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Javier Milei

Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as its new president, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession and rising poverty. Milei, who rode a wave of voter anger with the political mainstream, won by a wider-than-expected margin. He landed some 56% of the vote versus just over 44% for his rival, Peronist Economy Minister Sergio Massa, who conceded.

"The model of decadence has come to an end, there's no going back," Milei said in a defiant speech after the result, while also acknowledging the challenges that face him. "We have monumental problems ahead: inflation, lack of work, and poverty," he said. "The situation is critical and there is no place for tepid half-measures." Milei used tactics similar to successful populists such as former US President Donald Trump and former Brazilian leader Jair Bolsonaro.

The victory of Milei broke the hegemony of the two leading political forces on the left and right - the Peronists that have dominated Argentine politics since the 1940s and its main opposition, the Together for Change conservative bloc. The election marked a profound rupture in the system of political representation in Argentina. The implosion of the political right and the spectacular rise of Massa has redrawn the political landscape in Argentina and left its political class facing difficult questions.

His legions of fans call him “the crazy” and “the wig” due to his ferocity and unruly mop of hair, while he refers to himself as “the lion.” He thinks sex education is a Marxist plot to destroy the family, views his cloned mastiffs as his “children with four paws” and has raised the possibility people should be allowed to sell their own vital organs. Milei shocked some supporters when he said Pope Francis, who was born in Buenos Aires, was “representative of the evil one on Earth” and an "imbecile who defends social justice".

Milei adheres to a form of anarcho-capitalism rooted in the philosophies of economists like Friedrich Hayek and Murray Rothbard. He possesses a "quasi-religious zeal for economic freedom" and a deep-seated suspicion of the state, consistently advocating for free trade and deep cuts to government spending.

Some Argentines had characterised the vote as a choice of the "lesser evil": fear of Milei's painful economic medicine versus anger at Massa and his Peronist party for an economic crisis that has left Argentina deeply in debt and unable to tap global credit markets. Milei has been particularly popular among the young, who have grown up seeing their country lurch from one crisis to another.

A few years ago, Milei was a television talking head that bookers loved because his screeds against government spending and the ruling political class boosted ratings. At the time, and up until mere months ago, hardly any political expert believed he had a real shot at becoming president of South America’s second-largest economy.

But Milei, a 53-year-old economist, rocked Argentina’s political establishment and inserted himself into what has long been effectively a two-party system by amassing a groundswell of support with his prescriptions of drastic measures to rein in soaring inflation and by pledging to crusade against the creep of socialism in society.

At the heart of his economic plan for Argentina is a proposal to replace the local currency, the peso, with the U.S. dollar. He has repeatedly said the only way to end the scourge of inflation, which has topped 140%, is to prevent politicians from continuing to print money. As such, he plans to extinguish the Central Bank.

A self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” Milei’s libertarianism was a novelty for Argentina. He has spoken in favor of loosening the country’s labor laws and promoted a vision of starkly smaller government to boost economic growth. That entails eliminating half of the government ministries, including health and education. As a symbol of the deep cuts he champions, he has at times campaigned with a revving chainsaw in hand.

Reducing the state's size dovetails with his calls for the “political caste” to be purged from Argentina’s government, much as former U.S. President Donald Trump spoke of “draining the swamp” in reference to the entrenched establishment. Milei has often drawn comparisons to Trump, a leader he openly admires.

Before entering the public spotlight, Milei was chief economist at Corporación America, one of Argentina’s largest business conglomerates that, among other things, runs most of the country’s airports. He worked there until 2021, when he won his seat as a lawmaker.

Milei doesn’t just see himself as a right-leaning politician, but also as a culture warrior with the mission of shaking up Argentine society. Some of Milei’s positions appear to echo more conservative Republicans in the U.S. while his fiery, profanity-laden rhetoric has already lifted him to prominence in the global culture war that at times overwhelms political discourse in the U.S., neighboring Brazil and elsewhere.

Milei opposes feminist policies and abortion, which Argentina legalized in recent years, and has proposed a plebiscite to repeal the law. He also rejects the notion humans have a role in causing climate change. In a television appearance, he denounced Pope Francis, who is Argentine, as an “imbecile” for defending social justice and called the head of the Roman Catholic Church “the representative of malignance on Earth.”

In the same vein as Trump’s slogan, “Make America Great Again,” Milei has said he will return the country to an unspecified period of greatness. “Argentina is going to reclaim the place in the world that it should never have lost,” Milei said at his victory rally Sunday. His followers have embraced the comparison, and often wear hats bearing the words “Make Argentina Great Again.”

After October's first-round vote, Milei struck an uneasy alliance with the conservatives. But he faces a highly fragmented Congress, with no single bloc having a majority, meaning that he will need to get backing from other factions to push through legislation. Milei's coalition also does not have any regional governors or mayors. That may temper some of his more radical proposals. Long-suffering voters are likely to have little patience, and the threat of social unrest is never far below the surface.

The son of a passenger transport businessman and a homemaker, the economist doesn’t like to talk much about his childhood and has said his young years were marked by a tense relationship with his father. A younger Milei played in a Rolling Stones tribute band and served as a goalkeeper in the youth divisions of the Chacarita soccer club. But he decided to put aside soccer during the hyperinflation period of the late 1980s to study economics.

