Argentine President Javier Milei with US Ambassador in Argentina Marc Stanley
In an interview with CNN, the Argentine president called Petro a “terrorist assassin”, Mexican President López Obrador “ignorant”, and declared that Israel was not committing “any excesses” in Gaza
Argentina’s libertarian president Javier Milei is under fire from his counterparts in the region for comments made during an interview with CNN Español. In response to his explosive comments, wherein he called Colombia’s president a “terrorist assassin”, Colombia’s Foreign Ministry announced the expulsion of Argentina’s diplomats from its embassy in Bogotá, Colombia.
The Foreign Ministry wrote in a statement, “This is not the first time that Mr. Milei offends the Colombian head of state, affecting the historical relationship of brotherhood between Colombia and Argentina.”
Indeed, Milei made similar comments about the leftist president back in January. When asked what he thought about the Colombian president, Milei told right-wing Colombian-American journalist Patricia Janiot that he is a “communist assassin that is sinking Colombia”.
In the statement released by the Colombian government, they highlighted: “The expressions of the Argentine president have deteriorated the confidence of our nation, in addition to offending the dignity of President Petro, who was democratically elected.”
Meanwhile, former Argentine president Alberto Fernández also condemned the statement by his successor. “I regret and categorically reject the statements of President Javier Milei, who has mistreated the President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro. My solidarity with the president of the Colombian people. The derogatory and disqualifying way in which the Argentine president expresses himself about presidents legitimately elected by their people and who are recognized leaders throughout Latin America is absolutely inadmissible.”
Gustavo Petro himself responded to Milei’s comments on Thursday and stated, “I believe that Milei seeks to destroy, or at least postpone, the project of Latin American integration. Today the Argentine people suffer and poverty increases. Milei’s promise to repeat the neoliberal system of 30 years ago may be a failure foretold; His thesis in the world that he has seen today as neoliberalism led to worsening the climate crisis, and putting us on the brink of extinction, as a species, is not accurate. The Argentine people are the ones who must discuss these issues and decide.”
He added, “Despite the insults, we must preserve the project of unity, in diversity, of Latin America and the Caribbean.”
Since winning the elections, Milei has rejected the pro-Global South integration position of his predecessors, instead pledging his priority and allegiance to the United States. Weeks after he was sworn in, Milei announced that Argentina would not join the BRICS economic bloc. The body had offered Argentina membership after its Johannesburg summit in August 2023, but Milei stated in December that it would rather do business with the US and Israel. So far Argentina has remained in the Latin American integration platforms but has threatened to withdraw from some.
Milei’s explosive comments were not reserved only for Colombia’s president. The CNN interviewer mentioned that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador had said some “tough words” about Milei, to which the Argentine president said “That an ignorant person like López Obrador speaks ill of me exalts me”.
The Mexican head of state responded to the comments on Thursday saying, “Milei stated that I am ‘ignorant’ because I called him a ‘conservative fascist.’ You are right: I still do not understand how the Argentines, being so intelligent, voted for someone who is not accurate, who despises the people and who dared to accuse his countryman [Pope] Francisco of being a ‘communist’ and ‘representative of the Evil One in the earth’, when it comes to the most Christian Pope and defender of the poor that I have ever known or heard of. PS Hugs to Gustavo Petro.”
Another segment of the not-yet aired interview that was shared was regarding Milei’s views on Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. The staunch zionist declared: “Israel is not committing any excesses.”
The full interview is set to air this Sunday March 31.
After 100 days of a Javier Milei presidency, hundreds of thousands of Argentinians marked the anniversary of the 1976 coup amid growing revisionism of the brutal dictatorship years. BERT SCHOUWENBURG reports
EVERY March 24, hundreds of thousands of Argentinians flood the streets of Buenos Aires and other cities to commemorate those who were killed, tortured or simply disappeared during the military dictatorship that took power on that date in 1976.
This year the marches and demonstrations had particular significance because they took place just after President Javier Milei’s first chaotic 100 days in office following his shock election victory in November of last year.
Until now, it has been widely accepted that during a dictatorship that lasted until 1983, some 30,000 people were taken from their homes, workplaces or from on the streets and were never seen again.
