Argentine President Javier Milei gestures as he presents his book “El camino del libertario” in Madrid, Spain, on Friday.
Manu Fernández/AP
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Manu Fernández/AP
Argentine President Javier Milei gestures as he presents his book “El camino del libertario” in Madrid, Spain, on Friday.
Manu Fernández/AP
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina — Even before beginning a three-day visit to Madrid on Friday, Argentine libertarian President Javier Milei sparked controversy, accusing the socialist government of bringing “poverty and death” to Spain and weighing on corruption allegations against the Prime Minister. marry.
In such circumstances, a typical visiting head of state may endeavor to repair obstacles through diplomacy.
Not Milei. The brash economist has no plans to meet Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez during his three days in the Spanish capital – nor the King of Spain, nor any other government official. Instead, he will attend a far-right summit on Sunday organized by Sánchez’s fiercest political opponent, the Vox party.
The unorthodox visit was business as usual for Milei, a darling of the global far-right who has bonded with tech billionaire Elon Musk and praised former US President Donald Trump. Earlier this year, during a trip to the United States, Milei stepped away from the White House and took the stage at the Conservative Political Action Conference, or CPAC, where he denounced abortion and socialism and shared a hug with Trump.
Milei presented his 2022 book, “The Way of the Libertarian,” in Madrid on Friday at a literary event organized by La Razón, a Spanish conservative newspaper.
The book – removed from circulation in Spain earlier this month because the folded biography incorrectly stated that Milei had earned a doctorate – charts his meteoric rise in politics from eccentric television personality to national lawmaker, and sets out his ideas radical in terms of the free market.
To thunderous applause, Milei condemned socialism as “an intellectual fraud and a horror on a human level.”
“The good thing is that the spotlight is on us everywhere and we are making (left-wing) reds uncomfortable everywhere,” Milei said.
He took the opportunity to promote the results of his tough austerity campaign in Argentina, celebrating a drop in monthly inflation in April, but without mentioning Buenos Aires metro fares, which more than tripled on the day on the next day.
Reiterating his election promise to eliminate Argentina’s central bank – without giving further details – Milei promised to make Argentina “the most economically free country in the world.”
At the event, Milei hugged ideological ally Santiago Abascal, leader of the far-right Vox party and the only politician Milei plans to meet in Madrid.
Sunday’s Vox summit aims to bring together far-right figures from across Europe in a bid to rally the party’s base ahead of June’s European parliamentary elections. Milei described his presence as a “moral imperative.” He also plans to meet with Spanish business leaders on Saturday.
Tensions between Milei and Sánchez have been simmering since the Spanish prime minister refused to congratulate the libertarian economist on his shock victory in last November’s elections.
But hostility exploded earlier this month when one of Sánchez’s ministers suggested that Milei had used drugs. The Argentine presidency responded with a particularly harsh official statement, accusing Sánchez’s government of “endangering the middle class with its socialist policies that only bring poverty and death.”
The government’s lengthy statement also accuses Sánchez of having “more important issues to deal with, such as the corruption accusations against his wife.”
Allegations of influence peddling and corruption leveled by a right-wing group against Sánchez’s wife, Begoña Gómez, had prompted Sánchez, one of Europe’s longest-serving socialist leaders, to consider resigning.
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