Following the recent elections, Argentina has elected conservative leader Javier Milei as their new President. Provisional results show the former TV pundit securing 55.8 per cent votes and his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa securing a little over 44 per cent.
Sergio Massa conceded the run-off vote even before official results were announced with a brief speech. “Milei is the president elected for the next four years,” said Massa, adding that he had already called Javier Milei to congratulate him. Milei took to X, formerly Twitter, announcing his victory with a video showing his supporters thronging the streets, captioned, “Argentina celebrates freedom, Argentina is Liberal.”
Argentina festeja la Libertad.
— Milei 2023🇦🇷 (@JMPresidente23) November 20, 2023
Argentina es Liberal🇦🇷 pic.twitter.com/UuLEnUNasJ
“Make Argentina great again!” former US President Donald Trump posted on his platform Truth Social reacting over Milei’s win. “I am very proud of you,” he added.
Shortly after his victory, Javier Milei, touted as the “Trump of Argentina”, wrote another post on his X account captioned, “Now, Donald Trump 2024!!”
Ahora, Donald Trump 2024🇺🇸
— Milei 2023🇦🇷 (@JMPresidente23) November 20, 2023
Milei, a social conservative leader with ties to the American right, opposes abortion rights and has called climate change a “lie of socialism.” He has promised to slash government spending by closing the inflation-hit country’s ministries of culture, education, and diversity, and by eliminating public subsidies.
Milei’s political program includes slashing regulations on gun control and transferring authority over the penitentiary system from civilians to the military; both measures are part of a tough-on-crime approach.
Javier Milei also proposes using public funds to support families who choose to educate their children privately and even privatising the health sector, which in Argentina has always been in public hands.
Milei joins the ranks of global leaders who have emerged as popular right-wing alternatives against the leftist ecosystem. For the communist-laden Argentina to elect a pro-Washington leader looking to overturn the economy is a big development for the entire South America.
Javier Milei: A declared anti-Left
The new Argentinian President minces no words in expressing his sheer dislike for the left. In an interview with American journalist Tucker Carlson, Javier Milei said that whatever the Left tries to fix in the country only ends up making it worse than before.
Answering a question about the dilapidated state of infrastructure over the decades-long Leftist rule in the country, Milei said the Leftist buildings in Argentina are “square and squat”. Javier Milei said, “There are underlying values within leftist ideas: envy, hatred, resentment, unequal treatment under law and violence. All that this social altruism ends up doing is contaminate the system with incentives that generate poverty. So of course if you are poor what you can build is limited by your poverty.”
In one of the many videos from interviews of Javier Milei doing the rounds on social media is one where he can be heard calling “Leftists sh*t”. When asked why he says that, Milei says in an excited, loud voice, “You can’t negotiate with leftards. You don’t negotiate with trash because they will end you!
🚨 THE NEXT PRESIDENT OF ARGENTINA, JAVIER MILEI:
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) November 19, 2023
REPORTER: "Why do you call Leftists shit?"
MILEI: "BECAUSE THEY ARE SHIT!”
REPORTER: 😧
MILEI: “If you think differently they will kill you!”
pic.twitter.com/rybDuYtZN3
Another video shows the President-elect ripping off stickers with names of the ministries formed by the outgoing Argentinian government. “Ministry of Sports and Tourism, out!” says Milei as he rips apart a sticker from the board and continues to convey the same message for other ministries including Ministry of Culture, Ministry of environment and Sustainable Development, Ministry of women, genders and diversity, Ministry of public works, Ministry of science, technology and innovation, Ministry of labour, employment and social security.
When ripping off the sticker with text “Ministry of Education”, Milei says, pointing to it, “indoctrination. The thievery of politics is over. Long live damn liberty!”.
Argentina's new president Javier Milei has big plans for the government. pic.twitter.com/yJQYW0KwLy
— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) November 19, 2023
Speaking about his anti-abortion stance, Javier Milei said that the libertarian view believes in the unrestricted respect for the lives of others rooted in the principle of non-aggression and the defense of life, liberty and property.
Milei, described as a Catholic during the Carlson interview, openly criticised the Pope, who is also an Argentinian, for “playing politics”. He said, “He has a strong political influence. And he has shown a great affinity for dictators such as Castro and Maduro. He is on the side of these bloody dictatorships.”
Adding further, Javier Milei said, “He (the Pope) has an affinity for murderous communists. In fact, he won’t denounce them. He’s quite lenient to them. He’s also lenient toward the Venezuelan dictatorship. He’s lenient toward the entire left, even when they are true criminals. That’s a problem. But he also takes social justice as a central element of his vision. That’s difficult, because what is social justice, truly? It’s stealing the fruits of one person’s labour and giving it to someone else. So it means two things: First, it’s stealing. The problem with that is that one of the 10 commandments is thou shall not steal. To support social justice is to support stealing. So one problem is that it violates the ten commandments.”
Milei added, “The other problem is that it creates unequal treatment under the law. And I don’t think that its fair for some people to be rewarded while others are punished, all through the power of a state that wields a monopoly on violence.”
Moeover, Milei has said that climate change is “socialist agenda”. He further said that the climate change agenda came about when pro-Marxist economic policies failed and they moved class struggle into other aspects of life. “For example, the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement, the entire LGBT lobby, everything related to radical feminism,” he said.
One of the most strongest assurances that Javier Milei has made publicly is that under his government, Argentina will not promote political ties with communist countries.
(With inputs from agencies)
