Javier Milei, the prophet of Argentine dollarization who will vie for the presidency, is known for his angry outbursts, cultivates a rock star appearance and toured his country with a chainsaw to symbolize cuts in public spending.

This ultra-liberal economist who wants to “dynamicize” the Central Bank and believes that any intervention by the state is an excess, came second in Sunday’s elections and will go to the second round on November 19 against the Minister of Economy, Sergio Mass. in a context of inflation of 140% per year.

“The state is an enemy”, “we must blow up the Central Bank”, “the peso is the currency issued by the Argentine politician, it cannot even be worth the feces”, are some of the inflammatory statements of this political leader with abundant hair and carefully waved.

To her, he is called “the Wig” by his fans, who have found in him a messiah after decades of economic hardship and progressive demands that have not worked for them.

Argentina now faces monthly inflation and double-digit poverty, affecting 40% of the population. The solution for 53-year-old Milei is to dollarize the economy, drastically reduce government spending, abolish taxes and end the “political and corrupt caste” he blames for this debacle.

In one of his final campaign events, he toured Lomas de Zamora in a caravan, a Peronist stronghold on the outskirts of Buenos Aires, rocked by a corruption scandal hitting the government.

“Since our birth, Argentina has become poorer and poorer and we are like a ship going into the abyss,” Carlos Ferreira, a 36-year-old delivery worker who is part of one of the groups that make up Milei’s party, told AFP there . , Freedom progress.

The militant pointed to a group of young people and added: “What future does (do you expect) for those children? They have every right to take power and change, because they are the ones who will pay the price tomorrow. “They leave them with a huge debt, a ruined country.”

phenomenon on television

Milei is often called ‘crazy’. But he replies: ‘Do you know the difference between a genius and a madman? The succes”.

The Milei phenomenon was born on television in 2015. As a panelist, he generated good ratings thanks to his angry economic rants. Subsequently, his comments fueled social networks and reached young people, for many of whom the ‘Peluca’ speech was new and rebellious.

One of the young people who went to see him happen in Lomas de Zamora, where he did not speak, was Nazareno Isasmendi, a 22-year-old physical training student.

“I was more on Cristina’s side. [Kirchner, la vicepresidenta] because I didn’t know, because they also teach you left-wing things at school. But Milei speaks to you from sincerity. And if he has to tell you something that you don’t like, he will tell you anyway,” he told AFP.

Milei worked in the private sector until 2021, when he won a seat as deputy for Buenos Aires as part of the newly formed La Libertad Avanza coalition. Since then, he has rocked Argentina’s two-party administration and dominated the media agenda with comments that scandalized the status quo.

For example, it denies that there is a gender pay gap and rejects the consensus of 30,000 people disappeared during the dictatorship (1976-1983), established by human rights organizations, estimating the actual number at less than a third.

He has also insulted Pope Francis on several occasions, most notably when, in an outburst of anger, he called him the “representative of evil on earth.”

He then assured in a presidential debate, questioned by his now rival Sergio Massa, that he had apologized.

With few friends

Born in Buenos Aires in 1970, as a young man he played football and sang in a Rolling Stones cover band.

He studied economics at the University of Belgrano and two postgraduate degrees at local institutions. He has published several books and has also been accused of plagiarizing entire paragraphs.

According to ‘Loco’, the unauthorized biography of journalist Juan Luis González, Milei does not acknowledge the death of his dog Conan and calls him one of the ‘five’ dogs/sons that accompany him.

His other four English mastiffs are Conan clones that Milei had created in the United States. He communicates with 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 took the actress and comedian Fátima Flórez, his new girlfriend, to television. There he learned to make the heart gesture with his fingers. “We are very explosive,” he said. (JO)