Anyone guess what Argentina’s Milei is up to?
All this name-calling only serves to impede regional collaboration on serious issues
What is with Argentina’s mercurial and bombastic president, Javier Milei? Perhaps it is true what some commentators are saying about him – namely, that he is trying to channel his inner former U.S. president Donald Trump.
Obviously operating under a tremendous amount of strain given his unflattering domestic political and economic situation, Milei recently took pot-shots at outgoing Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) and current Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.
After the self-described anarcho-capitalist called AMLO “ignorant,” the Mexican president responded by saying that he couldn’t understand how intelligent Argentines could vote for someone “who despises the people” like
Milei does.
In turn, Brazil’s Lula returned the favour for Milei’s “communist” tag by signalling him out as little more than a “primitive” nationalist.
VERBAL ARTILLERY
Not surprisingly, the far right-leaning Milei also saved some of his verbal artillery for his leftist neighbours and harshest critics in Colombia and Venezuela. He has absolutely no time for Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro and Colombia’s Gustavo Petro – and would dearly love to see them defeated or removed from power.
In a recent news interview,
Milei wasted no time in trashing Petro and smearing his name. Besides the usual barbs of Petro being a “communist” and a Cuba campfollower, he took things to a different level by labelling Petro a “murderer” and a “terrorist.”
Colombia’s Ministry of Foreign Relations was quick to respond to Milei’s slanderous comments. Its official statement noted: “The Argentine president’s comments have deteriorated the trust of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected.”
It is worth remembering that Bogotá recalled its ambassador to Argentina in January after Milei unleashed an earlier barrage of similar remarks.
But this time, Colombia took it a step further and actually expelled a number of Argentine diplomats from the country.
JOUSTING MATCH
The truth is that Petro, though a former member of the long-disbanded M-19 guerrilla movement, never directly participated in any terror attacks in Colombia. But Milei has no interest in the truth. He is simply trapped inside his own ideological compartment, and thus can’t help or restrain himself.
In addition to breathlessly insulting Venezuela by referring to it as a “butcher shop” where there is unprecedented “carnage,” Milei is calling for the imposition of tough economic and political sanctions – mostly by nominally democratic states in Latin America – to isolate Venezuela hemispherically and to compel it to introduce democratic reforms. Of course, this will be a nonstarter in much of the leftleaning region.
As you might well expect, Maduro was not about to shy away from a verbal jousting match with Milei. But he left it up to Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil to respond in his place.
Gil opined that Milei’s comments merely reduced him to a “spokesperson” for Venezuela’s far-right oligarchy and its persistent and short-sighted call for “invasions and sanctions.”
Not willing to end it there, though, he went on to needle Milei further: “Instead of wagging your tail for your masters, worry yourself about the internal affairs of your country, which are already quite tangled.”
DIVERTING ATTENTION
I have to say that I’m not exactly sure why Milei is making these offensive and inflammatory remarks. But I do have a few educated guesses that I can offer.
First, this is part of a well-worn tactic of trying to change the channel and to divert attention away from Milei’s flailing austerity program.
His most recent iteration of neoliberal “shock therapy” has precipitated regular citizen demonstrations in the streets and left Argentina in tatters – with inflation running at 270 per cent (the highest in the world), poverty rates rising by over 50 per cent and tens of thousands of public sector workers recently terminated.
This has all added to Argentina’s growing debt, a crackdown on public dissent and political uncertainty. No wonder Milei wants to change the conversation to anything other than Argentina’s present economic and financial malaise.
TRUMP PLAYBOOK
Secondly, Milei is merely trying to take a page out of the Trump political playbook of “flooding the playing field” with incendiary brickbats, engaging in relentless distraction and dividing and polarizing the citizenry. He is clearly seeking to play to his populist base in Argentina and to solidify further his “outsider” persona.
It may very well be that he is also banking on Trump to win the November U.S. presidential election. Milei’s most recent outbursts, then, are really about highlighting his efforts to curry favour with the Republican standardbearer.
All of this name-calling and back and forth, though, only serves to impede regional co-operation and collaboration on a host of serious economic, social and environmental challenges.
Moreover, the people of South America have seen this kind of vapid mudslinging between right- and left-leaning political leaders before.
It was counterproductive then, and it is equally unhelpful today.