Local sources from Argentina: Noticias, BorderPeriodismo.
UK coverage: Financial Times.
Javier Milei, an Argentine economist and political candidate, is seeking divine assistance to cure Argentina’s economic problems. Milei, known for his libertarian views, has formed an unusual alliance with a group of evangelical pastors who claim to possess the power to heal the country’s financial woes. This partnership has raised eyebrows among many, as it blurs the lines between religion and politics. Critics argue that such a reliance on divine intervention distracts from the need for practical economic solutions.
In the mesopotamic province of Entre Ríos, which is currently experiencing what has been described as ‘the worst drought in 60 years’, the town of Crespo organized three days of prayer to implore for the arrival of rain that can alleviate the catastrophic situation the region is facing. The situation in the province is devastating, particularly from an economic standpoint. And the problem is not recent, but rather the result of several consecutive months of drought.
Javier Milei has already won. He says it was God himself (one of the supernatural presences he started interacting with after the death of his dog/son Conan in 2017) who told him: he is destined for a ‘mission’, which is none other than to save Argentina from the ‘evil one’. With this powerful conviction, he faced his first electoral challenge, as if it were just another step in a story that has already been written from the heavens. Proving that the congressman is indeed the chosen one of the ‘number one’, as he calls it, goes beyond the scope of this article.
La Libertad Avanza, his political party, is only two years old. It was born as a novel project outside the logic of the political divide that brings together liberals, libertarians, conservatives, pro-life activists, hardline nationalists, and influencers – a diverse alliance that knew how to interpret the current climate very well. In a country of binary choices, the slow decline of the disruptive force brought by the rise of feminism in 2018 made way for all those who had not felt part of that movement. In 2021, following a phenomenon happening worldwide, Argentina witnessed the awakening of a reaction against progressive advances.
At the forefront of this movement was Milei. He is an eccentric figure with a background as a media economist, with ideas that sound new and, combined with the right amount of insults and shouting, and his distinctive long hair, had already transformed him into a practically irresistible character even before his leap into politics. His name brings ratings on television and clicks on social media, an ideal combination for the era of video clips on WhatsApp, Twitter, and Instagram (he is the Argentine politician with the most followers, surpassing Cristina Kirchner and Mauricio Macri). If Brazil had Bolsonaro and the United States had Trump, many saw or wanted to see Milei as the Argentine incarnation of these figures.
The combination of Milei and La Libertad Avanza, along with inflation rates and the downfall of the ruling coalition Frente de Todos following the collapse of the Macri administration, produced something completely unprecedented. A political party only six months old, whose leader had not even participated in a university election, garnered 17% of the votes in the 2021 legislative elections. And it happened in the heart of the country, in the place where the last two presidents came from. La Libertad Avanza secured two seats in the National Chamber of Deputies, five in the Buenos Aires City Legislature, one in the La Rioja Legislature, and another that they would obtain the following year in Tierra del Fuego.
Faced with panic over his growth and, above all, the loss of votes, Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) made a sudden turn. They did what the Partido Popular did in Spain when VOX emerged: forced by the appearance of a big fish in their own pond, they shifted their discourse to much harder positions. The hawks became even more hawkish and started shouting like Milei, incorporating his theses and picking fights with their own enemies.
The Peronist party, on the other hand, closely followed this upheaval in the heart of the adversary, even though when Milei entered the political arena, they saw him as nothing more than a joke. But after the 17% result, the historic movement began to take the libertarian into account, either to raise him as the great bogeyman of politics – thus lowering the price of Macrism – or to imagine him as a tactical ally in the future who would guarantee stealing votes from the opposition.
The drought affecting the province of Entre Ríos and the lack of rainfall in recent months, described as the worst in the last 60 years, will continue in January but will moderate as the summer months progress, thanks to the La Niña phenomenon, according to the Cereal Exchange of this province.
Javier Milei has already won. He has set the agenda, rewritten it, and transformed the other two major parties. Of course, Milei is just the best character in an overwhelmed and tired Argentina after years and years of economic and political crises. The phenomenon goes beyond him, although he puts a face to it. The only remaining question, then, is how he will react when the most likely scenario occurs: that on December 10, he does not wear the presidential sash. Will he feel betrayed by God, who swore to him that he was ‘the chosen one’? Will he have a crisis of faith? Or will he adapt to the new challenge?
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