User:Davide King/sandbox



Javier Milei, the president of Argentina since 2023, is well known for his flamboyant personality, distinctive personal style, and strong media presence, which at times caused controversies. Like other right-wing populists, his rhetoric focuses on opposing what he describes as the political caste. Milei's coalition was criticized for including among his candidates neo-Nazis and apologists of the last Argentine military dictatorship. During his political career, Milei has also been accused of having a violent attitude towards journalists and critics, and of misogynistic behavior, including towards women in journalism, and has been the subject of several investigations.

Complaint for gender violence
On 26 June 2018, Milei told journalist Teresita Frías that she was "dumb", that "I'm going to destroy you", and that "you have problems understanding" during a press conference in Metán, Salta. Frías had questioned him on a question linked to Keynesian economics and Milei had cited John Maynard Keynes on four occasions. Milei refused to apologize when asked by another journalist at the end of the conference. As a result, Frías filed a complaint for gender violence, citing violation of the Law for Protection against Gender Violenc from Milei. Milei had to undergo a psychological examination and later apologized for his actions at the courthouse and Family and Gender judge Carmelo Paz prohibited him from taking part in a public meeting as a panelist or lecturer within the city limits of Metán. The court then dismissed the case. According to Milei, this was because the judge said "there was no violence, there was no gender violence, and there was no crime."

Alleged cover-up and illicit association
Following doubts related to the financing of the 2019 Argentine presidential election campaign of the Frente Despertar and the links with the drug trafficking detainee Federico "Fred" Machado, Milei was denounced along with José Luis Espert; Milei did not take part to the 2019 campaign. Luis Rosales, Jimena Aristizabal, and Nazareno Etchepare also entered the complaint before the Federal Criminal and Correctional Court No. 8, for the crimes of concealment and illicit association.

Alleged plagiarism for El Cronista and Infobae
In August 2021, Milei was accused of plagiarism by an anonymous Medium user, who alleged that in some of his opinion columns, such as for El Cronista and Infobae, he had copied fragments of texts from various economists from the Austrian School without citing or attributing their authorship; this was verified by several news outlets. Milei defended himself by saying that they are "dissemination columns" and that, for practicality, notes of attribution are usually not made. He said that he is opposed to intellectual property like Murray Rothbard, and that he received no money for those writings.

Insults to Horacio Rodríguez Larreta
On 25 August 2021, through his Instagram account, Milei insulted Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (the head of government of Buenos Aires) by calling him a "shitty lefty", a "disgusting dragged worm", and added: "I can crush him while in a wheelchair." He justified his words by arguing that Rodríguez Larreta "uses public funds to persecute opponents"​, that "my behavior corresponds to a reaction to a previous aggression and persecution that the head of the Buenos Aires government is carrying out"​, and that "what I do on my social networks is my problem". He added that "if you don't like how I handle myself on my social networks, it's very easy: don't look at my Instagram and that's it."

Electoral campaign financing
Doubts arose from the late presentation of the campaign financing reports of his alliance, La Libertad Avanza. According to the PASO report, despite the discourse against the political caste, the alliance received no private contributions or donations and was financed exclusively with the state contribution. These questions raised questions about the way in which the campaign, which included events with LED screens and sound, the rental of the Luna Park stadium and the Grand View hotel, was financed. In this regard, Carlos Maslatón, one of his campaign collaborators, excused himself by saying that the financing of political campaigns is 98% illicit.

Alleged plagiarism for Pandenomics
In May 2022, Milei was accused of having plagiarized scientists like Salvador Galindo Uribarri, Mario Rodríguez Mesa, Jorge Luis Cervantes Cota, and Antonio Guirao Piñera for his Pandenomics (2020) book. Galindo Uribarri was not made aware of this until an interview with Noticias. In August 2022, Ramiro Vasena, a candidate for a small liberal party in Argentina, filed a complaint in a Buenos Aires court against Milei for plagiarism in Pandenomics, describing him as "a compulsive plagiarist". Susana Bianconi, Galindo Uribarri's wife, was not made aware of the case, and Galindo Uribarri, who was said by his wife to have been "offended to the core" for the plagiarism, died of cancer in September 2022. The investigative reporting of Noticias attracted international attention in November 2023.

Sale of human organs
In June 2022, Milei declared himself in favor of allowing the sale of organs between private parties and eliminating all state regulations. According to Milei, "it is just another market" and "my first property is my body." His statements caused the rejection of the INCUCAI (Single National Central Coordinating Institute for Ablation and Implant). Milei later acknowledged that it was his personal opinion and that the country was not prepared for this discussion until at least 200 years have passed.

