Javier Milei or how a far-right accused of gender violence and plagiarism can be president in Argentina

Two months from presidential elections in Argentinapart as favorite javier mileicandidate of La Libertad Avanza, who in the so-called PASO (primary, open, simultaneous and mandatory elections) has won more than 30% of the votes. The polls placed Sergio Massa at the head, the Peronist who holds the position of Minister of Economy of the South American nation, who led the intention to vote, but three points behind the far-right, he has remained in third place, in the absence of the final results. “Thank you all. Freedom advances. Long live freedom, damn it,” celebrated the candidate after learning the results.

He far-right presidential candidatewith a clear ‘anti-caste’ speech, arrives at the Argentine presidential elections not without controversy. Javier Gerardo Miley (Buenos Aires, 1970), with a degree in Economics from the University of Belgrano, has two other postgraduate degrees on his curriculum and has worked as an economic advisor in different organizations, for various political candidates and, more recently, for Aeropuertos Argentina 2000. Milei suffered physical and psychological violence from her familywhich led to his distance from his parents, a businessman in the transport sector and a housewife, whom he became close to during the pandemic.

“My old man would shit on me,” he said in an interview with ‘Perfil’ published in 2018, when he acknowledged that he did not regret saying that his parents were dead to him. “I do not forget more than one beating that he gave me on April 2, 1982, when I was 11 years old. We were watching everything about the Malvinas on TV and it occurred to me to say that this was delirious, that they were going to break our bonds. My old man seized a fit of rage and began to punch and kick me. He was kicking me throughout the kitchen. When he grew up he stopped hitting me to inflict psychological violence, “she said.

Who he does have a good relationship with is his sister, Karina, whom he defines as “the boss”. In addition to being her emotional support, Karina is responsible for the character that Javier Milei has created for himself, a rock star of Argentine politics: he decides the events he attends, organizes their staging… “I’m always behind Javier”, he assured in an interview with the newspaper ‘Clarín’. And with her he shares, as expected, many of his ideological positions.

Complaints for gender violence

In 2018, he was involved in a dispute with a journalist when he was giving a talk at the Metán (Salta) Bar Association. “Since you said a nonsense, I’m going to undress you,” he even told Teresita Frías, a reporter at InfoSalta. He addressed her as a “donkey” and snapped at her phrases like “It would be good if you study it if you want to ask questions about Keynesianism” and went so far as to accuse her of having “comprehension problems”, of being “arrogant” and of not knowing “a Damn” and comment without knowing. “The truth is that it was a very hostile situation,” he said after the clash, Frías, who in an interview with ‘Infobae’ defined it as a “showman” and a standupper” which is dedicated to “doing lobby“.

the journalist filed a complaint for gender violence, which is why Milei had to undergo a psychological examination. He mayor of Metán declared him persona non grata, and the judge of Family and Gender Violence of Metán, Carmelo Paz, decreed that Milei could not carry out “acts of violence” against the journalist, nor “utter insults, disqualifying threats” or use “offensive words”. Milei ended up asking for forgiveness, although she initially did not offer to do so.

Even within her own party, Milei has been singled out by other women. Mila Zurbriggen, from the Libertarian Generation, accused him of incurring the same practices as the ‘caste’ she criticizes and pointed him out for appointing women to different positions within the party “by finger” in exchange for “sexual favors”. “There is no organization [en La Libertad Avanza]there are no instances of internal debate on which projects to carry out [desde el frente]. Everything is decided by him, his sister and a very closed group of leaders”, as denounced in ‘La Nación’ at the beginning of 2023.

An accusation for plagiarism: “It doesn’t make sense”

Javier Milei worked as a columnist in Argentine newspapers such as ‘La Nación’ and ‘El cronista’ since the 2010s and went through different radio programs, to the point of having one of his own, ‘Demoliendo mitos’. Since 2022, he has a television program, ‘Cátedra libre’. And in 2021, someone denounced: “A large part of the columns that Javier Milei published in ‘El cronista’ are a plagiarism to the main authors of the Austrian School of Economics. From Ludwig von Mises to Murray Rothbard, through FA Hayek or Walter Block, Javier Milei plagiarized them all“, they wrote in a text published from Medium, under the pseudonym Marcus Tullius, the name of Cicero.

