It has taken just two weeks for the weight of reality to fall on Javier Milei, the far-right libertarian who won the presidential elections in Argentina with the promise of ending the "caste", dollarizing the economy, "dynamiting" the central bank and going through the “chainsaw” of public spending. The libertarian revolution will have to wait.
Even before arriving at the Casa Rosada, Milei, who takes office on December 10, is showing signs of a certain pragmatism both in tone, in the calendar, and in his alliances.
The shadow of former conservative president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) is projected with increasing intensity around Milei: two of the most important portfolios in his Cabinet will be occupied by former Macri ministers. Patricia Bullrich, who challenged him for the presidency, will repeat as head of Security, despite the reluctance she aroused in Milei's narrow circle.
And the Minister of Economy will be Luis Caputo, a former executive at JP Morgan and Deutsche Bank who was head of Finance under Macri and then briefly presided over the central bank. Milei had mercilessly attacked Caputo for his management of the latter position, accusing him of having squandered dollar reserves. The discourse has changed radically. This week Milei traveled to the US, a country that needs to be considered for negotiations with the IMF, and took Caputo, a man with very good relations on Wall Street. It was upon his return that he confirmed that he would be his minister. There is “no greater financial expert” than Caputo, he has said.
With Caputo it seems that the short-term dollarization plan that Milei promised during the campaign is buried. In a recent meeting with bankers operating in Argentina, Caputo stressed that the stocks could not be “removed on day one,” alluding to the restrictions on accessing dollars at the official exchange rate. “We will tend toward unification,” he said.
It is not the only electoral promise that is postponed. Milei, who intended to “destroy” inflation, now admits that the thing “will take between 18 and 24 months.” He has also said that he is going to release “all the prices he can”… “There are some that I still can't do because of the bombs that this government left behind.”
After spending the campaign calling Brazilian President Lula da Silva a “corrupt communist” with whom he did not want to have dealings, he has sent what he believes will be his Foreign Minister to Brasilia and has invited Lula to the inauguration. Also invited is Pope Francis, whom Milei had viciously insulted in the past, but with whom she had a “very interesting” telephone conversation a few days ago.
“Milei is doctrinaire, not dogmatic,” political scientist Sergio Morresi, from the National Council for Scientific and Technological Research, assesses in statements to France Presse. “We are not witnessing, at least for now, a turning point, but rather a tracing of a longer path towards the same objectives. Partly because he does not have the political capacity to do anything else,” he adds.
The Argentine press is talking these days about the “Baghlini theorem,” a concept formulated in the eighties by deputy Raúl Baglini, according to which the level of nonsense in a politician's speech is inversely proportional to his proximity to power. “As December 10 approaches, the Lion (as his followers call Milei) stops being exclusively carnivorous,” said Florencia Donovan, columnist for La Nación.
