The epic World Cup comeback against Egypt only stands to widen the gap between the squad of the two Lionels and all…

The epic World Cup comeback against Egypt (a team against whom an easy win would not normally have earned many bragging rights) only stands to widen the gap between the squad of the two Lionels and all other institutions in Argentina. The Judiciary is not the least in disrepute with the tax evasion case against the AFA Argentine Football Association a prime example, to stay with the passion of multitudes for a while. The United States counterparts of law enforcers picked up this case last Tuesday (the same day as the epic comeback) with every right since suspicious dollar movements in the home of the greenback are the heart of this case rather than any peso transactions here and who is to say that they will not pursue their investigation with greater velocity and efficiency than shown by Argentina’s judicial branch?

Progress in the case is not helped by AFA president Claudio ‘Chiqui Blinders’ Tapia joining the triumphant march of the national heroes in North America on every possible occasion nor by the open AFA sympathies of Justice Minister Juan Bautista Mahiques, who has already steered this case towards a friendlier judge. Senator Patricia Bullrich, who effectively launched this probe some 20 months ago when Security minister, is currently out of favour with the inner circle of the Javier Milei administration after her key role in ousting Manuel Adorni as Cabinet chief and this also works to the advantage of Tapia and AFA treasurer Pablo Toviggino, the central defendant in this case as the supremo of football finances.

Given the judicial lentitude, much will depend on whether President Milei returns to his previous demonisation of AFA, whether he can transmit that enthusiasm to his US ally Donald Trump and, if so, the clout of a Trump facing midterm uncertainty with a renewed display of institutional contempt by browbeating his cheerleader, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, into cancelling a red card against the US team’s top goalscorer while confessing that he knows so little of the sport that he was not even aware of a red card’s consequences. This arbitrary manipulation of a rules-based sport fascinating the entire planet earned him global repudiation, not least in Argentina, and Milei risks sharing that electoral uncertainty of his disruptive idol by hitching his wagon so uncompromisingly to a trickster who does not even get away with cheating (Belgium 4, USA 1). Yet Milei seems intent on placing his bets on all or nothing polarisation rather than attempting to divide and rule within a more pluralistic spectrum.

Meanwhile AFA is not the only case facing the Judiciary with various other lawsuits, some of them involving Milei. Perhaps the most sensitive is the ‘$LIBRA’ cryptocurrency, whose presidential promotion propelled it to stratospheric prices only for withdrawal of that support and a rug pull to send it crashing. Federal judge Marcelo Martínez de Giorgi has just dismissed the lawsuits of some plaintiffs on the grounds that anybody dabbling in cryptocurrency is a gambler who can win or lose and fully aware of what they are getting into. But this is to entirely miss the point as to whether the promotion of cryptocurrency corresponds to presidential duties, especially when it creates the basis for exorbitant profits by shysters.

Martínez de Giorgi’s benevolence towards Milei could be related to his wife being up for a judicial appointment dependent for confirmation on a presidential decree. The separation of powers becomes somewhat nominal when the dozens of vacant judicial benches now in the process of being filled depend both before and after Senate approval on a presidential nod. Suspicions abound that the nominations for the vacancies so actively being filled by Mahiques are based on loyalty to the Milei siblings rather than merit. As for the current generation of judges, many are close to or even past the retirement age of 75, placing their continuation at the mercy of other powers. It also remains to be seen how the government proposes going about expanding the Supreme Court beyond its current minimal three justices once the World Cup is over.

Yet institutions are always a long march while little over a week remains for the World Cup – the general public can be forgiven if it is entirely distracted by the heroics of a football team which seemingly has a compulsion to convert what could be routine progress in the middle stages of a tournament into unforgettable epics. For now World Cup triumph is all that matters.