics and declared he will seek to strengthen his Juntos por el Cambio coalition ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
“Despite the lack of economic results, the support of the people was still great. My commitment is absolute. I love my country. I am committed to liberty. We will strengthen Juntos por el Cambio and the space will grow,” he said.
The opposition has voiced concerns about the heavy restrictions imposed to tackle the coronavirus pandemic by the government and Macri also criticised the Alberto Fernández administration.
“Unfortunately, we have seen a government that has tried to diminish freedoms – freedom of expression, the functioning of justice, the independence of powers and private property. But what it has generated is a monolithic, active, strong reaction from society that has mobilised to express itself against these abuses, and the same on the part of the opposition, which has demonstrated more unity,” he said.
Macri expressed concern that the crisis could be viewed as an opportunity for some leaders, warning that the small “authoritarian” advances could
“lead to a dictatorship like Venezuela.”