They were put in clandestine detention centres where they were interrogated, tortured and in most cases, killed. Some were put in aeroplanes, flown out to sea and dumped into the ocean.
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Following the return of civilian rule, the leaders of the coup and other perpetrators of these crimes against humanity were tried and imprisoned, though many of them have been permitted to remain under house arrest rather than go to jail.
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However, since Milei’s election, the consensus that the sentences being served by those guilty of the atrocities are more than justified is being challenged by his government who say that they have been wronged.
Demonstrators carry pictures of missing people during a march for the Day of Remembrance for Truth and Justice in Buenos Aires, Argentina, March 24 2024. Juan Ignacio Roncoroni / EPA
“Milei, you scumbag, you are the dictatorship.” This was among the defiant shouts that rang out across downtown Buenos Aires on Sunday March 24 as some 400,000 Argentinians filled the Plaza de Mayo, the iconic square that has borne witness to pivotal moments in Argentina’s history.
People flock to Buenos Aires – and other cities across Argentina – on this date each year for an annual march to commemorate the victims of the country’s last military dictatorship. Between 1976 and 1983, an estimated 30,000 people were killed, imprisoned, tortured or forcibly disappeared in a state-led campaign that still haunts the country.
But this year the march felt a little different. Activists showed their palpable outrage at President Javier Milei’s administration for seeking to downplay the brutal legacy of the dictatorship.
And on March 21, Milei’s defence minister, Luis Petri, reportedly met with the wives of military officers convicted of crimes against humanity. The meeting occurred amid rumours of pardons for human rights abuses that had been committed under the dictatorship.
Many human rights have been rolled back too. Activists have faced threats, funding for the country’s commemorative sites has been withdrawn and their staff laid off, and workers in the Secretariat of Human Rights have been sacked. Human rights, which have been hard won over decades in Argentina, are in danger.
People gather in cities across Argentina on March 24, the anniversary of a coup that installed a brutal military dictatorship in Argentina. AstridSinai/Shutterstock
Political violence
Milei is a self-professed anarcho-capitalist. His policies are at best, nebulous, and at worst, dangerously chaotic. Since he was elected in November 2023, Milei has made clear plans for sweeping liberal economic reforms, cuts to funding for public services, and has opposed equal marriage and legal abortion.
Milei’s human rights policy is worrying. A number of active and retired military personnel have been appointed to various government positions, including chief of staff and to the Ministry of Defence. However, there would be worse to come in the run up to this year’s March 24 commemorations – an outright assault on human rights.
In early March, Sabrina Bölke, a member of HIJOS (Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice against Oblivion and Silence), was attacked and sexually assaulted in her home. HIJOS is an Argentinian organisation founded in 1995 to represent the children of people who had been murdered, disappeared or imprisoned by the country’s military dictatorship
Before leaving, her attackers wrote “VVLC [viva la libertad, carajo] ñoqui” on one of the walls. This is Milei’s catchphrase and loosely translates as “Long live freedom, dammit”. Ñoqui (gnocchi) is a derogatory term for state workers, equivalent to “jobsworth” in English.
This is a lesson in what happens when radical “outsiders” like Milei (or Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil and Donald Trump in the US) come in from the shadows. They not only tolerate political violence, but actively encourage it. Lacking political experience, their leadership is founded on creating an “us v them” mentality which emboldens their supporters.
Revising history
The day of commemoration brought one more disturbing turn of events. The government released a video straight out of the denialist playbook, presenting a false, alternative portrayal of the military dictatorship’s crimes.
The video advocates for a “complete memory” that shifts the focus to those killed by armed left-wing organisations in the 1960s and 1970s and calls for the end of the pursuit of justice for military perpetrators. It stars Juan Bautista Yofre, the ex-chief of the Secretariat of Intelligence, and María Fernanda, the daughter of Captain Humberto Viola, who was killed in 1974 by the revolutionary left.
The video resurrects the “two demons” trope. This is a theory that equates systematic state terrorism with the violence committed by the revolutionary left. It justifies the disappearances as the result of a conflict between two warring factions.
