Argentina president Javier Milei escapes election rally after being pelted with rocks – video
Argentinian president campaigning for midterm elections – the first big test of his popularity – when protesters threw bottles and rocks at his vehicle
The president of Argentina, Javier Milei, was pelted with stones while campaigning near the capital Buenos Aires on Wednesday by demonstrators protesting about a corruption scandal.
The far-right leader, who was whisked from the scene by his security detail, sustained no injuries after his motorcade was attacked, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni wrote on X.
Milei, who is campaigning for October midterm elections, was riding in the back of a pickup truck and greeting supporters in the city of Lomas de Zamora, 20km south of Buenos Aires, when protesters began throwing plants, rocks and bottles at his vehicle.
The vehicle carrying the president and his sister, Karina Milei, along with other officials, quickly left the scene.
Afterwards, scuffles broke out between supporters and opponents of the libertarian leader.
Buenos Aires march on Saturday, August 9. Photo: Argentine Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People
Protesters on Saturday also denounced the very close relationship between the governments of Milei and Netanyah
On August 9, thousands of Argentines took to the streets of the capital, Buenos Aires, demanding an end to the genocide being committed in Gaza, Palestine Israel. The slogan of the march was “We are all children of Gaza”.
The protesters denounced the indiscriminate attacks and forced starvation that, they claimed, Israeli forces are perpetrating against the civilian population.
The demonstration ended at Plaza de Mayo, where, according to some media outlets, more than 10,000 people demanded an end to the repressive actions in Palestine: “ Gaza is starving, time is up!” and “Palestine will prevail from the river to the sea” were some of the slogans chanted by the protesters as they waved Palestinian flags.
The march brought together human rights organizations, left-wing political parties, and various social movements, which declared that the only solution to any conflict in Palestine is peace, respect for sovereignty, and a dignified life for those who live there.
“We are facing genocide, which is confirmed by Israeli leaders themselves when they openly say that it is lawful to starve and dehydrate the entire population of Gaza, including its children. This genocide must be denounced relentlessly,” said Gabriel Solano, one of the leaders of the Left Front, during the mobilization.
For its part, the Palestinian Embassy in Argentina posted on X: “THANK YOU ARGENTINA, WE WILL NEVER FORGET! An impressive demonstration took place on Saturday, August 9, in Buenos Aires to denounce the genocide being carried out by the state of Israel against the Palestinian people.”
A close relationship between the governments of Argentina and Israel?
The demonstration also criticized the close ties between the Argentine and Israeli governments, which Argentine President Javier Milei (who recently traveled to the occupied Palestinian territories) has never denied. One of the slogans heard at the march was: “Milei, Zionist, you are the terrorist”.
Milei has announced that in 2026, he will relocate the Argentine embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, a move that Palestinians and several governments around the world have heavily criticized. For his part, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that he will soon come to Argentina on an official visit, a move that various Argentine political movements and parties have strongly denounced.
In addition to Buenos Aires, demonstrations against the genocide in Palestine took place in other Argentine cities, such as San Carlos de Bariloche, El Bolsón, Trelew, Comodoro Rivadavia, Ushuaia, Río Grande, San Salvador de Jujuy, Salta, San Miguel de Tucumán, San Juan, La Rioja, Catamarca, Mendoza, Santa Fe, Concepción del Uruguay, Córdoba, Cosquín, Alta Gracia, Villa Dolores, La Plata, Bahía Blanca, Mar del Plata, Neuquén, and Viedma.
Solidarity with Palestine continues to grow
“The last three demonstrations have grown due to the news about the genocide taking place in Gaza,” Gabriela B., an activist with Nuestramérica and member of the Argentine Committee for Solidarity with the Palestinian People, told Peoples Dispatch. For her, there is a significant increase in support for the cause, “If there was ever a belief that people could ignore the situation in Palestine without it affecting their humanity or without their stance being noticed, that idea has been shattered.”
She also pointed out the importance of Israel in Argentina: “In Argentina, the situation is very difficult. As a colleague mentioned, Argentina is considered the capital of Zionism [in Latin America], which means that the mainstream media only broadcasts voices that cover up the genocide. Furthermore, any action or complaint related to Palestine is framed within the concept of anti-Semitism, making solidarity and questioning of the situation even more difficult. The silence is already unsustainable, and Netanyahu’s possible visit, as well as the famine in Gaza, have triggered acts of repudiation. This resulted in posts on the accounts of famous artists during the week and in the large march that took place not only in Buenos Aires but in 30 other locations throughout the country, including cities and provinces.”
