Javier Milei, the ultra-liberal who offers to end the Argentine political caste

51-year-old economist, ultra-liberal and provocative, Javier Milei emerges as an electoral phenomenon in Buenos Aires where, with a speech against politicians, he disputes second place in Sunday’s parliamentary elections to the center-left ruling coalition Frente de Todos.

“I did not come here to lead lambs, I came to awaken lions”, cry out mercy in a square where dozens of supporters applaud him enthusiastically. “Long live freedom, damn it!”he screams again, and blames the evils of Argentina to “the political caste”, a mass in which he does not distinguish right from left, or opposition government.

He is on the campaign trail, but his electoral act consists of an economics “class” to a mostly young and male public, disbelieving in politics, which is flattered by this intellectual format in which books are raffled off at the end of the activity .

“Speak honestly, don’t beat around the bush”, Praises Daniel Quiroz, an electromechanics student, living in the more humble south of Buenos Aires, who goes to his first election.

In the square, a line is formed to join his new libertarian party, which in the mandatory primary elections in September came in third place in the Argentine capital with 13.6% of the votes.

“Today, in Argentina, there is a fairly broad socialism created by all that is the political caste. We call caste everything that has been around for a long time and does not want to leave power “says Matías Miró, a 40-year-old libertarian activist.

According to polls, his strength is on the rise and also worries the center-right coalition Juntos, which has governed Buenos Aires since 2007 and does not want it to lose votes. “The ideas that Milei expresses are the same that I always expressed,” former President Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) recently declared.

“Cultural battle”

With a curious hair, according to himself the product that he has not combed for years, mercy he is a controversial character.

He has published several books and at the same time has been accused of plagiarizing entire paragraphs. In addition, he had a radio program on the web, “Demoliendo mitos”. Ramiro Marra, his running mate for the Chamber of Deputies, is a YouTube star, with a channel where he teaches how to invest in bitcoins.

“Having gotten into politics does not mean abandoning the cultural battle. We are going to continue fighting the cultural battle, but now also from the inside ”, Milei tells AFP when explaining her decision to join the parliament that she considers riddled with thieves.

“We will never create new taxes, we will never go against life, we will never go against freedom and we will never go against property. We are going to send projects that remove this oppression of the State on people “, promises this man who likes to cite the glories of the nineteenth century, like Juan Bautista Alberdi, the inspirer of the Constitution who said: “He who does not believe in freedom as a source of wealth neither deserves to be free nor knows how to be rich” .

On the international scene, he is not bothered by the comparison with former US President Donald Trump or with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro.

All social classes

Milei’s followers are mostly men, between 18 and 40 years old, from all social classes, according to political scientist Diego Reynoso, from the University of San Andrés.

“He clearly positions himself to the right, both economically – less State, more market – and in other values, for example his opposition to abortion”, that in Argentina it is legal since 2020, points out the political scientist.

His preaching against the “political caste”, which he blames for the economic, social and political crisis that Argentina is suffering, places him “outside the political system. It allows him to make a clearly anti-establishment speech and from there he capitalizes a lot, ”says Reynoso.

And in the most disadvantaged areas of the Argentine capital, where their vote was slightly higher than average, their criticisms of state intervention have been echoed.

“There is an explanation. In those neighborhoods there are people with formal employment who despite their efforts cannot get out of there and complain about the discounts they give them. One would think that those sectors ask for more fiscal pressure, tax, but it is not like that “said this analyst.