It’s a viewpoint that had, in recent years, lost much credibility. In 2006, the prologue to the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons’ truth commission report, which was originally published in 1983 to detail the extent of forced disappearance across Argentina, was rewritten specifically to remove allusions to this myth.
Such rejection of historical facts is not surprising. During his presidential campaign debates, Milei disputed the number that had disappeared at the hands of the dictatorship.
His vice president, Victoria Villarruel, the niece of a member of the armed forces under judicial investigation, has gone even further. She has called for an end to human rights trials and has pushed for the closure of the memory museum on the grounds of what was once the notorious former Navy Mechanics School that became a clandestine detention centre during the dictatorship.
What happens next?
Milei and Villarruel may struggle to block human rights trials completely, certainly not without a stand-off with the Argentine courts. The opposition of congress to Milei’s “omnibus law” (the collective name for his package of liberal reforms) in February 2024 is a reminder that he will undoubtedly face legislative roadblocks.
The Argentine Court of Appeal, which is responsible for ruling on human rights cases, has also been clear that it will prevent perpetrators of human rights abuses benefitting from house arrest. However, we will probably see a gradual undermining of judicial processes via the release of defendants and the replacement of judges, accompanied by an emboldening of those who deny state terrorism.
It is still early days in Milei’s tenure. But human rights activists and international observers should be concerned about the future of human rights in Argentina.
US-POLITICS-CONSERVATIVES Argentine President Javier Milei speaks during the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) meeting on February 24, 2024, in National Harbor, Maryland. (Photo by MANDEL NGAN / AFP) (Photo by MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)
“This is an unholy alliance,” said one critic of the pair, “mark my words.”
Disgraced former President Donald Trump of the United States and Argentina’s recently-elected libertarian President Javier Milei met and shared a warm embrace backstage at the annual CPAC gathering on Saturday.
Milei, the libertarian firebrand who vowed to “chainsaw” his nation’s social programs and usher in a new era of neoliberal austerity in the Latin American nation, was in town to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference where Trump also spoke on Saturday afternoon.
“It’s a very big honor for me,” Milei said to Trump as they met, with the Argentinian seeming to thank him for political support during his campaign.
"You Are The Best President For The United States!"
Trump responded by saying, “MAGA! Make Argentina Great Again.” As they posed for photos together, Trump said, “You look fantastic” and told Milei he was doing a great job.
“I won’t forget you, I can promise you that,” Trump said.
“I’ll see you again,” said Milei. “And next time I hope you will be president.”
“I hope so too,” said Trump.
Critics of the pair, like researcher Ana M. Fuentes, suggested the meeting was an ominous one.
“Oh man. I was hoping the Milei meets Trump clip was a parody…but it’s not,” Fuentes said on social media. “This is an unholy alliance, born at CPAC, mark my words.”
Across Argentina millions are participating in a national general strike to protest the Milei government’s widespread attacks on people’s rights
Mobilization against Milei on December 27, 2023. Photo: CELS
On January 24, across Argentina, millions of workers are participating in a national general strike against the anti-workers laws pushed forward by far-right libertarian president, Javier Milei.
Since he was inaugurated on December 10, 2023, Milei has worked quickly to draft legislation which threatens the hard-fought for rights of the Argentine people.
In response, Argentina’s trade unions, social movements, and human rights organizations have been on the streets to reject these measures, and called for a national general strike for January 24. For the last several weeks, hundreds of trade unions, neighborhood associations, cultural groups, left groups, community kitchens, and social movements have been organizing local and neighborhood assemblies and meetings to mobilize for the strike.
The largest concentration will be in Buenos Aires, Argentina’s capital, where hundreds of thousands are expected to congregate in the center of the city outside Congress. Mobilizations are also scheduled in dozens of other cities across the country like Córdoba, Rosario, San Miguel de Tucumán, Mendoza, Mar del Plata, Bahía Blanca, and others. While basic essential services will not be disrupted by the strike, the majority of the economy and daily life is set to be paralyzed due to the massive industrial action.
Who is participating?
