Insurrectionary statements against the “parasitic political caste”, promises of freedom against the “enemy state”: the ultra-liberal economist Javier Milei, who was elected Argentine president on Sunday, has turned the country’s politics inside out in two years, thereby drawing the anger of the population. Here’s who this new chainsaw-wielding president is in Argentina.
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“Viva la libertad, carajo!” (Long live freedom, damn it!) shouted again and again the person who promised austerity, deregulation and privatization to bring an economy to its knees with inflation at 143% year and four out of ten Argentines below the poverty line.
The 53-year-old Milei, a popular polemicist on television for years who emerged in politics two years ago, promised to make Argentina a “world power” again, just as it was a “promised land” of the early 20th century Emigration was a century.
A theme of “rediscovered greatness” reminiscent of Donald Trump, for whom he expressed his admiration.
His tools? A chainsaw was brandished several times in meetings, symbolizing the impending cuts in public spending to put an end to “this aberration called social justice, synonymous with budget deficit.”
AFP
Ending twenty years of Peronist or Liberal governments, Milei also promised to “dollarize” the economy and abolish the central bank once the greenback replaced the peso, the national currency, which he treated as “excrement.”
““Finally someone who thinks like me!”»
He describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist,” libertarian, with a libertarian edge and right-wing extremist stances. Milei is very present on social networks and his talk of meritocracy and degagism is very popular with a rather popular and young, disillusioned audience.
“People started hearing this outraged, angry gentleman and saying to themselves, ‘Finally someone who thinks like me!'” emphasizes Belen Amadeo, a political scientist at the University of Buenos Aires.
“Milei’s proposals to revive Argentina give us hope to stay, because if we continue like this all the young people will leave the country,” Carolina Carabaja, a 20-year-old amateur, told AFP.
He knew how to cultivate an atypical profile: a faded rocker look, sometimes in a leather jacket, and unusual gestures, such as awarding his parliamentary allowance by lottery.
“I am not here to lead lambs, but to awaken lions!” is one of the favorite slogans of the “lion” Milei, an emblem that he maintains and which is reminiscent of his mane of hair.
“One of the reasons for its success is that it appeals to emotions. He is a +TikTok politician+,” summarizes economist Andres Borenstein from the think tank Econews.
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It also had a novelty effect: “Milei is the only one we have never tried before,” notes sociologist Mariana Luzzi of the national research institute Conicet.
But Milei also discourages controversial ideas, such as the deregulation of gun sales, a “market solution” for organ donations or his opposition to abortion, which was legalized in 2021. And for him, climate change is just a “cycle”. no “human responsibility”.
Aware that he was shocked when he insulted the Pope, Milei lowered his voice after the first round, in which his centrist rival Sergio Massa beat him. Fewer appearances, less clear and one message: “Don’t be afraid of change.”
“We will not privatize healthcare, not education,” he assured in his latest clip.
“Crazy” or not, but winner
What will a President Milei actually do? Undoubtedly compromises in a parliament in which his young party, La Libertad Avanza, is only the third force (38 out of 257 deputies).
But inevitably also painful budget adjustments. “It brings with it a component of political-social confrontation,” fears Gabriel Vammaro, a political scientist at the University of San Martin.
As media-friendly as he is, Milei’s private life is fascinating: his circle is small, secret, with his sister Karina Milei at the forefront, “the boss,” as he describes her.
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His family in everyday life? Four huge English mastiffs, his “sons,” as he calls them, with whom he lives in a neighborhood in the north of Buenos Aires. He recently performed with 42-year-old comedian Fatima Florez.
Javier Gerado Milei grew up in a suburb of Buenos Aires in a middle-class family with whom he had a “complex” relationship, particularly characterized by paternal violence.
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As a graduate in economics, he alternated between consulting in the private sector and teaching and writing business books and columns, which sometimes earned him accusations of plagiarism.
His political rivals have more than once pointed the finger at his “aggressiveness” and tried to portray him as “emotionally unstable” or even “crazy.”
“The difference between a genius and a madman is success,” Milei likes to say.