by Just over a month before being elected Argentina’s next president, Javier Milei’s supporters listened raptly as the self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” and tantric sex expert promised to take a “chainsaw” to the “parasite” state.
An Anglophile with an Austin Powers haircut and massive sideburns who once fronted a Rolling Stones tribute band, Milei reveled in the crowd’s adulation that day, frantically waving his arms like a conductor to the rhythm of the song. singing.
“We are going to kick their asses, directly remove them from office,” he shouted.
From time to time, in the cavernous conference center on the outskirts of the Argentine capital, the audience of several thousand people interrupted the libertarian economist’s anti-establishment tirade with chants of: “The caste is afraid.”
It was this term that Milei, 53, used throughout his campaign to dismiss the entire ideological spectrum of traditional politicians, from the Argentine equivalents of the Corbynistas to the European Research Group.
He blamed them all equally for the collapse of the economy in a country that a century ago was one of the richest in the world and exported large volumes of grain, wool and beef. Inflation now exceeds 120 percent and the poverty rate is 40 percent.
The radical outsider promised “the reconstruction of Argentina” when he was elected on Sunday night. But many Argentines remained deeply concerned about the future of their country.
His concern arose partly from Milei’s extreme views on deregulation and privatization (he has proposed a free market in human organs and even unwanted babies), but also from the erratic personal style of the man seen as a lifelong loner. .
They wonder if he has the temperament to lead the troubled society of 46 million people.
“Absolutely not,” said Juan Luis González, a prominent journalist and author of El Loco, an unauthorized biography of Milei, when asked earlier this year whether Milei was fit to be president.
“I am very concerned about his political ideas, which I simply do not believe are implementable in Argentina. But they worry me much less than Milei’s emotional instability. When he’s angry on TV, it’s not an act. She is really angry.”
Who is ‘The Fool’?
Based on anonymous interviews with Milei’s personal contacts, The Fool is filled with mind-blowing revelations, including that the candidate hears “voices,” believes God told him to enter politics, and talks to his dead English mastiff, Conan, who wears the name of Conan the Barbarian – through a medium.
Mr. Milei did not respond to El Loco. But his campaign dismissed the book as “lies” designed to hurt his chances. However, The Telegraph verified one of The Fool’s surprising accusations, confirming with the Massachusetts-based company Perpetuate that he had cloned Conan, resulting in Milei’s four current English mastiffs.
One of them is called Milton and another Friedman, in honor of the academic who helped found the neoliberal school of economics.
Despite being a polite free-market nerd in private, Milei has invariably spouted hyperbolic and crude invectives on stage. Her highlights include calling a journalist a “donkey” and accusing her compatriot Pope Francis of being an “imbecile” and “representative of evil on earth.”
Son of a bus driver and a housewife, Milei’s childhood in the bohemian Buenos Aires district of Palermo was, according to himself, unhappy. His father, Norberto, routinely humiliated him and harassed him at school. His mother, Alicia, was cold and unloving, according to what he has said.
The only thing that saved him was his sister, Karina, with whom he remains very close and who is expected to be his first lady.
Mr. González tells the story of Karina who fainted and had to be taken to the hospital because Norberto once hit her brother. Alicia then accused the boy of almost causing her sister’s death. Although they are now partially reconciled, Milei has acknowledged that she has not spoken to her parents for a decade.
He eventually studied economics and played, briefly, as a substitute goalkeeper for the local soccer team, Chacarita Juniors, in Argentina’s second division. He later became an advisor to Eduardo Eurnekian, one of the richest men in Argentina. Mr. Eurnekian’s companies include AA2000, which operates most of the country’s airports.
It was here that Milei rose to national prominence, becoming a regular guest on television, standing out from other economics commentators for his ability to offend and off-topic comments, including claims that Eastern spirituality had accelerated his sex life.
“It has two faces”
While she has become a popular TikTok and television personality, Milei remains a homebody who loves to be surrounded by her dogs and books and whose social circle is largely limited to her sister. It is said that she had her first long-term relationship at the age of 47. Since August she has been dating Fátima Florez, a photogenic comedian who poses as former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.
“He has two sides, the violent one, who yells and fights with everyone, and the lonely 12-year-old boy who longs for love and approval,” González said.
However, separating Milei the man from Milei the policy expert may be redundant, given the chaos many fear he will unleash with his plans to dollarize the economy, close the central bank and 10 of the 18 government ministries. of Argentina, and privatize health care and education by handing out vouchers. To the poor Just in case, he talks about ending diplomatic relations with “communist” countries, including Brazil and China, Argentina’s two largest trading partners.
“He wants to eliminate the word ‘rights’ from the dictionary, whether it’s labor rights, the right to abortion, gender rights or the right to sexual identity,” said Carlos de Angelis, a sociologist who used to appear on television with Milei. and he believes that the candidate is “on the verge” of authoritarianism. “For him there are only privileges.”
Dollarisation would require about $40bn (£32.8bn), experts say, money Argentina does not have and probably could not borrow. Milei has suggested that the first stage could be an open competition between currencies, in which Argentines would use “gold, Swiss francs or the pound”, as each one prefers.
“He doesn’t explain how he’s going to implement his policies,” said Tomás Borovinsky, a political scientist at Argentina’s San Martín University. “He keeps saying ‘We’ll see.’”
One of Milei’s few known friends, Diego Giacomini, an economist with whom he co-wrote a book before the couple separated, accused Milei of wanting to be a “king.” Eurnekian has said that his former advisor should learn respect and “shut her mouth.”
Yet despite (or perhaps because of) his eccentric personality, Milei, who is often compared to Donald Trump, has tapped into a deep vein of public anger over Argentina’s economic implosion.
“Milei follows the spirit of the times,” Borovinsky added. “This image, of a quirky rocker, with his leather jackets, shouting insults and being politically incorrect, is perfect for the moment. “Voters want to punish politicians.”
