The Guardian View on Argentina’s New President: A Dark Day for Democracy

THE GUARDIAN – EDITORIAL: The election of the far-right candidate Javier Milei reflects the seriousness of the country’s problems – and threatens to deepen them

Javier Milei and his sister, Karina Milei, react to the election results in Buenos Aires on 19 November. Photograph: Reuters
Javier Milei’s landslide election victory, with 55.7% of the vote to his rival’s 44.3%, is not only terrible news for Argentina but terrifying for many. In a country celebrating 40 years of hard-won democracy, the far-right economist threatens to turn the clock back.

It would be easy to mock the former TV celebrity and tantric sex coach, who wielded a chainsaw at rallies and promised that he would take it to the state. But his election as president is no joke. Among the 53-year-old libertarian’s ideas are a referendum to overturn the legalisation of abortion, reducing gun ownership restrictions, making the trade in organs lawful, slashing social spending and abolishing the central bank. He has called the Argentina-born Pope Francis “the representative of the evil one on Earth”, smeared the victims of the military dictatorship as “terrorists” and claimed that their death toll was far smaller than the accepted 30,000 figure.

His win is bad news globally too, and not only because he dismisses climate change as a “socialist lie”. It is a filip for the far right around the world, and was welcomed as far away as Europe. Donald Trump, to whom Mr Milei has often been compared, and the former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, were swift to congratulate him. » | Editorial | Monday, November 20, 2023

Another clown joins the circus! – © Mark Alexander

And if you’re wondering what ‘tantric sex’ is, I’ve googled it so you don’t have to! Here’s a link.

Radical Turn: What's Populist Javier Milei's Plan for Argentina? • FRANCE 24 English

Nov 20, 2023 | You know the old adage about politics: you campaign in poetry and you govern in prose. Introducing Argentina’s Javier Milei and even though the winner of Sunday’s presidential runoff did not wield a chainsaw like he did on the campaign trail, the free market absolutist did again promise in his acceptance speech Argentina’s answer to draining the swamp. How radical will he be?

Javier Milei Wins Argentina Presidential Run-off Election - BBC News

Nov 20, 2023 | Far-right libertarian outsider Javier Milei has won Argentina's presidential run-off poll, according to provisional results. His rival, economy minister Sergio Massa, called him to concede, while former US President Donald Trump congratulated Milei on his victory, saying he would "Make Argentina Great Again!". Milei's proposals, which included "blowing up" the central bank, won support with voters desperate for change amid an economy in crisis.

Another bloody disaster for the world! – © Mark Alexander

Who Is Javier Milei? Argentina’s New Far-right President ‘El Loco’ Takes the Stage

THE GUARDIAN: Likened to Wolverine and Trump and nicknamed ‘the madman’, the former TV pundit is known for his prolific swearing and pledge to take a chainsaw to the machinery of state

Javier Milei addresses supporters after winning Argentina's runoff presidential election, in Buenos Aires Photograph: Cristina Sille/Reuters
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EXTRACT:

“The vote represents a desperate attempt at something new, come what may,” said Benjamin Gedan, an Argentina specialist from the Wilson Centre. “The option [voters had] was more of the same in catastrophic economic conditions or a radical gamble on a potentially bright future with a lot of downside risk.”

Gedan believed there would be “a lot of buyer’s remorse in Argentina” if Milei pursued even a small fraction of his ideas. Those ideas include legalising the sale of human organs, dramatically slashing social spending, downplaying the crimes of Argentina’s 1976-83 dictatorship, and cutting ties with Argentina’s two most important trade partners, Brazil and China. On the campaign trail, Milei vowed to abolish Argentina’s central bank and dollarise the economy, and brandished a chainsaw intended to symbolise ferocious cuts he believes will help stabilise the economy and “exterminate” rampant inflation.

Read the whole article by Tom Phillips in Buenos Aires here » | Monday, November 20, 2023

Argentina presidential election: far-right libertarian Javier Milei wins after rival concedes: Victory for TV celebrity-turned politician catapults South America’s second-largest economy into an unpredictable future »


If my instincts are right, this experiment will end in tears. I hope for long-suffering Argentinians that it won't; but I fear that it will. – © Mark Alexander

Argentina Elects Javier Milei in Victory for Far Right: Argentina’s next president is a libertarian economist whose brash style and embrace of conspiracy theories has parallels with those of Donald J. Trump. »

Javier Milei gana la presidencia de Argentina, una victoria para la ultraderecha mundial: El próximo presidente del país es un economista libertario cuyo estilo osado y proclividad a las teorías conspirativas le ha valido comparaciones con Donald Trump. »

Argentina Presidential Election: Far-right Libertarian Javier Milei Wins after Rival Concedes

GUARDIAN INTERNATIONAL: Victory for TV celebrity-turned politician catapults South America’s number two economy into an unpredictable future

Javier Milei, a volatile far-right libertarian who has vowed to “exterminate” inflation and take a chainsaw to the state, has been elected president of Argentina, catapulting South America’s number two economy into an unpredictable and potentially turbulent future.

With nearly 90% of votes counted, the Mick Jagger impersonating TV celebrity-turned politician, who is often compared to Donald Trump, had secured nearly 56% of the vote compared to Massa’s 44.1%.

Milei’s rival, the centre-left finance minister Sergio Massa, conceded defeat in a press conference on Sunday night. » | Tom Phillips Latin America correspondent and Facundo Iglesia in Buenos Aires | Sunday, November 19, 2023