Regarding the demands made by the protesters, Gabriela said: “The main demand was a call to stop the genocide and famine, and to reject the possible visit to Argentina by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.” Other demands included:
The withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon.
Ending diplomatic relations with Israel. Cancelling the Mercosur-Israel agreement (a Free Trade Agreement between Israel and a bloc of South American countries).
Stop the persecution of those who show solidarity with the Palestinian people.
In Argentina, two prominent political figures are currently being persecuted for tweeting about the genocide in Gaza: Vanina Biasi and Alejandro Bodart.
When asked about the criticisms raised during the march against Milei’s close relationship with Netanyahu, Gabriela B. said that in the last month, key political and progressive movements have begun to join the movement in support of Palestine and rejecting Israel’s actions. After Saturday’s march, momentum has continued to build, “various complaints were filed after Saturday by trade unions and human rights organizations, demanding Netanyahu’s arrest if he visits Argentina. The same complaint alleges that Netanyahu committed ‘genocide and war crimes’ against the Palestinians (presented by the secretary general of ATE Buenos Aires, Daniel ‘Tano’ Catalano, and the representative of the H.I.J.O.S. group, Verónica Castelli).”
She added: “However, as far as Milei and the ruling party are concerned, nothing has happened. No media outlet, except for alternative ones, has reported on the large march. The only news that managed to break through the media blockade and name Israel as a murderer was the news of the six journalists who were killed on Sunday. This march has served to denounce the Zionist alliance that the government maintains and to continue raising awareness among our people.”
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities,mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.
Interaction between a pensioner and a cop in Buenos Aires on March 12. Photo: Argentina Humana / X
More than a hundred people were arrested and dozens were injured in the police repression. Movements and press organizations have called for the resignation of the Secretary of Security, Patricia Bullrich.
On March 12, Javier Milei’s right-wing government brutally repressed a demonstration of retirees and their supporters, including fan clubs of football teams, demanding better living conditions. The Buenos Aires Police reported that at least 124 people were arrested in the protests outside Congress. For its part, the Emergency Medical Attention System (SAME) reported that, at the end of the day of protests, 46 people were injured.
Early on March 13, a judge in Buenos Aires, Karina Andrade, ruled to free 114 of the detainees arguing that the constitutional rights to protest, to manifest in democracy, and free speech, had been put at risk. She added that elderly people are “one of the most vulnerable sectors of our country” and they are protected.
Retirees demand to live with dignity
For the past several months, retirees have been protesting every Wednesday to demand an improvement in their living conditions. Thanks to Milei’s neoliberal adjustments, their quality of life has drastically declined.
According to data from the Ombudsman’s Office for the Elderly, a pensioner needs at least 1,200,523 pesos (USD 1,066) per month to cover their basic expenses. However, the minimum pension in February was 343,086 pesos (USD 321), including a bonus of 70,000 pesos (USD 65). The glaring gap between the cost of living and the income of pensioners has been the key motivating factor driving adults of 70-90 years old to take to the streets every week and risk brutal repression from Milei’s right-wing government.
According to Florencia Abreju, an Argentine journalist, “The cuts to medicines, the reduction of medical assistance, and the excessive increase of basic services have aggravated the situation even more. Why always with the retirees? The answer is clear: Milei’s government destroys the rights of all, starting with the weakest.”
Repression was ordered by Milei’s government
This Wednesday was not the first time that the Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich had ordered repression, but the level of force used by the police was certainly more extreme. Tear gas, rubber bullets, water cannons, pepper spray, blows with batons, etc., were some of the means of repression used by the Argentine police to confront the demonstrators, who were mostly retirees.
Pensioner dousing his face with milk after being tear gassed. Photo: Argentina Humana / X
One of the victims is photographer Pablo Grillo, who suffered a serious head injury while taking pictures of the protest and the repression. As seen in a video, the police fired a tear gas bomb at him which directly impacted his head, causing a severe wound that kept him on the verge of death at the Ramos Mejía hospital in Buenos Aires.
