Doubts remain over who financed Milei’s ‘rock show’ at Movistar Arena

Clarification was posted in the Instagram of the Hojas del Sur publishing house: “Yes, we sell books but we’re not a business. Hojas del Sur was not born as a business but out of an urgency to say what nobody else was saying, to publish what was not permitted and to give the reader something more than entertainment: a tool to resist the system. Here we don’t sell paper – we ignite ideas.”

The bold statement demonstrates that the political vision transcends the publishing house, opening up questions as to the origin of the money that financed President Javier Milei’s now-famous rock concert/book presentation event in Buenos Aires this month, at which he played a few songs and promoted La construcción del milagro (“The Making of the Miracle”).

Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni attempted to give that an answer by affirming that the Movistar Arena rally was financed by “private funds,” again opening up new questions as to who financed the event and where the money came from. 

“Was it yours?” quizzed national deputy Margarita Stolbizer on her X social network account. Who were the anonymous promoters of the rally?

Milei’s event/rally on October 6 included onerous logistics. Some sources affirm that an event on that scale could cost up to US$300,000. Others place the estimate lower, while acknowledging there would be no income as entry was free.

One name quickly appears when entering into discussion about how the event was staged – the Kovalivker family, who contributed US$100,000, according to multiple sources. 

A connection links Kovalivker, Hojas del Sur and Javier Milei: the fact that the patriarch of the Droguería Suizo Argentina pharmacy chain is an author published Hojas del Sur, which released his book Los granaderos de San Martín and others. 

That link exists, although the group denies any family participation in the October 6 event, affirming that the relation is limited to the text of books. 

Other rumours speak of another publishing house which had facilitated logistics for the rally.

Argentina’s book industry does not permit a return of US$300,000 in any case. Investment on that scale is not within the possibilities of the publishing house, creating doubts which the official versions, as expressed by the spokesman, cannot dispel.

Andrés Mego, who heads Hojas del Sur, is a name linked to the far right. He is also an active participant  in the organisation of events like Derecha Fest, a summit bringing together leaders and activists from the movement.

While Mego has published various authors, like Kovalivker, his company's great media hit was the start of the libertarian government. It was then that authors Nicolás Márquez and Marcelo Duclos published Milei, la revolución que no vieron venir (“Milei, the revolution they didn’t see coming”), which rapidly transformed into a sales success. 

The publishing house’s catalogue is replete with authors who are close to the government: Relato roto, escenas de peronismo explícito (“Broken narratives, scenes of explicit Peronism”) by the Fundación Faro’s new member Diego Recalde, or Generación idiota by the President’s ideologist, Agustín Laje. 

The participation of the publishing house’s owner raises questions as to its growth, which bears no relation to the number of copies of their books sold. Other topics like coaching, self-help, health books.

Inspection of the Hojas del Sur catalogue places it in a marginal position within the publishing world, which includes editions often paid for by the authors themselves. There is nothing permitting anybody to imagine that this publishing house could carry the cost of renting a stadium, or that a book by Javier Milei could produce a return justifying such an investment.

Here the dubious question of financing political parties in general and La Libertad Avanza in particular crops up. Stolbizer’s post was scathing: “The use of state funds for private ends is not only immoral, it is illegal.”