Libertarian economist Javier Milei was inaugurated president of Argentina on Sunday, flanked by a host of heads of state – including Spanish King Felipe VI and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky – and surrounded by thousands of supporters in Buenos Aires.
Milei’s inauguration concludes a dramatic, and rapid, ascent to political power for the economist and television commentator, who formed his political party, Liberty Advances, in 2021. Liberty Advances won its first seats in the Argentine Congress that year on an anti-socialist, small-government platform. Milei’s first and only public office before becoming president was to serve in the Argentine Congress for two years. He is the nation’s first libertarian president and vanquished both the deeply entrenched leftist Peronist elite previously in power and the establishment “center-right” coalition that controlled the opposition for nearly two decades.
Milei won Argentina’s presidential election on November 19 against Sergio Massa, the socialist now-former Economy Minister whose government presided over an unprecedented economic crisis that has led to triple-digit inflation, fueling soaring poverty rates, unemployment, and emigration of skilled youth. Campaigning on the slogan “¡viva la libertad, carajo!” – which roughly translates to “long live liberty, damn it!” – Milei asked voters to choose “courage” to overthrow “the same people as always,” the established politicians in the orbit of former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner whose tenure was marked by lavish government spending, the reduction in civil liberties during the coronavirus pandemic, and a foreign policy prizing relations with rogue states such as China and Iran.
Milei was inaugurated president in a traditional ceremony before the Argentine Congress attended by a host of high-profile world leaders. In addition to the Spanish king and Zelensky, the halls of Congress welcomed the president of Uruguay, Luis Lacalle Pou; the recently elected president of Ecuador, Daniel Noboa; former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban; and Armenian President Vahagn Khachaturyan. A notable high-profile guest among the presidents was Gabriel Boric, the president of Chile – the only far-left president who attended and who has warmly congratulated Milei in public.
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei (R) is greeted by Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky after delivering his inaugural speech before the crowd during an inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Luis ROBAYO / AFP)
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei is embraced by Brazil’s ex-president (2019-2022) Jair Bolsonaro after delivering his inaugural speech at the steps of the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Luis ROBAYO / AFP)
(L-R, first row) Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle, Chile’s President Gabriel Boric, Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa attend the inauguration of Argentina’s new president Javier Milei (out of frame) at the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (ALEJANDRO PAGNI / AFP)
The administration of leftist President Joe Biden sent a low-profile delegation led by Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.
Today, I participated in @JMilei’s inauguration in Buenos Aires and congratulated the new President.
This is a new beginning for Argentina and I wish President Milei and the entire Argentinian people to surprise the world with their successes.
I am also certain that bilateral… pic.twitter.com/WFjsZsDYIQ
— Volodymyr Zelenskyy / Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) December 10, 2023
Following the formal inauguration, which featured awkward exchanges with Fernández and Fernández de Kirchner, Milei delivered his inaugural address.
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei (L) gestures after receiving the presidential sash and baton from outgoing president Alberto Fernandez during his inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (ALEJANDRO PAGNI / AFP)
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei gives the thumb up next to his vice-president Victoria Villarruel after receiving the presidential sash and baton from outgoing president Alberto Fernandez (out of frame) during his inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023.(ALEJANDRO PAGNI / AFP)
Milei broke with tradition in choosing to deliver his inauguration speech outside, before the crowd of thousands of people assembled to celebrate the beginning of his presidential term. The president delivered his speech surrounded by the heads of state in attendance, below a cloudless sky on an Argentine spring day where the temperature reached 78ºF.
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Milei used his first remarks as president to sternly condemn predecessor Alberto Fernández, Fernández de Kirchner (no relation), and the Kirchnerist clique that governed Argentina for most of the past two decades.
“Today begins a new era in Argentina. Today we end a long and sad history of decadence and decline and begin the path toward the reconstruction of our country,” Milei promised. “Argentines, in a decisive way, expressed a will to change that has no return. There is no turning back. Today we bury decades of failure, infighting, and senseless disputes.”
Describing the prosperous early history of Argentina, Milei observed that, “unfortunately, our leadership decided to abandon the model that made us rich and embrace the impoverishing ideas of collectivism.”
“For over 100 years, politicians have insisted in defending a model that the only thing it has generated is poverty, stagnation, and misery,” Milei continued. “A model that considers the task of a politician to direct the lives of individuals in all facets and spheres possible. A model that sees the state as a war booty to share among friends.”
He went on to condemn kirchnerism by name, stating, “no government has received a worse inheritance than what we are getting” from the outgoing socialist government.
Offering a detailed explanation of the economic situation of Argentina, he concluded, “They are ruining our lives. They have decimated our salaries.” His analysis of other sectors of Argentine life was equally dire: regarding crime, Argentina “is a bloodbath;” the healthcare system is “completely collapsed.”
The president compared his election to the fall of the Berlin Wall and to the message of Hanukkah, the Jewish holiday that began on December 7.
“It is not a coincidence that this presidential inauguration occurs during the festival of Hanukkah, the festival of lights, as this holiday celebrates the very essence of liberty,” Milei said. “The war of the Maccabees is the symbol of the triumph of the meek over the powerful, the few over the many, the light over the dark and, above all, the truth over lies, because you all know I prefer telling you an uncomfortable truth over a comfortable lie.”
“We will advance with the changes that the country needs because we are sure that embracing the ideas of liberty is the only way that we will be able to get out of this hole they stuck us in,” Milei promised.
Thousands of Argentines surrounded the Argentine Congress for the event, waving national flags, libertarian yellow banners, and a host of other signs. Many in the crowd represented other Latin American nations – notably, Brazilians welcoming Bolsonaro, Venezuelans, and Colombians. Some held banners supporting American former President Donald Trump in the 2024 election in the United States. Milei’s supporters have also adopted a variation of Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign slogan: “Make Argentina Great Again.”
Supporters of Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei gather outside the Congress during the inauguration ceremony of Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Emiliano LASALVIA / AFP)
A couple wearing Brazilian soccer jerseys and holding a flag of U.S.’ former President Donald Trump heads to the Congress to assist the inauguration ceremony of Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Gustavo ORTIZ / AFP)
Supporters of Argentina’s new president Javier Milei hold national flags during his inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (ALEJANDRO PAGNI / AFP)
A supporter of Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei holds a banner that reads “Make Argentina great again” near the Congress, where Milei’s inauguration ceremony will take place, in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Luis ROBAYO / AFP)
A Colombian supporter of Argentina’s President-elect Javier Milei heads to the Congress for his inauguration ceremony, in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. She is wearing a traditional Colombian hat and a t-shirt reading “Colombia is present” and bearing Milei’s campaign slogan, “long live liberty, damn it!” (Gustavo ORTIZ / AFP)
Supporters of Argentina’s new president Javier Milei wave national flags as he delivers a speech after swearing in during his inauguration ceremony outside the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (LUIS ROBAYO / AFP)
Milei is expected to conduct personal meetings with foreign delegations following the inauguration before beginning his formal work as president.
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei waves next to his vice president Victoria Villarruel after being sworn in during his inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Luis ROBAYO / AFP)
Argentina’s new president Javier Milei waves at supporters as he heads to Casa Rosada Presidential Palace after being sworn in during an inauguration ceremony at the Congress in Buenos Aires on December 10, 2023. (Emiliano LASALVIA / AFP)
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