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What hasn’t he said, mostly in front of the cameras: taxes are theft. If he had to choose between the state and the mafia, he would prefer the mafia. The central bank needs to be blown up and the gun laws need to be relaxed. Organ trafficking is “just a market”. Javier Milei is now the next president of Argentina.
Miliei wants to transform Argentina
In his first speech after the election on Sunday evening, Milei appeared calm and determined. Under his presidency, the “reconstruction” of Argentina began, with free trade and without privileges. There is no time for gradual change: he will quickly turn the country around.
Milei was able to win because he presented himself as “the new guy,” an outsider and opponent of the “political caste.” But in order to win the election, he has long since entered into alliances with the establishment, for example with ex-President Mauricio Macri. His government will still not have a majority in parliament. During the election campaign, he promised to reduce public services and government spending “with a chainsaw”.
Argentine pesos under pressure
It’s almost three weeks until he takes office – which feels like an eternity in Argentina’s unstable situation. The elected government has virtually no control left; there is a risk of an abrupt devaluation of the Argentine peso, which has been losing value bit by bit for some time now. One of Milei’s campaign promises is the dollarization of Argentina. He once described the peso as “excrement.”
Much therefore depends on a meeting scheduled for Monday between outgoing President Alberto Fernández and Javier Milei: Will there be an agreement for an orderly handover? Milei has said several times in interviews that he has nothing against it if the economy “explodes”. A delicate announcement in a country in crisis: around forty percent of the population is poor.
Because Monday is a holiday, the market’s reaction will only be seen on Tuesday. Then Argentines will primarily look at the exchange rate of the peso compared to the US dollar, which has a direct impact on everyday life, such as food prices. Then it will also become clear whether there is a run on the banks. Will Argentines withdraw their savings in pesos from their bank accounts, as Milei advised before the first round of voting?
Argentina in reset mode
In the country’s current, unstable situation, the focus will initially be on the economy. But Milei’s election also means shaking the foundations of a country that was long proud of its public education system and said “nunca más” after the last military dictatorship, never again state terrorism. With Milei, a vice president is now moving into the pink government building, the “casa rosada”, which puts the crimes of the military junta into perspective and has already described convicted torturers as political prisoners.
Argentina is in “reset” mode. The voters’ anger was greater than their fear of a leap into the unknown.