Argentina: Milei takes over as president
Javier Milei, who was appointed President of Argentina this Sunday (10), has already signed the first decree of his government. The measure reduces the number of ministries in the country to nine, half of what his predecessor hadthe now former President Alberto Fernández.
The ultraliberal government will therefore have the following portfolios:
- Ministry of Interior;
- Ministry of Foreign Affairs;
- Ministry of International Trade and Worship;
- Ministry of Defense;
- Ministry of Economic Affairs;
- Ministry of Infrastructure;
- Ministry of Justice;
- Ministry of Security;
- Ministry of Health and Human Capital.
According to Milei, this measure is the first cut in public spending, one of the flags he raised during a speech this Sunday.
“There is no solution without tackling the budget deficit. The solution requires an adjustment in the public sector, which is the responsibility of the state and not the private sector,” he said.
1 of 1 Milei receives the presidential baton from Alberto Fernández, another symbol of power in Argentina Photo: Natacha Pisarenko/AP Milei receives the presidential baton from Alberto Fernández, another symbol of power in Argentina Photo: Natacha Pisarenko/AP
Milei explained that The situation is likely to get worse in the short term until the first measures bear fruit. And he reiterated that the government has no money: “Unfortunately I have to say: 'no hay plata'”.
“This will have a negative impact on activity, employment and the number of poor and vulnerable people. There will be stagflation.” [situação em que há estagnação da economia e inflação alta], but it's something very different than what we've had for the last 12 years. “It will be the last bitter drink to start rebuilding Argentina,” he said.
“It won't be easy: a hundred years of failure doesn't end in one day, but one day it begins, and today is that day.”
The Argentine president addressed his constituents on the steps of Congress. Is Violation of protocolbecause this speech usually takes place in Parliament.
Later, at the Casa Rosada, he addressed the public again, saying that his election represented “the end of the populist night and the rebirth of a prosperous and liberal Argentina.”
Among the authorities who attended the inauguration were former President Yair Bolsonaro and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky. President Lula did not travel to Buenos Aires and sent his chancellor Mauro Vieiraas a representative of Brazil.
See sentences from the inaugural address to Congress below:
- Today a new era begins in Argentina.
- We are ending a long and sad history of decline and beginning the path of rebuilding the country.
- Today we have buried decades of failure.
- Our leaders decided to abandon a model that had made us rich and adopt the impoverishing ideas of collectivism, a model that only creates poverty.
- Just as the fall of the Berlin Wall marked the end of a tragic time for the world, these elections marked the turning point of our history.
- We know the situation will get worse in the short term.
- When it comes to security, Argentina has become a bloodbath. The drug trade has taken over our streets.
- The only way out of poverty is through more freedom.
Milei also mentioned high inflation of over 140% per year and blamed Peronist governments for it. Before Alberto Fernández, who is now leaving office, the rightwing Mauricio Macri, an ally of Milei, ruled. Before Macri, Cristina Kirchner
“They have ruined our lives and increased our wages tenfold. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that they leave 45% poor and 10% destitute.”
“Argentinians powerfully expressed the desire for change from which there is no turning back “A new era of peace and prosperity in Argentina,” he explained.