The January 24 national strike is historic, as it is the first time in recent history that the country’s three major labor confederations are uniting for a joint industrial action. The General Confederation of Labor (CGT), the Argentine Workers’ Central Union, and the Argentine Workers’ Central Union (Autonomous) together represent millions of workers and have all called on their affiliated unions to participate in the day of mobilization.
The confederations are made up of dozens of unions representing workers in education, construction, civil service, food processing, healthcare, mining and metalwork, restaurants, commercial transportation (truck drivers, shipping, etc.), public transportation (buses, subway, and provincial trains), state workers, auto industry, textile, real estate, commercial, acting, national companies, the courts, music industry, communications and technology, among others. In other words, nearly the totality of the Argentine working class.
Mobilization against Milei in Córdoba in December 2023. Photo: CTA-A
Other unions such as the Union of Workers of the Popular Economy (UTEP) which represents street vendors, cooperatives, recyclers, agricultural workers, childcare workers, community kitchen workers, and others from the informal sector or “popular economy” have also pledged their participation in the mass mobilization.
Human rights organizations are also heeding the call for mobilizations such as the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, the Center of Legal and Social Studies (CELS), HIJOS (Sons and Daughters for Identity and Justice Against Forgetting and Silence), and others.
Several social and political forces that were part of the Union for the Homeland coalition which was defeated by Javier Milei in the presidential race in November, have also declared they will join the mobilization, such as Frente Patria Grande, La Campora, and Movimiento Evita.
Why are they mobilizing?
The strike has been called to reject Milei’s DNU and Omnibus Law, both pieces of legislation which trade unions say directly attack workers rights, impose brutal economic neoliberal austerity measures, and threaten the national sovereignty of the country. Organizations have called on the judiciary and the legislature to intervene to rule the DNU unconstitutional and revoke it in Congress, and to stop his Omnibus law from being passed. Both pieces of legislation have already met major legal roadblocks and have already undergone modifications from their first versions.
The Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 70/2023 was announced by Milei on December 20, 2023 (10 days after he took office). DNUs can be used by the executive to circumvent Congress and implement change immediately. Milei’s DNU titled “Bases to Rebuild the Argentine Economy” contains over 350 articles which would affect over 70 pieces of legislation, some completely overturned and others modified.
Milei and his cabinet announcing the DNU.
The DNU calls for the deregulation of major sectors of the Argentine economy such as energy, export, the credit card industry, transportation – including the aeronautic sector, healthcare, communications, tourism, and more. It also opens the door for the privatization of key state companies and the national bank and promotes foreign investment. It also impacts labor rights and rights of trade unions, such as the right to strike, the right to overtime pay, and other hard fought for rights of workers.
The Omnibus Law, officially called the Bases and Starting Points for the Liberty of Argentines, was sent to Congress by Milei on December 27, 2023. The 351-page bill contains more than 664 articles which will be debated in Congress. The Omnibus law attempts to take Milei’s “deregulation” approach a step further and expands it to all major areas of life in Argentina.
It includes a proposed reform to the Penal Code focused on “control of the streets” and calls for increasing sentences against protesters and in some cases eliminating the possibility of bail. It also initially stated that any meeting of three or more people in a public space must have the permission of the Minister of Security – this was later withdrawn.
It calls for the privatization of major state enterprises such as Argentine Airlines, ARSAT – a state telecommunications company, Argentine Trains, Public TV, the Water and Sewage Company (AySA), and the National Bank. Milei also included a list of another several dozen companies that have majority state participation such as Argentina Energy, military factories, the General Port Administration, Corredores Viales or the highway company, Argentine Mail, and Telam, the National News Agency.
The Omnibus law also calls for major reforms of the country’s public education system, notably taking away free higher education for foreigners. It also calls for major modifications of the entrance requirements and huge cuts to the overall budget. The country’s robust culture sector would also see major budget cuts under the law with a call to close historic artistic institutions of the country.
Environmental protections such as the Glacier Law, the Forest Law, and the Environmental Protection Law for the Control of Burning Activities would also undergo massive modifications.
The Omnibus also threatens retirees, emboldens police to use their full force, including gunfire, with little consequences, and transforms the electoral system.
The broad and expansive nature of the Omnibus and its outright attacks on so many sectors of society also helps explain why so many will be mobilizing in the strike.