Sale of children
In June 2022, a journalist asked Milei if he agreed with the sale of children. Milei responded:

"'No, it depends... It depends on what terms you're thinking about. When I say that I am a paleo-libertarian, it means that in an anarcho-capitalist world you give a place to customs and traditions. A legal framework will appear as a consequence of people's decisions and perhaps, in one of those contexts, it is absolutely reprehensible and is not done; it has to do with what society decided and thinks certain things... If I had a child, I would not sell him, but again, it is not what Argentine society is discussing, perhaps 200 years from now, what will happen, what do I know but there is a problem of consistency because if we talk about the anarcho-capitalist world he would not be president, because in anarcho-capitalism there is no president.'"

These words caused a stir and a considerable loss of popularity in polls. Milei would later come out to rectify and clarify things some time later. He explained on Twitter that the questions they asked him were only "philosophical discussions that they make because they don't want me to talk about the underlying problem of Argentina". He said: "I came here to propose a different economic model that allows us to become a power again. Here the only discussion that matters is whether they want to continue living in this swamp or want to build a different country." Interviewed by Luis Novaresio on La Nación+, he admitted that he can make mistakes, and that he also learns from his mistakes, but that his main problems are focused on "resolving inflation, public spending, unemployment, poverty, and indigence". He said: "I condemn the sale of children and respect institutions. They brought me a philosophical assumption and as a paleolibertarian I said that there is a discussion there, but it has nothing to do with what I think. It's fake, I said it's fake. Now, when lying politicians come later to say that I said that and continue to maintain it, well, it shows you the human and intellectual quality of those politicians. Obviously, I don't agree with the sale of children."

Coinx promotion
In June 2022, it was reported that cryptocurrency company Coinx closed its offices after being involved in an alleged pyramid scheme controversy. The company was promoted by Milei on his social networks. He said: "They are revolutionizing the way of investment to help escape inflation." At that time, Milei was not in the CNV Registry of Qualifiers to make invitations to the public to invest and CoinX did not have the authorization to operate in the field of public offering. This led the CNV to declare it an irregular public offer.

Accusations of alleged state terrorism denialism
Milei has been accused of engaging in the denial of state terrorism in Argentina for maintaining that "there were not 30,000" Desaparecidos in Argentina (those who suffered from enforced disappearance) from state terrorism as a result of the Dirty War in Argentina in the 1970s and 1980s during the National Reorganization Process. He clarified that he condemns the dictatorship but that the guerrilla terrorists of the time should also be condemned. Furthermore, he stated that during that time there was a war between the state and terrorism. He said:

"'The first thing to recognize is that the 30,000 number is a lie. There were not 30,000 missing. You go to the Human Rights Secretariat and it's not 30,000. Why would you be starting from a number that is not true? Why are you lying about the number? There are clear reasons why people lie about the number. It has to do with a cash issue. Then you are dirtying a noble cause for a cash issue. The other thing you have to understand is that it was a war. See if at this moment someone goes and puts a bomb on you and you fly into the air, is that okay with you? The problem is that the state, when it participates in these conflicts, has to operate within a framework, because it is the one that has the monopoly on violence. So, what terrorism did is very serious. Now what the state did was even worse. What does this mean? That there was a war, yes. But the abuses committed by the state are worse. But from there to saying that they were idealistic young people and that they were good people there is an abyss.'"

Congenital Heart Disease Program
Milei and La Libertad Avanza voted against a law to expand the Congenital Heart Disease Program, which is one of the most frequent causes of mortality in newborns. When asked about this decision on the Todo Noticias channel, Milei argued:

"'It implies more presence of the state interfering in the lives of individuals and implies more expenses. That doesn't work like that. We vote based on liberal ideology. If you already have hospitals, why don't they do it? They make a law so that they do what they should do under normal conditions, are we all crazy? Don't you have public hospitals? Why don't they solve it? You want to regulate it because you do your job poorly, are you burdening me? You create all issues of public spending because, in reality, what you have to do, you do wrong. That for us it is not news that everything the state does, it does wrong. There are things that are unnecessarily reinforced and translate into more state presence and actions that do not correspond. They already have hospitals and they have to treat you, if they don't it is another problem.'"

Media complaint for alleged sexual favours
In February 2023, Mila Zurbriggen, president of the Libertarian Generation group, announced her departure from La Libertad Avanza, denouncing in the media that within the coalition "people are put in suitable positions for sexual favours", stating that the way in which the leadership was handled showed "a lack of respect for the militant youth", and accusing Milei and his party of "using them only for their interests". In turn, those close to Milei released a statement considering Zurbriggen's intention an attempt to defame the women in the coalition, and warned that "all those who want to approach them in search of fame will not be accepted." Ultimately, Zurbriggen did not file any formal complaint against Milei. The next day, Milei said: "This topic is totally inconsequential. If you have all that, go and prove it in court. There are people who, when they don't get positions or money, in that anger, say a lot of things. Zurbriggen already had problems with other groups. It is her way of acting, that is why she does not last in any space."​

Alleged sales of candidatures
In July 2023, businessman Juan Carlos Blumberg alleged that leaders close to Milei, such as Carlos Kikuchi, former political advisor to Domingo Cavallo, charged up to $50,000 in exchange for political positions. Blumberg also said that within La Libertad Avanza there are people close to Sergio Massa and Kirchnerism. In response, Milei defended himself on social networks, arguing: "These days we have been harshly questioned about the financing of our campaign. In our space, each one of us self-finances the campaign, that is, we do it with our own money and effort. That bothers traditional politicians, because they finance themselves with taxes, that is, they steal what you pay them to campaign. In this space the one who comes to put stays, here each one banks with his own; anyone who wants to come here to see if he steals a load gets ejected."