The Executive justified the widespread repression of the protests by citing the participation of several fan organizations of various Argentine soccer clubs, such as Chacaritas, Boca Juniors, River Plate, and Rosario Central, among others. According to Bullrich, the members of the so-called “barras bravas” are dangerous groups and this justified the forceful response of the National Police, even though several of the injured and detained do not belong to such groups. On her X account, the Security Secretary wrote “Our forces are deployed to enforce the protocol: traffic is not cut and the barras bravas, on the sidewalk.”
However, for Florencia Abreju, this type of rhetoric seeks to discredit the legitimate claims of the protesters. “The most alarming thing is that the government, through Bullrich and her officials, justified the repression and stigmatized the protesters… This discourse seeks to criminalize social protest and delegitimize the demands of people who take to the streets to defend their rights. The stigmatization of militancy and fierce repression are tools typical of an authoritarian government that is willing to do anything to stay in power.”
Several journalists demand Bullrich’s resignation
In response to the repression ordered by the Secretary of Security and in solidarity with the injured journalist, several journalists have begun calling for Patricia Bullrich’s resignation. The Association of Graphic Reporters of Argentina expressed in a communiqué “Institutional violence and impunity for crimes committed by the security forces have increased…Today [we demand] that the President [Milei] immediately remove [Patricia Bullrich] and place her and her subordinates at the disposal of the justice system. Otherwise, we make him morally, politically, and criminally complicit in the crimes committed by his [Security] Secretary.”
“They shot a colleague in the Congress…Tomorrow all the journalists in Argentina must be asking for the resignation of whoever ordered the shooting of the colleague,” said a journalist on the Crónica TV Show as images of the repression flashed on the screen.
For now, Milei shows no signs of backing down from his internal security policy of openly and forcefully repressing demonstrators opposing his neoliberal agenda. In this regard, Abreju points out “Repression, stigmatization, and authoritarian discourse are signs of a government that is in decline but does not hesitate to resort to excessive force to impose its agenda through terror. It is time to be alert and united in the face of this subjugation of rights. What is at stake is not only the future of retirees but democracy and the future of the nation. Today, as never before, it is necessary to defend what has been conquered and repudiate the systematic violence that seeks to install fear in the people with an already known recipe.”
Argentina’s President Javier Milei (C) attends Donald Trump’s inauguration as the next President of the United States in the rotunda of the United States Capitol on January 20, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Shawn Thew – Pool/Getty Images)
“Look where you brought us with your madness! You turned Argentina into a casino where the croupier is the president himself,” one opposition politician said.
Argentina’s far-right libertarian President Javier Milei faces legal challenges and calls for impeachment after a cryptocurrency he touted on social media over the weekend rapidly rose and then tanked in value.
Milei first promoted the $LIBRA coin from his personal account on X Friday night, which then skyrocketed in value to $5 apiece, according to Reuters. Within hours, however, the coin’s value plummeted to under $1. Milei deleted his initial tweet five hours after he first posted it, The New York Times reported, writing in a new post that he was “not familiar with the details of the project.”
“We just witnessed one of the fastest and largest destructions of wealth in retail trading history,” noted The Kobeissi Letter, which tracks capital markets, in a social media post. “Argentina’s memecoin, $LIBRA, erased -$4.5 billion of retail capital in seven hours. Truly destructive.”
In the first 40 minutes after Milei first tweeted boosting the coin, its value rose by more than 2,000%, CoinDesk reported. However, it then began to fall as early investors sold their shares, eventually plummeting 95% from a maximum value of $4.4 billion.
Crypto experts warned the $LIBRA coin, which was developed by KIP Protocol and Hayden Davis, could be a “rug pull,” a scam in which a crypto developer launches and inflates a coin only to pull out and leave investors hanging.
“Milei’s participation in the crime of crypto fraud is extremely serious,” the Lower House bloc of the Peronist Unión por la Patria, a center-left opposition group, wrote on social media Saturday. “It’s a scandal without precedent. Our bloc of national deputies has decided to move forward with presenting an impeachment request against the president of the nation.”
Opposition lawmaker Leandro Santoro further called Milei’s actions a “scandal, which embarrasses us on an international scale” and “requires us to launch an impeachment request against the president.”
On Sunday, Socialist Party lawmaker Esteban Paulón also called for impeachment proceedings.
“If as a president of a country you propose something for private benefit there is an obvious conflict of interest.”
On Monday, Argentina’s benchmark S&P Merval had fallen by 4%, according to Reuters. The incident sparked more than 100 legal complaints, which were assigned to Federal Judge Maria Servini on Monday.
