Irascible, frank, spontaneous, the ultraliberal economist Javier Milei He became known thanks to the vehemence of his economic diatribes and broke the mold of Argentine political bipartisanship until reaching the Presidency this Sunday with the promise of dollarization. With statements against the “parasitic and stupid political caste” [ladrona]”, the libertarian convinced more than half of Argentines to “dynamite” the Central Bank, reduce the size of the State and cut public spending.
Argentina It navigates three-digit annual inflation and poverty that affects 40% of its population. It is in the context of these economic sorrows that voters chose his disruptive program over the proposal of his rival, the Minister of the Economy. Sergio Massa, a center Peronist.
READ MORE | LIVE | Javier Milei will be the new president of Argentina after defeating the Peronist Sergio Massa
“Milei’s proposals to raise Argentina give us hope to stay because young people, if this continues, have the idea of leaving the country”Carolina Carabajal, 20, told AFP.
The presidential candidate for La Libertad Avanza, Javier Milei, walks among his followers upon arrival at a polling station in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on November 19, 2023. (Photo by Emiliano Lasalvia / AFP).
/
Milei denies that there is a wage gap between men and women, considers abortion a murder and believes that “policies that blame humans for climate change are false.”
It also rejects the consensus of 30,000 disappeared during the last dictatorship (1976-1983) established by human rights organizations, estimating that figure at less than a third.
With proposals like these, which before in Argentina “They were marginal and now they have become central,” He became a leader of “unusual public relevance for the hardest right in Argentina,” Gabriel Vommaro, a political scientist at the University of San Martín, told AFP.
“Talk like me”
Milei channeled the rage of those who are disappointed in Peronismthe political current that has marked the history of Argentina since the 1940s, created around the figure of the populist military man Juan Domingo Perón.
“People begin to listen to an indignant man who seems alienated, and think ‘finally someone speaks like me’, because he has the frankness to say things,” Belén Amadeo, a political scientist at the University of Buenos Aires, told AFP.
:quality(75)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/elcomercio/NQ4LBV7O2NCCNNZVZ5OIZSMAUA.jpg "Who is Javier Milei, the prophet of dollarization who makes history by winning the elections in Argentina | PROFILE 1")
A supporter of Javier Milei dressed in a costume of the television character Zorro, shouts slogans during a campaign rally in Ezeiza, Buenos Aires province, on November 15, 2023. (Photo by Luis ROBAYO/AFP).
/
However, his initially very confrontational style did not survive beyond the first electoral round in October, in which he received 30% of the votes.
He had to seek agreements and, for that, put out his inflammatory statements. Thus she gained the support of her conservative and former rival, Patricia Bullrichand the approval of former liberal president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019).
Milei “has come to represent many standing citizens who are tired,” said Macri in a dialogue with the Wilson Center think tank in Washington.
With abundant and tousled hair for which he is nicknamed “the Wig”the 53-year-old president-elect is also frequently called “crazy.”
To these nicknames, he responded during the campaign: “Do you know the difference between a genius and a madman? The success”.
Born on TV
Milei as an ‘influencer’ was born on television in 2015, participating in furious economic gatherings. Then, his comments fed social networks and reached young people, for many of whom his speech was novel and rebellious.
Matías Esoukourian, a 19-year-old economics student, commented that this is the reason why he follows him. “He has no experience and many times that shows,” said the young man. “But when you see him talk about economic issues, you can see that behind what he says there is passion and knowledge.”
Milei worked in the private sector until 2021, when he was elected deputy of the newly formed La Libertad Avanza party. Since then, he broke the Argentine bipartisan system and dominated the media agenda.
Born in Buenos Aires in 1970, as a young man he played soccer and sang in a band that covered Rolling Stones songs.
According to “Crazy”, the unauthorized biography of journalist Juan Luis González, Milei does not acknowledge the death of his dog Conan and refers to him as one of the “five” dogs/sons that accompany him.
His other four English mastiffs are Conan clones ordered by Milei in the United States. She relates to them, the living and the dead, thanks to the supposed teachings of a “medium” specialized in “interspecies communication.”
Single, without children and with few friends, he recently introduced the actress and comedian Fátima Flórez as his girlfriend on a television program.
He studied Economics at the University of Belgrano and completed two postgraduate degrees at local institutions. He has published several books and has also been accused of plagiarizing entire paragraphs.
