Buenos Aires, Argentina – President Javier Milei arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday to speak at the Milken Institute’s annual meeting, marking his 17th official visit to the United States since taking office.
Michael Milken, famous for his central role in one of Wall Street’s biggest financial scandals and his subsequent conviction, invited Milei back to the conference and spoke there already in 2024.
In his speech, the president, a self-described liberal, took the opportunity to trace the similarities between Argentina and the United States as he marked the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence.
“The American Dream is not dead. (…) The American Dream is being reborn, and in two places at the same time: in the United States under President Trump (…) and in Argentina, where 48 million Argentines have chosen to end a century of decline and once again embrace the ideals that led us to greatness,” Milei said.
While he praised the liberal ideals of the Founding Fathers, he also warned against “the path to tyranny and socialism.” “Argentina is a harbinger of the dystopian future that awaits the West if it continues down the path it began to tread years ago, seduced by the siren song of stability, security, uncertainty and free market economics.”
After listing her accomplishments as president, Milei concluded her sales pitch by saying: “The convergence between the two sister republics reopens the possibility of a free trade agreement that should have been signed 20 years ago (…) Once again, we ask you to invest in Argentina, not to replace the American Dream, but to make it bigger and expand globally.”
With Argentina recording negative foreign investment last year for the first time in 20 years, Mailay will be desperate for takers.
Upon his return on Thursday, he now faces an increasingly dire political and economic situation.
The corruption scandal involving his chief of staff, Manuel Adorni, continues to escalate, with a contractor testifying this week that Adorni paid him about $250,000 in cash for work on one of his properties. This follows complaints first made in March about miscellaneous costs exceeding US$800,000.
Investigators are currently looking into how Adorni could spend such a sum on top of his official annual salary of 7.65 million Argentine pesos (equivalent to approximately US$5,480).
Milei’s continued support of Adorni throughout the scandal and the ongoing economic downturn put the president’s disapproval rate at 63.5% in a recent poll by AtlasIntel. This is the highest figure since he took office in December 2023.
According to the survey, more than half of Argentines ranked corruption as one of the biggest problems facing the country, with unemployment and inflation close behind in second and third.
With monthly inflation rising and economic activity contracting through February, Milei will need to find a solution quickly ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Featured image: President Javier Milei speaking at the Milken Institute’s annual conference on May 6.
Image source: Office of the President of Argentina via YouTube
