Milei: ‘We’re going to make Argentina and America great again’

President Javier Milei told an audience of US politicians and business leaders Thursday that he intends to “make Argentina and America great again,” as he called on investors to seize the “window of opportunity” in his country.

Speaking at the American Business Forum in Miami, Milei showed his loyalty to US President Donald Trump – who recently granted Argentina a US$20-billion currency swap to improve the La Libertad Avanza leader’s chances in last month’s midterm elections – by using one of the Republican leader’s catchphrases.

In a fiercely ideological speech, the President called for “a great capitalistic consensus in Argentina” and a “grand coalition for growth.”

Thanking his “friend” Trump, he assured: “We are absolutely going to make Argentina and America Great Again.”

“And don’t let yourselves be intimidated by some local results,” he added, in a thinly veiled reference to Tuesday’s election victory by New York mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

Milei was just one of a number of high-profile figures to attend the two-day America Business Forum at the Kaseya Center in Miami.

Leading figures from the worlds of politics, business, sport and culture were on the guestlist, including Trump, Argentina’s own national football team star Lionel Messi, retired Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal, JPMorgan & Chase CEO Jamie Dimon, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, former CEO of Google Eric Schmidt and opposition Venezuela leader María Corina Machado.

The trip to Miami is the 14th visit to the US for the President since he took office in December 2023. The President was due to fly to New York for a meeting yesterday before heading back to South America.

After his stay in the US, Milei is expected to attend the inauguration of Bolivia’s president-elect Rodrigo Paz in La Paz.

‘True justice’

Milei dedicated most of his speech to a moral defence of capitalism, criticising state intervention and affirming that the state expands with the excuse of “social justice” until obtaining “total control” – i.e. “Communism.”

“Capitalism is not at all evil but the way to achieve true justice in this world,” he concluded.

Milei maintained that the capitalist system “is not only more productive but the only moral and ethical one, unlike their murderous system.”

The President then celebrated his “historic midterm victory,” assuring that “two out of every three Argentines do not want to return to the past and nor do they want any more 21st-century socialism, having realised that it is a sham.”

He blamed the Peronist opposition for the “very tough months” prior to the elections, denouncing an “economic coup which the opposition tried to stage from Congress,” which he admitted “slowed down” the economy.

Along those lines, Milei highlighted the market reactions after the elections: “The Argentine market had its biggest historic rise in a day and in a week and keeps on climbing” with the nation’s JPMorgan country risk rate plunging “over 400 points.”

Despite the audience’s lack of knowledge of Argentina, he attributed the previous volatility to the “riesgo kuka” – i.e. “risk of Kirchnerism or socialism” and mentioned that socialism “in some place on the East Coast has arrived.”

“They disguise themselves as lambs and are worse than the most rapacious wolves,” he colourfully declared in another apparent reference to Mamdani, a Uganda-born Muslim who Trump has strongly criticised and branded a “Communist.”

Milei affirmed that his stabilisation plan had “social consensus but not political consensus.”

“We have the vocation to align all the pro-capitalists in the country who represent at least two-thirds of our society,” he remarked.

The economist argued that, as from next month, there would be “the most reform-minded Congress in Argentine history,” assuring that he already has “the third necessary to sustain our decrees and vetoes” while seeking majorities for “modernising labour,” “lowering taxes” and penal reform.

Finally, the President thanked the Trump administration “for having reached agreement on an Argentine beef quota four times higher than the previous one,” closing his speech with the harangues: “Viva la libertad carajo! Make America Great Again!”

‘A leftie’

Milei showered praise on legendary Argentine footballer Lionel Messi during the Miami event. Argentina’s skipper, who plays for MLS side Inter Miami, appeared at the forum the previous day to give an interview.

“It also gladdens me to share the stage with one of our most illustrious sportsmen and the pride of every Argentine, Lionel Messi,” affirmed the President during his speech.

Along those lines, he described Messi as “a man who has taken Argentine talent to the top of the world, living proof that effort, dedication and passion are capable of generating miracles.”

He went on to joke that his remarks were “proof that I too can sometimes congratulate a leftie” – a reference to Messi’s favoured foot.

– TIMES/NA