Javier Milei | Argentina’s President of chaos Premium

Far-right libertarian economist Javier Milei wants to reconfigure the government’s role, slash public spending and dollarise the economy, in response to Argentina’s worst economic crisis in a generation.

To some, he looks like a mix of killer doll Chucky and Boris Johnson, with a touch of Wolverine. Signature black hair that part neatly into side whiskers, bracketing a scowling face and eyes that glower with fury. To others, he speaks like Donald Trump: climate science is a socialist ploy, abortion rights are unnecessary and social justice is an “aberration”. There are notes of Brazilian President Jair Bolsanaro too, with the dogged allegations of possible electoral fraud.

This is Javier Milei — Argentina’s new President. A far-right libertarian, Mr. Milei on November 19 defeated left-wing rival Sergia Massi, in a victory that analysts have described as a “political earthquake” that sent tremors down Argentina’s socialist spine. “Today begins the reconstruction of Argentina. Today begins the end of Argentina’s decline. The model of decadence has come to an end,” Mr. Milei said in his victory speech, to a rallying cry of “¡¡Qué se vayan todos!!” All of them must go. Them, being the ‘thieves’ in the political elite who have overseen the Latin American country’s worst economic crisis in four decades. 

Mr. Milei — an economist and TV pundit  — has established a reputation as a disruptor. His signature campaign promise: to ‘blow up’ the central bank, and replace the local peso with the U.S. dollar. Argentina’s economic and social order needs to be ripped apart, even set alight, because, only from ashes can Mr. Milei “truly make Argentina Great Again”. 

The 53-year-old was born and brought up in Buenos Aires. With his parents — father a bus driver and mother a homemaker — he shares a ‘complicated relationship’, journalist Juan Luis González wrote in an unauthorised biography. The book documented a troubled childhood where Mr. Milei was physically and verbally abused at home, and bullied at school. In school itself Mr. Milei came to be known as ‘El Loco’. The madman.

Mr. Milei played in his school’s football team as a goalkeeper, a position carved for people “who live on the edge”, he said in a 2017 interview with El Cronista. He was a singer of a youth group called Everest that specialised in covers of Rolling Stones (he has seen the band live 14 times). From Elvis Presley, Mr. Milei said he was inspired to write rock and roll songs, albeit with economic themes, thus generating a product that “meets the market’s desires” and “reaffirms the Austrian [school of economics]”. Both music and money, in keeping with his libertarian values, ought to be freed from state political control Today, he describes himself as an “anarcho-capitalist” who is “above all for freedom”.

Mr. Milei shares a close relationship with his sister, Karina, whom he calls “the boss”, according to ABC News. He is unmarried, and presently dating actor Fátima Flórez. The other documented public relationship is with his dog, the English Mastiff Conan, who passed away in 2017. Mr. Milei reportedly cloned Conan’s DNA, a procedure which resulted in five puppies, each named after an economist. As per a Forbes report, Mr. Milei believes Conan told him in a telepathic conversation that it is God’s mission for him to become Argentina’s President. Mr. Milei, in an interview with The Economist, has also referred to his dogs as his “strategists” and “political analysts”.

More than his ideas, Mr. González wrote in the biography, “what worries me is [Mr. Milei’s] state of mind and emotional stability.”