These days, the only family member with whom he has a close relationship is his sister, Karina Milei, who ran his campaign. He calls her “the boss,” and has repeatedly characterized her as the architect of his rise to power. During his repeated television appearances, Milei didn’t just talk about economics and politics. He also delved into his personal life and once presented himself as an expert in tantric sex, openly discussing how he had repeatedly participated in group sex and providing tips.

For much of his adult life, Milei did not have a serious romantic partner and he isn't known to have friends. After saying for months that he didn’t have time to date, he started a relationship in July with actress and artist Fátima Flórez. She is known for her imitations of Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who was president 2007-2015.

Milei had a deep connection with his English Mastiff, Conan, who died. He now has at least four other dogs reportedly cloned using Conan’s DNA, all of whom are named after economists.

Since taking office, the Milei administration has centered its policymaking on improving economic conditions, with a particular focus on reducing inflation, which local polls showed to be a top concern for Argentines in the runup to, and immediately after, the 2023 elections.18 Key aspects of President Milei's economic recovery plan include maintaining a government fiscal surplus through reduced public sector spending and encouraging increased private sector activity by easing the regulatory environment and providing economic incentives for investments in certain industries. The Milei administration also has focused on implementing policies to improve public security, especially in areas with high crime rates. On December 20, 2023, Milei issued a presidential emergency Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU by its Spanish acronym), implementing more than 300 economic measures that modify and repeal hundreds of laws. The Milei administration also devalued the Argentine peso by more than 50% in an effort to decrease the country's fiscal deficit and reduce macroeconomic and trade imbalances.19 Citing a goal of cutting government spending, the Milei administration began to reduce the number of federal government ministries from 18 to 8, initiated a plan to cut tens of thousands of public sector jobs, and suspended over 2,700 public works projects.20 The administration also began to roll back energy, water, and transportation subsidies. The DNU focuses on deregulating Argentina's economy, including eliminating price controls and scaling back rental housing regulations. The Argentine congress could invalidate the DNU in its entirety through majority votes in both chambers. In March 2024, the Argentine senate voted to reject the DNU, with some senators claiming the decree was infringing on legislative branch powers. In June 2024, the Milei administration negotiated with opposition parties to gain passage of a 238-article omnibus economic reform law known as the Ley de Bases. The law gives Milei the power to legislate by decree on administrative, economic, financial, and energy issues for one year; establishes an incentive regime for investments of at least $200 million in specific sectors (see "Trade and Investment Ties," below); eases labor regulations; and authorizes the privatization of several state-owned firms, among other measures. The Argentine congress also passed an accompanying fiscal reform package, reinstating some taxes on income and personal assets, among other measures. Protesters pelted Argentina’s President Javier Milei with stones on 29 August 2025 after audio recordings leaked by the press suggest that Milei and his influential sister Karina were involved in embezzling public funds from the National Disability Agency. President Milei denies the accusations. On the campaign trail in the suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina’s President Javier Milei was pelted with stones, plants and bottles by protesters in the town of Lomas de Zamora, traditionally a Peronist opposition stronghold. Milei had become embroiled in a corruption scandal since a series of audio recordings were released by the press, which seem to implicate Milei and his sister Karina – who serves as secretary general of the presidency – in an embezzlement scheme. In the recordings, the former director of Argentina’s National Disability Agency (Andis), Diego Spagnuolo, discusses alleged bribes paid by a pharmaceutical company to members of the president’s administration. Spagnuolo went on to serve as a member of President Milei's legal team. Karina Milei, nicknamed “the boss” by her brother, is suspected of syphoning off 3 percent of a sum paid by Andis to purchase medicines from a private healthcare group. The Argentine press released a series of audio recordings on August 20 featuring a voice believed to be Spagnuolo implicating Eduardo “Lule” Menem, Karina Milei’s undersecretary in her role as secretary general to the president. Menem is believed to be the lynchpin of the corruption case. He is also the cousin of the current president of the Chamber of Deputies, Martín Menem. In the recordings, Karina Milei is named as the potential recipient of 3 percent of the sum the state spent to buy medicines for people living with various chronic conditions from Suizo Argentina, a private company. Prosecutors ordered at least 15 searches in connection with the investigation. On August 22, $266,000 and 7 million Argentine pesos (around $5,000) were seized from businessman Emmanuel Kovalivker – a co-director, along with his father Eduardo, of Suizo Argentina. President Milei told journalists that he would bring Spagnuolo “to justice and prove he lied”, hinting that he might press charges against the former director of Andis. This is not the first time that President Milei has been caught up in a corruption scandal. In February 2025, the president promoted the $LIBRA cryptocurrency on the X social network. After Milei's endorsement, the currency soared in value but then plummeted 90 percent within two hours. Industry experts called the operation a "rug pull" – a scam where developers unveil a crypto token, attract investors, then quickly cash out. The Argentine government created a special investigations unit to investigate any irregularities, but it was disbanded by presidential decree in May. The corruption scandals csme amid broader tensions over disability benefits in Argentina. The executive branch was examining Argentina’s disability benefits system due to suspicions over irregularities on the list of beneficiaries. In early August 2025, Milei vetoed laws approved by Congress aimed at helping the elderly and disabled, sparking angry reactions from lawmakers. Argentina’s Chamber of Deputies later rejected the presidential veto.