Buenos Aires, Argentina – President Javier Milei arrived in Los Angeles on Wednesday to speak at the Milken Institute’s annual conference, marking his 17th official trip to the United States since taking office.
Michael Milken, famous for his central role and subsequent conviction in one of Wall Street’s biggest financial scandals, invited Milei to return to the conference, having already spoken there in 2024.
In his speech, the self-proclaimed libertarian president commemorated the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, taking the opportunity to trace similarities between Argentina and the US.
“The American dream is not dead […] It is being reborn, and it is being reborn in two places at the same time: in the United States, under President Trump […] and in Argentina, where 48 million Argentinians chose to put an end to a century of decline and embrace once more the ideals that also led us to greatness,” Milei said.
While praising the liberal ideals of the founding fathers, he also warned of “the path of tyranny and socialism,” claiming that “Argentina is a harbinger of the dystopian future that awaits the West if it continues down the path it began to tread some years ago, seduced by the siren song of stability and security versus uncertainty and free-market economy.”
After listing off his achievements as president, Milei concluded the sales pitch: “The convergence between two sister republics reopens the possibility of a free trade agreement that should have been signed two decades ago […] Once again, I invite you to invest in Argentina, not to replace the American dream, but to make it greater, to expand it across the globe.”
With Argentina recording negative foreign investment last year for the first time in over two decades, Milei will be desperate for takers.
Having returned on Thursday, he now faces an increasingly dire political and economic situation.
A corruption scandal involving his chief of staff, Manuel Adorni, has continued to escalate, with a contractor testifying this week that Adorni had paid him around US$250,000 in cash to do work on one of his properties. This follows complaints first made in March about other expenses that amount to over US$800,000.
Investigators are now looking into how Adorni can afford spending such figures on his official salary of 7.65 million Argentine pesos, equivalent to about US$5,480.
Milei’s continued support of Adorni throughout the scandal, coupled with persistent economic woes, has led the president’s disapproval ratings to reach 63.5% in AtlasIntel’s latest polling- the highest figure since he took office in December 2023.
The survey found that over half of Argentines rate corruption as one of the biggest problems facing Argentina, while unemployment and inflation trailed in second and third.
With monthly inflation on the up and economic activity having shrunk in the year to February, Milei will need to find solutions fast ahead of next year’s presidential elections.
Featured image: President Javier Milei speaking at the Milken Institute’s annual conference on May 6.
Image credit: Argentina’s Presidential Office via YouTube
