It was 8 a.m. and a few degrees above freezing when Argentines, unaccustomed to the cold, started gathering in the vicinity of Avenida del Libertador in Buenos Aires. They were there to watch military planes and marching soldiers and support President Javier Milei’s government on 9 de Julio, Argentina’s Independence Day.

This year marked the first military parade since President Macri hosted one in 2019, a comeback symbolic of Argentina’s recent patriotism and populism under President Javier Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) political party. 

Milei watched the military parade alongside Vice President Victoria Villarruel and cabinet members, as well as Buenos Aires City officials, from a stage box by the avenue. Over 2,000 Malvinas veterans headed the march, which also included over 6,000 members of Argentina’s Army, Navy, and Air Force, as well as the Joint Antarctica Command and law enforcement officials. 

In the sky, Air Force jets circled over the march while military vehicles paraded down the avenue. The president and his VP also took part in the festivities, stepping down from the box to climb aboard a TAM 2CA2 tank belonging to the Argentine Army, from which they waved at the crowd. 

“The last 55 years have been difficult,” said Omar Alegre, a small business owner from Corrientes province. He and his wife left their home late Monday night and drove 900 kilometers to see and celebrate the new government that took office in January. 

Argentina has faced three decades of recession since 1950, more than any other country in the world. “This year is different; I have hope for Argentina,” said Alegre as he watched the military men march down Avenida del Libertador. 

“Viva Argentina,” Alegre and his wife chanted with the crowd.

Argentina’s relationship with its Armed Forces

The military parade on Argentine Independence Day is part of the government’s attempts to reinvigorate the Armed Forces and mark a clear difference with past Kircherist administrations, which emphasized a human rights policy that focused on crimes against humanity committed by the military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983. 

Speaking at the recent CPAC Brazil conference, where he traveled together with Milei, Defense Minister Luis Petri staunchly defended the military and implied that they have been “persecuted” by past governments. “We embrace the Armed Forces; we don’t demonize, mistreat, or persecute them,” he stated. 

Human rights groups have denounced Petri for emptying special units in the Defense Ministry that were in charge of investigating the dictatorship’s crimes and offering evidence for ongoing trials.

Vice President Villarruel is arguably the most visible exponent of military aggrandizement within the Milei administration. In the 15 years before she joined Milei on LLA’s ticket, she expanded the reach of discourse that defended the “National Reorganization Process” (the junta’s name for the military dictatorship), developed precise arguments to that end, wrote two books about it, gave dozens of conferences, appeared on endless TV shows, toured high schools, and thoughtfully produced content for her social media accounts. 

Milei himself has also made statements about the dictatorship that echo military commanders’ arguments about their actions. In the presidential debates of 2023, the current president stated that Argentina was in the middle of a “war” in the 1970s and that the military committed “excesses,” two defense strategies the 1985 trial against the dictatorship disproved by presenting evidence that the disappearance and murder of social leaders and militants were part of a systematic plan. He also claimed that the true number of victims was far lower than the 30,000 widely accepted by Argentine rights investigators.

Noelle Harff contributed reporting

Editorial disclaimer

Although the UK refers to the Malvinas territory as the “Falklands Islands,” Argentina strongly contests this name. The Buenos Aires Herald refers to the islands as the Malvinas Islands.