5 years after the quarantine: Alberto's authoritarian reign that sank Argentina

This March 20, 2025 marks five years since that moment when Argentina entered the Social, Preventive, and Mandatory Isolation (ASPO), decreed by the Kirchnerist government of Alberto Fernández, a day like today but in 2020.

That day marked the beginning of one of the darkest and most destructive administrations in the country's recent history, a period that included authoritarianism, economic ineptitude, and a blatant disregard for individual freedoms.

The quarantine, sold by Kirchnerism as a measure to "save lives," turned into a failed social experiment that left deep scars on society and the economy, while Alberto Fernández's government became entangled in growing controversies and contradictions.

The ASPO, imposed through the Necessity and Urgency Decree 297/2020, was one of the longest and strictest quarantines on the planet. While Fernández repeated his "life first" speech, millions of Argentines saw their constitutional rights, such as freedom of movement, work, education, along with their economic situation, destroyed under the excuse of a "health emergency."

The Congress did little to control the avalanche of DNU (76 in 2020 alone) by the former Kirchnerist president, evidencing an authoritarian government that ruled with a heavy hand and without checks and balances.

Disappeared in democracy

This authoritarianism, dubbed by many as "infectadura" or "health dictatorship," worsened with the excessive actions of the security forces, which, under a strict quarantine, were responsible for dark episodes that still demand justice.

Among the most serious events are the disappearances and police abuses. Cases like that of Luis Espinoza, a rural worker from Tucumán disappeared and murdered by the police in May 2020, or that of Facundo Astudillo Castro, found dead after being detained at a checkpoint in Buenos Aires, exposed the state brutality shielded by the quarantine.

The Kirchnerist government, far from taking responsibility, opted for silence or denial, while families clamored for answers. These episodes were not isolated: the repression of those who violated the lockdown, often out of necessity, became very common, with thousands of arbitrary detentions that recalled the worst moments in Argentine history.

The economic destruction was another hallmark of the disaster. The eternal quarantine devastated small and medium-sized enterprises, left informal workers without income, and triggered poverty. Programs like the IFE or the ATP, presented as lifelines, were populist measures that, far from helping, ended up causing a sharp increase in inflation because they were financed through monetary issuance.

Meanwhile, Fernández asked for patience from Olivos, his government squandered resources in a disastrous administration, incapable of solving anything. The school closures for more than a year, one of the longest in the world, condemned a generation of students to dropout and educational lag, a damage that has not yet been reversed.

The scandals soon exposed the hypocrisy of Kirchnerism. The "VIP Vaccination" of 2021, where officials and friends of power skipped the line to get vaccinated, was a blow to the credibility of a government that demanded sacrifices from the people.

The photo of Fernández celebrating Fabiola Yáñez's birthday in Olivos in July 2020, during the strict quarantine, was another of the great controversies. While Argentines couldn't say goodbye to their dead, the former Kirchnerist president toasted in secret.

Five years later, the balance is devastating. Alberto Fernández's government not only failed to balance health and economy, but embraced an authoritarianism that disdained democracy and the constitutional rights of Argentines.