In addition to Blumberg, the journalist Carlos Eguia, who was the candidate for governor in the province of Neuquén for La Libertad Avanza, denounced an alleged "sale of the brand and places" on the lists and described Milei as "a crap of a person". Faced with these accusations, Julio Serna, a leader close to Carlos Kikuchi, stated that "money was never asked, we only explained how to run a campaign." ​ The justice system began an investigation against Milei. Ramiro González, the prosecutor with electoral jurisdiction, summoned the leaders Carlos Maslatón, Rebeca Maria Belen Fleitas, and Mila Zurbriggen to testify. Although Maslatón did not provide concrete evidence, he claimed to have obtained data on the sale of positions; Fleitas and Zurbriggen denied having specific data. Blumberg was also summoned to testify but did not appear. Milei accused González of "damaging his image" and demandd that the justice system investigate him instead. The claim is in charge of the attorney general Eduardo Casal.

Cloned dogs counseling
Milei's cloned dogs and his comments about them, namely that he would seek advice from them for of his campaign and policy, among others, sparked criticism and controversy. During his 2023 presidential campaign, Milei's critics often pointed to his controversial pronouncements, which have been described as being part of an outlandish and bizarre behavior, to argue about his incompetency to rule. Journalist Juan Luis González said that Milei "is convinced that the dogs advise him in different areas: one in politics, another in economics, another gives him general advice", and added that he is worried about the prospect of Milei, whom he described as an "unstable leader", governing a country that he saw as unstable. He said: "This man who would command the fate of the country wakes up each day, does medium sessions with the dogs, and then makes a decree based on that. It's very shocking." When asked by The Economist in September 2023 about such reports, Milei did not deny them, and expressed his pride, saying: "What is it they say, that my dogs determine my strategies, yes? That they are like a strategic committee? They are the best strategic committee in the world. Tell me: when has an outsider-outsider achieved what we achieved in two years? If so, they are the best political analysts in the world."

Alleged involvement of neo-Nazi and Argentine military dictatorship apologist candidates
Milei and his coalition attracted controversy for the involvement of neo-Nazis and apologists of the Argentine military dictatorship, who were candidates within Milei's coalition. In November 2023, a deputy elected within Milei's coalition described them as patriots. Earlier in June 2023, Carlos Maslatón, who is part of Milei's coalition, accused Milei of having included candidates that he described as neo-Nazis and anti-Jews in his lists, citing the example of Pablo Ansaloni's antisemitic comments, for which Ansaloni later apologized. In December 2023, as the president-elect of Argentina, Milei's nomination of Rodolfo Barra (an Argentine far-right lawyer and member of Milei's coalition) as the head of state lawyers and of Treasury's prosecution office, which is also in charge of the highest body of the State Lawyers Corps and have as its central axis the fight against antisemitism and discrimination, caused controversy and outrage over Barra's neo-Nazi past.

Journalists Paulo Vilouta, Débora Plager, Pablo Duggan, Fabián Doman and Martín Candalft accused Milei of being a Nazi. Milei sued them for this, asking for a compensation of five million pesos, that he promised to give to a Jewish institution. Those trials were criticized by FOPEA as being against the freedom of the press.

América 24 interview
In an October 2023 interview at América 24 with journalist Esteban Trebuq, Milei attracted controversy for his statements and reactions. Milei said: "After Bullrich made her announcement, I posted a meme. Did anybody see the metrics of that post? It has over 250,000 likes and almost 16 million views. On my personal Instagram, it has over 1 million likes." To Trebuq, who commented that those numbers did not equal votes, Milei answered: "When a few idiots are commenting online, you know what? While they watch the woman on Internet, I'm laying on her sheets." Another controversial moment, which went viral on social media, saw Milei halting a segment of the interview where he was defending his dollarization plan to complain about what he said were people whispering in the studio but there was no one there besides Milei and Trebuq.

Margaret Thatcher and the Falklands War
In November 2023, Milei attracted controversy for praising Margaret Thatcher as one of "the great leaders in the history of humanity" and describing her as his idol in a debate with Unión por la Patria candidate Sergio Massa. Thatcher is widely unpopular in the country due to the Falklands War, with Falklands veterans being particularly upset by Milei's comments.