The Secretary of Gender and Diversity of the Association of State Workers (ATE), Clarisa Gambera said, “This January 24, all of the union centers and social organizations of this country will be on the streets, to stop the ferocious advance of the right. Those who say that particular interests were generated over time, what they call particular interests are the rights that we won with struggle over more than 100 years and we are not willing to lose them. We continue to build unity, debates are taking place at the federal level. Comrades from all over the country participate in multi-sectoral meetings, assemblies, plenary sessions that are different ways to activate and add numbers of comrades on the streets this 24th.”
The CGT wrote in a statement rejecting Milei’s austerity measures and his claim that they only affect the “political caste”, not the people. CGT argues that, “The fiscal and exchange adjustment plan announced by the Government will generate a rapid acceleration of the inflationary process, which will destroy the purchasing power of the salaries of formal and informal workers, workers in the social and solidarity economy, self-employed workers, as well as of retirees and pensioners. This means that the announced adjustment does not adjust to the ‘so-called’ caste as promised in the campaign. Milei’s adjustment, once again, falls on the people.”
Repression
Another major point of contention for the Argentine people is the repressive policy imposed by the Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich, to dissuade mass participation in the inevitable mass mobilizations against Milei’s economic measures. Following the first protests against Javier Milei’s administration, Bullrich warned that it would use all “deterrent measures” to stop protests and on December 14 announced the “Public Order Protocol”.
Among other things, the protocol authorizes the police and security forces to intervene in response to any attempt to partially or totally block any national roads, transportation, or “free movement.” It has been dubbed the “anti-picket” protocol as it targets the historic picket and roadblock tactic of Argentine movements.
Another government “deterrence measure” is the threat from Bullrich that those who participate in protest actions and road blockades that are recipients of social programs will not receive this support: “he who blocks the street does not get paid,” she declared.
On January 10, 2024, Bullrich made good on her threats and, under the auspices of her protocol, sent letters to the major trade union centers of Argentina, unions, social, political and human rights organizations that had participated in protests on December 20, 22, and 27 of 2023 against Milei’s austerity measures and demanded they pay millions in fines for their participation in the allegedly “illegal activity”.
CELS wrote that in issuing these economic sanctions for participation in protests, the Ministry of National Security is “assuming powers that it does not have” and that it is also “trying to condition future action”. For the human rights research center, “This policy constitutes an infringement of the right to protest and demonstration and an act of state interference against freedom of association.”
International solidarity
The national general strike has gained widespread international support. Trade unions across Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as from Pakistan, Italy, Switzerland, Canada, the Netherlands, South Korea, Spain, and more, have pledged to mobilize on January 24 in solidarity with their Argentine comrades, with many calling for protests in front of their Argentine embassies or consulates.
The International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), which brings together 191 million workers in 163 countries from all continents, released a statement expressing its support for its affiliated organizations in their call for the national general strike against “Milei’s shock therapy”. “Three major union federations, the CGT, the CTA-T, and the CTA-A, have united to stand against the serious threat to fundamental workers’ rights and civil liberties posed by Milei’s move to resurrect out-dated and debunked neo-liberal policies,” reads the statement.
ITUC General Secretary Luc Triangle said, “The actions of the Milei government aim to recreate the darkest days of dictatorship, and they require a strong, united response from the global union movement. We stand in full solidarity with the working people of Argentina in their defense of justice and democracy.”
The World Federation of Trade Unions (WFTU), which represents 105 million workers in 133 countries, expressed its support for its affiliate unions participation in the January 24 strike to “express their opposition to the measures of the ultra-liberal and neo-fascist government of Javier Milei”. It has called on its affiliates in other countries to mobilize in solidarity with the Argentine workers.
Trade Union Confederation of the Americas (TUCA-CSA) joined the other international confederation in standing with the struggle of Argentine workers, and calling on its affiliate organizations to mobilize in solidarity on January 24.
The PIT-CNT of Uruguay, Argentina’s northern neighbor, stated that “it is necessary to join forces and have as a horizon to advance Latin America on the path of struggle and hope towards a more just, free and equal society.”
