Milei says America will be a 'beacon of light' for West in Davos speech

President Javier Milei hailed US President Donald Trump’s leadership, defended free-market capitalism and denounced socialism in an unusually subdued speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos on Wednesday.

Milei, widely seen as Trump’s main ally in Latin America, emphasised his close relationship with Washington and offered a defence of “Judeo-Christian values.”

Noting the regional right-wing shift in the wider region, he asserted that “America will be the beacon of light that reignites the whole of the West” in the years to come.

In his third appearance in Davos, Milei recalled that in 2024 he warned that the West was “in danger,” and that in 2025 he said various international organisations were promoting “a set of socialist policies, elegantly dressed up to deceive people.”

Socialism, he insisted, “always ends badly, horrifically badly,” referring to the “aberrant damage” it has caused in Venezuela through the “establishment of a bloody narco-dictatorship whose terrorist tentacles spread across our entire continent.”

Now, he argued, “the world has begun to wake up.”

“The best proof of this is what is happening in America with the rebirth of the ideas of freedom. Therefore, America will be the beacon of light that reignites the whole of the West,” the president declared.

Nevertheless, it was a surprisingly low-key speech from Milei, who has made global headlines with more incendiary speeches at previous editions of the forum.

Milei spoke immediately after Trump addressed the forum. In a rambling hour-long address, the US president praised Venezuela’s interim government and predicted that the country would do “fantastically well” following the attack that ousted President Nicolás Maduro from power.

Trump also reignited controversy with outspoken remarks about his desire to open negotiations over the “purchase” of Greenland from Denmark, and warned that European countries are “failing.”

By contrast, Milei delivered a restrained speech that sought to present the moral case for “free-enterprise capitalism,” which the La Libertad Avanza leader described as “fair” and “efficient.”

“Politicians must stop harassing those who are making the world a better place,” Milei said.

Argentina’s president is due to take part in a signing ceremony on Thrusday marking the inauguration of the so-called “Board of Peace,” an organisation created by Trump initially to oversee the post-war reconstruction of Gaza, but whose charter does not appear to limit its remit to Palestinian territory.

In a nod to the US president, Milei also rephrased Trump’s trademark slogan, declaring his intention to “make Argentina great again.”

Opening his speech by proclaiming that “Machiavelli is dead,” Milei told the global political and economic elite gathered at the Swiss Alpine resort that “free-trade capitalism is the only fair system.”

He argued that the crisis facing the West is “the result of socialism,” again citing “the aberrant damage in Venezuela” and the country’s “bloody narco-dictatorship” as an example.

The La Libertad Avanza leader also highlighted the work of the Federico Sturzenegger’s Deregulation and State Transformation Ministry, which he informally referred to as “the Ministry of Increasing Returns,” as well as the Human Capital Ministry, headed by his ally Sandra Pettovello.

Claiming to have introduced “13,500 structural reforms” since taking office in December 2023, Milei argued that “regulation kills performance” and “hinders growth.”

He concluded by once again railing against what he called the “populist and impoverishing” ideas promoted by the “woke” movement and “socialist parasites.”

“Machiavelli is dead and it is time to bury him. Long live freedom, damn it,” Milei concluded.

– TIMES/AFP/NA