List of Political Catch Phrases - Argentina

Argentina

• "¡Seamos libres, que lo demas no importa nada!" ("Let us be free, for the rest doesn't matter!") – Said in a pre-battle speech in 1817 by General José de San Martín to his troops just before the Battle of Chacabuco during the Crossing of the Andes.
• "Tomar a todo el país como Dios y el hombre lo han hecho." ("Take the whole country as God and man have made it.") – Spoken by Bartolomé Mitre after the Battle of Pavon in 1861, about the need for national unification and federalization of all Argentine provinces.
• "Ahora comienza una época de paz y administración." ("Now we begin a period of peace and administration.") – Spoken by then President Julio Argentino Roca during his inauguration speech in 1880, promising that peace and national organization would be achieved in his presidency after nearly thirty years of civil war and internal conflict.
• "Que se rompa, pero que no se doble." ("Let it break, but never bend.") – The last words of Leandro Alem, leader of the Unión Cívica Radical, in his suicide letter, which was written in 1896. The phrase refers to his party's intransigent doctrine. Now commonly used as a slogan for the UCR.
• "La única verdad es la realidad." ("The only truth is reality.") – A phrase typically used by President Juan Domingo Perón when telling his allies to be rational.
• "Mejor que decir es hacer, y mejor que prometer es realizar." ("Better than saying is doing, and better than promising is accomplishing.") – Perón, in a speech when he was Secretary of Labour and Welfare.
• "El año 2000 nos encontrará unidos o dominados." ("The year 2000 will find us united or dominated".) – Perón, talking about the need for Latin American integration.
• "Cuando uno de los nuestros caiga, caerán cinco de los de ellos." ("For each one of ours that falls, five of theirs will fall.") – Spoken by President Juan D. Perón on 31 August 1955, addressing his supporters to take revenge for the bombing of Buenos Aires by the military on 16 June the same year, which had caused around 300 casualties.
• "Ni vencedores ni vencidos." ("There are no winners or losers.") – General Eduardo Lonardi in September 1955, after overthrowing the government of Juan Perón, and before being displaced by the hard-line antiperonists within the new government.
• "Se acabó la leche de la clemencia." ("The milk of clemency is over.") – Deputy Américo Ghioldi, inciting the military dictatorship of Aramburu to execute the leaders of a failed uprising, in 1956.
• "Hay que pasar el invierno." ("We have to endure the winter.") – Said in 1960 by Álvaro Alsogaray, Minister of Economy in the Frondizi government, referring to the hardships required to get through the economic troubles in the country, which was in dire need of oil.
• "No renunciaré, no me suicidaré, no me iré del país" ("I will not resign, I will not commit suicide, I will not leave the country.") – Said in 1962 by President Arturo Frondizi under the threat of a military coup d'état. He initially resisted his ousting but was eventually forced at gunpoint into arrest in the Isla Martín García Prison.
• "El comandante en jefe de las fuerzas armadas soy yo." ("The commander in chief of the armed forces is me.") – Said in 1966 by then President Arturo Illia to General Juan Carlos Onganía when the latter told the president that the armed forces were starting a coup d'état.
• "Sólo la organización vence al tiempo." ("Only organization overcomes time.") – Perón, warning about the need for generational change within his party.
• "Este viejo adversario despide a un amigo." ("This old adversary bids farewell to a friend.") – Said in 1974 by former head of the UCR, Ricardo Balbín at Juan Domingo Perón's funeral. Balbín had been Perón's biggest enemy during his political career, but the phrase symbolizes how, despite their enmity, Balbín was respectful enough to solemnly attend his funeral.
• "Es una incógnita, es un desaparecido. No tiene entidad, no está. No está ni muerto ni vivo, está desaparecido." ("It's an unknown, it's a disappeared. It has no entity, it is not there. It is Neither dead or alive, it is disappeared.") – Spoken in 1979 by de facto President Jorge Videla regarding the people who were sent into forced disappearances during the Proceso de Reorganización Nacional.
• "El que apuesta al dólar pierde." ("Whomever bets to the dollar loses") – Said in 1981 by then Minister of Economy Lorenzo Sigaut, paradoxically, two days before a large devaluation. Two days after this statement the dollar increased in value by 30% making everyone who had "bet" to the dollar rich.
• "Si quieren venir, que vengan. ¡Les presentaremos batalla!" ("If they want to come, let them come. We will offer battle to them!") – Said by de facto President Leopoldo Galtieri regarding the British during the events that led to the Falklands War.
• "La casa está en orden." ("The house is in order.") – Said by President Raúl Alfonsín about the Casa Rosada (The official headquarters of the executive power) after a failed coup d'état by the right-wing Carapintadas movement.
• "Nunca Más." ("Never Again.") – The closing lines of Julio César Strassera's final statement while acting as the prosecutor during the Trial of the Juntas, a civil trial against the military leaders who headed dictatorship during the National Reorganization Process.
• "¡A vos no te va tan mal, gordito!" ("You're not doing so bad, fatty!") – Yelled by Raúl Alfonsín to a heckling overweight man in the crowd during a speech, who complained about food shortages. An ironic line, since according to Alfonsín, the overweight man did not lack food.
• "Síganme, no los voy a defraudar." ("Follow me, I will not let you down.") – Campaign slogan of President Carlos Menem. In retrospect ironic due to the extreme neoliberal policies that characterized Menem's presidency, which contradicted the populist promises of his campaign and the political corruption that characterized his presidency.
• "Tenemos que dejar de robar por al menos dos años." ("We should stop embezzling for at least two years") – Trade-unionist Luis Barrionuevo in an interview in 1996, referring to the massive amount of political corruption in the country at the time.
• "Dicen que soy aburrido." ("They say I'm boring") – a catch phrase of Fernando de la Rúa during his presidential campaign.
• "El país está...bien." ("The country is...fine.") – A phrase said by Fernando de la Rúa when the 2000 Argentine Crisis started.
• "Argentina es un país condenado al éxito." ("Argentina is a country doomed to success") – Phrase recurrently used by Eduardo Duhalde during his exercise of presidency after the 2001 crisis.
• "Mi voto no es positivo, mi voto es en contra." ("My vote is not positive, my vote is against.") – Phrase pronounced by Vice President Julio Cobos in 2008 in the Senate, when he voted against a farm tax project from his own political force.