After economist Javier Milei, 53, won the elections in Argentina, the spotlight is on the other Milei, a woman who is as powerful as she is discreet and who likes to dress in bold colors. The president-elect’s little sister is the person he trusts most, his campaign strategist, his stylist, someone he refers to as “the Messiah.” Karina Milei, 50, dressed in red, was in charge of starting the victory speech in a hotel in Buenos Aires this Sunday evening: “I would like to introduce the elected President Javier Milei,” he announced before welcoming those present together. She was visibly excited while he kept a serious face. In case there was any doubt, at the most important moment of her life, the first person Milei thanked for her overwhelming victory was Karina: “Without her none of this would have been possible.”
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Thin, petite, blonde-colored, Javier calls her Kari; also El Jefe, like this, in the masculine or First Lady.
Many in Argentina consider it the gray brain of the Milei phenomenon. Since bursting into Argentine politics like a whirlwind – for some as an indispensable breath of fresh air, for others as a serious threat – Milei has left many statements that are difficult to forget. Some are also dedicated to Karina. “You know Moisés was a great leader, but he wasn’t good at spreading the message. Then God sent Orón to spread the message. Well, Kari is Moisés and I’m the one giving something away. “I’m just a popularizer,” Milei explained excitedly and tearfully during an interview. At this point, Milei was already deputy. There was still one year left for the presidential campaign. Months later, the next president was in a meeting with some rabbis when they were talking about the Messiah whose return to Jerusalem the Jews were waiting for, and the politician intervened: “The thing is, the Messiah is my sister, he has already arrived. “,” the story says. Local press. The rabbis must have been stunned.
Karina Elizabeth Milei is two years younger than her only brother. Little is known about them, beyond what the politician has said, what the couple’s allies and critics have filtered out, and little else. She keeps a low profile. He doesn’t give interviews, only a few have heard his voice.
They are children of a marriage between a bus driver and a housewife. They grew up in the Villa Devoto neighborhood of Buenos Aires and attended the same Catholic school. Both are single, without children. And they have been a professional couple for years.
Karina has always had a very close relationship with Javier, who as a child was abused by his father in the face of his mother’s complicit silence, for which he has forgiven us, and who was harassed by his schoolmates. The son didn’t speak to his parents for years; he called them “parents” in public. But tonight Mr. and Mrs. Milei were at the count and with their children at the moment of victory. She never broke off her relationship with her parents. In this loneliness that accompanied President-elect Milei throughout his childhood and youth, Karina was often the only company.
As a representative of the La Libertad Avanza party, she signed the document in which the party denounced “a colossal fraud” in the final phase of the campaign, which the party renounced the following day. But she didn’t even dare to follow the election authority’s request.
“You always have to have someone to report to. In my case, I will contact my sister,” Deputy Milei said in another interview. She is the person who has been managing her agenda, her interviews, her conferences in Argentina and abroad for years. And she is the gatekeeper, the person who controls who has access to the economist who has erupted like an earthquake in Argentine politics. A control he exercised with an iron hand as his older brother’s career progressed toward the presidency.
She has a degree in public relations, studied pastry making, is an amateur sculptor and co-owns a tire shop. When her brother was still an economist and began appearing on television as a talk show host, she was responsible for managing his assets.
It was also Karina who convinced Javier to ditch the suits and embrace the veteran rocker look with leather jackets like the one he wore in the presidential election this Sunday. The ultra candidate only got out of the car after El Jefe Karina had inspected the cordon of private bodyguards who were supposed to protect him up to the fenced corridor through which he entered the electoral college. “She is the most wonderful creature in the world,” he said of her in another interview. It remains to be seen what role Karina will take when her brother’s term begins on December 10, whether she prefers to continue working behind the scenes, whether she jumps into the public eye as a powerful first lady or, who knows, whether she takes on a leadership position . in the next government.