New on the Latin American political scene, Javier Milei has quickly become the face of the far right on a continent that is gradually moving in the opposite direction. Five years ago he wasn’t even a politician, yet in October 2023 Milei managed to win the vote of just over half the electorate using such Trumpian antics as wielding a chainsaw on stage and smashing a piñata (symbolizing the country’s welfare state).
Argentina’s novice ‘caudillo’ (traditional Latin American authoritarian boss) has wasted no time in staking his ground and making enemies across the political spectrum. Referring to himself as ‘the Lion’, Milei has mauled everyone from neighbouring Brazil’s ‘corrupt’ President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva to ‘filthy leftist’ Pope Francis. He maintains good relations with the rich and powerful, travelling last January to their big shindig in Davos to pledge allegiance the corporate oligarchs that run the global economy: ‘Let no-one tell you that your ambition is immoral ... Argentina is your staunch and unconditional ally.’ He is also pally with Brazil’s autocratic ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, a big supporter of Israel’s apartheid regime and has a pronounced sympathy for the brutal generals who oversaw the killing and forced disappearance of some 30,000 Argentineans during that country’s dirty war (1974 to 1983).
