As Argentina continues to hack through the socialist largesse that nearly bankrupted the country, it seems to be doing better and better. It's running a surplus and inflation is dropping.
President Milei's chainsaw is now cutting deep, removing old laws from the books that still cost the government money but serve no purpose. Most of them don't even matter, like a 1967 law on how to properly install obsolete X-ray equipment.
But one of the laws on the list has even Milei's supporters freaking out: Law No. 20.843 (1974), which established the "Padrinazgo Presidencial" or presidential godfather, based off a tradition started in 1907.
Apparently, if a mother gives birth to a seventh son or seventh daughter, that seventh same-gendered child is cursed to become a "lobizón" or a werewolf when the moon is full, unless the leader of the nation performs a sacred rite and becomes the child's godfather.
The rite involves attending the child's baptism, placing a gold medal around their neck, giving them a scholarship towards their education, and giving them a nominal fee ranging from $150 to $300 per year for life.
More than 12,000 children are estimated to have become godsons or goddaughters to an Argentine president in the past 117 years. Former President Alberto Fernández, who left office in 2023, became a godfather to 66 children, while his predecessor, Mauricio Macri, godfathered 159. Before them, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, a staunch Peronist, granted the benefit to 1,152 children during her term.
(There is no official count for how many werewolves Milei has prevented at this point in his presidency, if any.)
The tradition comes from several different sources. The Portuguese legend of "wolf men" came to Argentina through Brazil (apparently most "werewolf" sightings are near the Brazilian border). According to historian and journalist Alejandro Galliano, Catherine the Great of Russia "believed in becoming the godmother to the seventh son to prevent him from becoming a werewolf." Immigrants from the Volga region of Russia introduced the practice and it was a Russian farmer, Enrique Brest, who first asked then-President José Figueroa Alcorta to become godfather to his seventh son.
The 1974 law made this practice official and included daughters.
Milei's Minister of Deregulation and State Transformation, Federico Sturzenegger, stated the law was a waste of taxpayer money.
Law No. 20.843 (1974) establishes the (medieval) figure of 'Presidential Patronage' which has no place in a modern democracy.
However, the citizens of Argentina were quick to push back on the idea of getting rid of the law.
I am in favor of maintaining the anti-wolf cub law.
NOT WHAT I VOTED FOR. The Presidential Patronage Law protects us from werewolves.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO REMOVE THE PRESIDENTIAL SPONSORSHIP FOR???!! HAVE YOU GONE CRAZY?? DO YOU WANT WEREWOLVES??. LEAVE THE MOST MYSTICAL LAW OF THE COUNTRY IN PEACE OR THE GOVERNMENT IS OVER.
And my personal favorite:
Sport hunters from all over the world will come to hunt werewolves.
This boosts international tourism.
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