The president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, received a call from former US president Donald Trump this Wednesday night. The Republican congratulated the far-right for his victory in Sunday’s elections and assured him that he will travel to Buenos Aires to meet with him, although there is no date yet, according to a statement from La Libertad Avanza. The former president also maintained that Milei’s victory “by a wide margin” in the elections “had a great impact worldwide.” The far-right, who like Trump presents himself as a outsider of politics, he assured in the campaign that his preferred allies will be the United States, Israel and “the free world” in general. Milei is scheduled to travel to New York this Thursday and to Israel after the inauguration.
“Everyone was watching and I am very proud of you,” Trump told Milei in a video broadcast on Truth, the social network that the Republican created after being banned by other companies for the incendiary messages he published during the attack on the Capitol. on January 6, 2021. He later adapted his signature phrase, Make America Great Again, to the South American country: “You will turn your country around and make Argentina great again.” The contact between the two was “facilitated by Eduardo Bolsonaro,” son of former far-right Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, according to local media reports.
Milei, Trump and Bolsonaro are part of a global wave of anti-establishment leaders to which other politicians such as Giorgia Meloni in Italy are also joining. Although each has their personal characteristics and different political approaches –Milei, for example, lacks a nationalist component–, they have in common that they have managed to capitalize on the popular rejection of all traditional options. Milei received support from some of them during the campaign and is now receiving their congratulations. Bolsonaro was one of the first to react with a tweet in which he expressed that with the victory of the ultra “hope shines again in South America” and assured him that he will attend the inauguration on December 10.
After winning with 56% of the votes in the second round on Sunday, Milei, 51, announced that in the coming weeks he will travel to the United States and Israel. “The trip (…) has a more spiritual connotation than other characteristics,” said the ultra. Although Milei is Catholic, he began to approach Judaism years ago and does not rule out converting to this creed in the future. The far-right has also emphasized Israel’s full right “to defend its territory from terrorists” after the Hamas attack on October 7 and during the campaign he maintained that his intention is to move the Argentine Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. Milei’s team has assured EL PAÍS that there are no political meetings planned on the trip to the United States.
Calls with Joe Biden, Dina Boluarte and Volodimir Zelenski
Milei also received a call from the US president, Joe Biden, on Wednesday. The democrat congratulated the far-right for his victory in Sunday’s elections, but declined the president-elect’s invitation to attend the inauguration on December 10, according to Milei’s entourage in television interviews. Diana Mondino, who will be responsible for foreign policy of the new Government, assured that Biden rejected the invitation to attend the inauguration of the next president due to agenda issues. Both politicians agreed on “the importance of continuing to build strong bilateral relations,” as reported by the White House in a statement and also stated in a writing published by La Libertad Avanza.
The president-elect of Argentina took advantage of the conversation to recognize the Democrat’s “management for the release of the hostages at the hands of the terrorist group Hamas,” according to the far-right party in its statement, after this Wednesday the Israelis and Palestinians agreed to a truce. four days to exchange hostages held in Gaza for prisoners in Israeli jails after 47 days of conflict.
Milei also spoke with the president of Peru, Dina Boluarte, with whom he spoke about “the importance of economic growth in the region” and who expressed his intention to attend the inauguration “after consulting the Congress of his country,” according to the statement from La Libertad Avanza. The far-right spoke with the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelenski, to whom he proposed that Argentina “host a summit between Ukraine and Latin America.” In addition, he was congratulated by the British Minister of Foreign Affairs, David Cameron, who the official statement from La Libertad Avanza confuses with the filmmaker James Cameron, director of Titanic.
Since Sunday, Milei also spoke with the Chilean president, the leftist Gabriel Boric, who also confirmed his presence on December 10 because relations with Argentina are “state policy,” and with the conservative president Luis Lacalle Pou, who said that He will receive Milei in Uruguay to resolve bilateral issues “asado through”, among others. One of the first calls came from the Vatican. Pope Francis, the leader of the Catholic Church, telephoned Milei on Tuesday. The conversation was “enjoyable,” according to local media. Milei, who had called the Pontiff a “filthy lefty” and “representative of the Evil One,” but retracted his insults in the final stretch before the elections, invited Francis to visit Argentina next year.
Letter from Xi Jinping
Chinese President Xi Jinping also sent a letter to Milei in which he conveyed his congratulations to the elected president. “I hope that under your leadership, the Government and people of your country will achieve new successes in the cause of national construction,” Xi writes after expressing his willingness to work together “to continue the friendship between both countries, promote development and revitalization of the two countries with win-win cooperation.” Milei, who before the elections had attacked his two main trading partners, Brazil, which is also a strategic regional ally, and the Asian superpower, thanked the message through X (formerly Twitter) and returned the “most sincere wishes of welfare for the people of China.”
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