The politician, however, played down these accusations and assured that it was a demonstration of “how nervous” “the boys of the political ‘caste’ were about the advance of La Libertad Avanza.” In a conversation with the newspaper ‘La Nación’, Milei defended herself by saying that “everything” fell within the “logic of the disclosure parameters”, which is why “the accusation does not make sense”. The accusation, made public a month after the PASO elections, served Milei to point directly to the kirschnerismalthough he insisted that there was no “profit” in his publications and that in opinion columns “citations are not usually made.”

Yes to the sale of organs… and to the sale of children?

In declarations in an Argentine radio station, Javier Milei defined the organ sale market as “just another market”, opening a new controversy around the ultraliberal. “My first property is my body, why can’t I dispose of it?” he wondered. “Doesn’t the State dispose of my body, when in reality it steals more than 50% of what I generate? (…) There is a double standard: so that the state enslaves me, then yesbut if I want to dispose of a part of my body for whatever reason, what is the problem?”, he pointed out.

“It is a decision of the individual,” he added, stressing that “whoever decided to sell the organ” did not affect “the life, property or liberty” of others. In addition, he maintained his position by referring to “studies” carried out in the United States that “demonstrate” that if the organ market becomes a free market “It works so much better and has fewer problems.” Shortly after, the topic turned to childhood: following his stance in favor of the organ market, the politician was asked about the sale of children. “If I had a child, I wouldn’t sell it,” he said, but not before assuring that everything “depends.”

“When I say that I am a paleolibertarian, I mean that In an anarcho-capitalist world you give a place to uses and customs. A legal framework will appear as a consequence of people’s decisions and perhaps, in one of those contexts, it is absolutely reprehensible and it is not done; It has to do with what society has decided and thinks certain things,” he explained. His statements generated more controversy, so Milei was forced to speak clearly shortly after: “Obviously I do not agree with the sale of children,” he said. , but not before diverting the subject towards the organ market again, an issue that he described as “different”.

His own sister came to his defense: “On television or radio sometimes they take a word and the idea is not explained well. He makes a philosophical explanation. He does not agree with the sale of children, that is outrageous. It’s for a talk in an academic environment and they cut that and use it to kill him,” he said in the same interview in which he confirmed that Milei, being president, “is going to get rid of the women’s ministry” because no one believes in “that of the feminism as it is carried”.

What does Javier Milei think about…

• …he abortion? He is absolutely against abortion, even in case of rape. He only accepts it in cases where the mother is in danger. It is based on the purest liberalism, where the “life of the other”, “the right to life”, “liberty and property” are “respected”. “At the level of biology, life begins with conception and from the mathematical point of view it is conception and death. The foundation of three places: ideological, biological and mathematical”.
• …he gay marriage? On occasion, he has assured that he does not agree that homosexuality is a disease and, following libertarian logic, he maintains that if homosexual marriage “does not harm the life, liberty and property of others” there is no harm or injury to rights; this is the same position that his sister has maintained. “Let everyone be free to think what they want. The important thing is that people are happy…”. However, Milei’s running mate, Victoria Villarruel, has come out against the law of equal marriage, pointing out that this formula was already “guaranteed” with civil unions.

A year before the elections, another Milei controversy jumped to the rest of the world, after announcing that she would eliminate the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. At that time, she assured that she would not apologize for “having a penis”: “I don’t have to feel ashamed of being a white, blond, and blue-eyed man“, he pointed out, adding: “I am not going to concede anything to cultural Marxism. With this they know that the Ministry for Women is on track, because the only equality is before the law.”

Serious controversies aside, one of the most popular topics surrounding Javier Milei has always been his hairstyle, in the form of a motorcycle helmet. On more than one occasion she has explained that she doesn’t even comb her hair. “I get out of the shower, dry myself with the towel and get in the car. I roll the windows and ‘the invisible hand’ combs my hair,” she says, referring to the classic economist Adam Smith.