One case was brought by a coalition of lawyers involved in the Right to the City Observatory think tank as well as economist and former Argentine Central Bank President Claudio Lozano. The group accused Milei of fraud, dereliction of duty, and criminal association, according to theBuenos Aires Herald.
An official statement from the president’s office on Saturday said that Milei had met twice with the developers of $LIBRA and had decided to promote the coin “as he does daily with many entrepreneurs who want to launch a project in Argentina to create jobs and obtain investments.”
“Not having been part of any instance of the development of the cryptocurrency, after the repercussions that the launch of the project had and to avoid any speculation and not give it further dissemination, he decided to delete the post,” the statement continued, adding that the president had asked the Anti-Corruption Office to investigate whether he or anyone else in the government engaged in “improper conduct.”
However, the lawyers challenged Milei’s account, according to the Buenos Aires Herald:
In their report, the lawyers dispute Milei’s subsequent claims that he was not aware of the project’s details. They highlight that the president made his post just three minutes after $LIBRA was launched, timing that indicates he knew it was coming before it was announced. They also argue that, as an economist, it is unlikely that he did not understand the details of the project he was sharing.
In a post addressed to Milei directly, former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner heavily criticized the current president for painting himself as an expert yet claiming innocence of the scheme.
“Weren’t you the ‘best president in history’? Weren’t you the ‘genius of the economy’? From self-proclaimed ‘global leader’ to CRYPTO SCAMMER,” de Kirchner wrote.
“Look where you brought us with your madness! You turned Argentina into a casino where the croupier is the president himself,” she continued. “THAT IS YOUR MARKET FREEDOM… that of the casino. Your mask has fallen off.”
While experts say impeachment efforts are unlikely to succeed, the incident could harm Milei in the upcoming midterm elections.
“It is extremely serious if confirmed, especially in terms of a president’s powers to promote something private,” left-wing Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum told Reuters. “If as a president of a country you propose something for private benefit there is an obvious conflict of interest.”
The scandal drew comparisons to U.S. President Donald Trump, who also launched a meme coin shortly before taking office, the value of which also first rose and then fell dramatically. Milei has expressed support for Trump in the past, while Elon Musk has taken inspiration from Milei’s chainsaw-wielding approach to government for his ideologically-driven anti-government effort Department of Government Efficiency.
Power-mad orange gasbag Donald Trump says Burn, Baby, Burn.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
RISING RIGHT: Activists wearing masks of far-right politicians (L-R) Marine Le Pen, former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, Vox leader Santiago Abascal, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni protest before the EU elections, Madrid, May 19 2024
Driven on by novel forms of hard-right populism like Modi and Trump, European neofascists are skillfully rebranding themselves and taking power by copying the left’s language — just as they did in the last century, writes JOHN GREEN
AROUND the world, we have been witnessing the rise of new right-wing and neofascist political forces at the same time as we have experienced the demise or marginalisation of strong left-wing forces.
We face a new and more virulent Donald Trump presidency in the US, we have seen the success of Giorgio Meloni’s Fratelli d’Italia party in Italy, Modi’s fundamentalist Hinduism in India, Javier Milei’s neoliberal extremism in Argentina, Victor Orban’s authoritarian regime in Hungary and the jack-in-the-box rise of Nigel Farage, who sees himself as a prime minister in waiting, here in Britain.
…
The right loves using the German fascists’ full name, National Socialist German Workers Party, rather than the shortened term Nazi in order to deliberately conflate fascism with socialism and communism in the public’s mind.
As we know, Hitler only belatedly incorporated the term socialist into his party’s name in order to sow confusion and win over working-class voters, which he managed to do very successfully. The National Socialists were soon demasked as firm upholders of rampant capitalism, not socialism.
Of course, drawing comparisons between 1930s Germany and our world today can be dangerous, but there are undoubted parallels from which we can learn. Once again, world capitalism is in a deep crisis, and fascism is seen in some quarters, once again, as offering an apparent way out.
Just as the Nazis did, the neofascists today, recognising the widespread anger among large sections of the population at the way the super-wealthy are destroying our societies with impunity, are pretending to attack the unaccountable oligarchs and super-wealthy tech CEOs, big pharma and authoritarian government.
This is, however, mere rhetoric in order to win over the disaffected working classes; they have no intention of doing anything about the super-rich and tech monopolies who are or will be funding them.
