BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — As an economist Javier Miley As Argentina’s president takes office on Sunday, the nation wonders which version of him will rule: a chainsaw-wielding, anti-establishment crusader. campaign trailOr the most moderate president-elect to emerge in recent weeks.
Miley, 53, rose to fame on television with a series of defamatory rants against what she called political casteism. He parlayed his popularity into a congressional seat and then quickly ran for president. The resounding success of self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalism”. August primaries It sent shock waves across the political landscape and raised the stakes.
The Argentinians were disappointed With the state of the economy — triple-digit inflation, four in 10 people in poverty, a depreciating currency — it proved receptive to foreigner’s outlandish ideas to solve their woes and transform the nation. He won the November 19 election The second round is decisive — and dispatched the Peronist political force that dominated Argentina for decades.
As a candidate, Miley promised to purge the political establishment of corruption, abolish the central bank, which he accused of printing money and fueling inflation, and replace the rapidly depreciating peso with the U.S. dollar.
But after winning, he tapped former Fed Chairman Luis Caputo His Economic Minister And one of Caputo’s allies headed the bank, apparently putting his more famous plans to add the dollar on hold.
Like former US President Donald Trump, Miley casts herself as a willing warrior against the creeps of global socialism. Appreciate openly. But when Miley traveled to America last week, she didn’t see Mar-a-Lago; Instead, he had lunch with another former US president. Bill Clinton.
He also sent a diplomat with a long history in climate negotiations COP28 conference In Dubai, the Argentinian newspaper La Nacion reported, despite emphatically rejecting humanity’s involvement in global warming. He also backed away from plans to eliminate the country’s health ministry.
His moderation may stem from pragmatism, the scope of the biggest challenge ahead, his political inexperience and the need to forge alliances with other parties to carry out his agenda in Congress, where his party is ranked third.
He chose Patricia Bullrich, a longtime politician and the second-highest first-round contender from the Coalition, as his defense minister, and his running mate, Louis Petrie, as his defense minister.
However, there are signs that Miley has not abandoned his opposition or radical plans to subvert the government.
After his inauguration on Sunday morning, he intends to break with tradition by delivering his inaugural address not to the assembled legislators but to his supporters gathered outside the National Congress building.
He is expected to address the economic woes he inherited from outgoing President Alberto Fernandez and announce his first executive measures, including drastic cuts in public spending.
Argentina’s yawning fiscal deficit threatens a $43 billion trade deficit and a $45 billion debt to the International Monetary Fund, $10.6 billion owed to multilateral and private creditors by April.
“No money,” is Miley’s common refrain.
Already he has said he will scrap several ministries, including culture, environment, women and science and technology. He wants to merge the Ministries of Social Development, Labor and Education under a single Ministry of Human Capital.
However, Millay will face fierce opposition from lawmakers in the Peronist movement and the unions it controls, whose members have said they will refuse to lose wages.
Following her inauguration speech, Miley plans to travel to the presidential palace in a convertible and then meet with foreign dignitaries.
Among them will be prominent far-right figures: Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban; Santiago Abascal, president of Spain’s Vox party; Bolsonaro-aligned lawmakers, including Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro and his son.
Miley reportedly sent a letter inviting Brazil’s current president. Luis Inacio Lula da SilvaAfter calling the leftist “obviously” corrupt during a TV interview last month, he insisted the two would not meet if he became president.
Lula sent his foreign minister to attend Miley’s inauguration.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to make his first trip to Latin America. Invasion of Russia of his country in February 2022.
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Biller reports from Rio de Janeiro
