Argentine President Javier Milei declared on Thursday that Argentina is "diametrically opposite" to the country he took office in December 2023, speaking at a midnight ceremony in San Miguel de Tucumán (a historic northwestern city where Argentina declared independence in 1816) to mark the 210th anniversary of that event. Milei called his austerity drive a "second independence," claiming to have achieved the largest fiscal adjustment in Argentine history and sustained a budget surplus for over two years, while urging the thirteen allied provincial governors present to renew their commitment to his ten-point Pacto de Mayo reform pact. The event, which several major provincial leaders — including the governors of Buenos Aires, Córdoba, and Santa Fe — chose not to attend, was seen partly as a political relaunch following the recent resignation of Cabinet Chief Manuel Adorni amid an illicit enrichment investigation, as Milei positions himself for a 2027 reelection bid.