Javier Milei, a former television pundit with no governing experience, is the newly-elected Argentina’s president. Details about his life, career, fortune, and more explored.
Citizens of Argentina elected right-wing libertarian Javier Milei as their new president on Sunday, rolling the dice on an outsider with radical views to fix an economy battered by triple-digit inflation, a looming recession, and rising poverty.
Argentina’s next president, who will assume office on 10 December 2023, has many of the nation’s scientists fearing for the future, science.org notes.
Javier reportedly clones dogs and sees nothing wrong in people selling organs openly.
His political journey is accompanied by controversies. From him wielding a chainsaw at a rally, dating an impersonator of the ex-president, and dramatic plans for the economy, just to mention a few.
Here’s everything we know about the President-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei.
Who is Javier Milei?
Javier Milei (real name: Javier Gerardo Milei) is an Argentine politician, economist, and author who is the president-elect of Argentina.
Milei is known for his flamboyant personality, distinctive personal style, and strong media presence. He has been described politically as populist, far-right or right-wing populist, ultraconservative and right-wing libertarian.
Before entering politics, Milei gained notability as an economist, as the author of multiple books on economics and politics, and for his distinct political philosophy.
Born on 22 October 1970, Argentina’s new president has three nicknames – The Lion, The Wig, and The Madman. The first one is what Javier Milei likes to call himself, and the second reflects the rock-star-turned-celebrity-economist’s shaggy hairstyle, even though the locks are real. But it’s the third, El Loco — the crazy one — which seems far more appropriate, given his wild policy promises and even more unconventional personal life.
Originally from Palermo, Buenos Aires, he grew up in the Villa Devoto neighborhood and later moved to Sáenz Peña.
Who are Javier Milei’s parents? The names of his parents are Alicia Milei (mother) and Norberto Milei (father). His dad was a bus driver who set up his own transport business while his mom was a housewife.
The politician had an estranged relationship with his parents. According to him, while growing up, they beat and verbally abused him, which caused him to not speak to them for a decade.
He said: “My father always told me that I was trash, that I was going to die of hunger, and that I was going to be useless all my life.”
He even considered them dead in 2018. However, during his 2021 political campaign, he reconciled with both his father and mother
He has one sibling, a younger sister named Karina Milei, who managed his election campaigns. He was also supported by his maternal grandmother when he was away from his parents.
What school did Javier Milei attend? Milei attended Catholic schools, including the secondary school Cardenal Copello.
Milei studied introductory economics and the law of supply and demand, which he thought seemed to be at odds with the ongoing hyperinflation; he said that he saw other people throwing “themselves on top of the merchandise” in a supermarket and thus began to study economics in more detail to understand it. Milei obtained an economics degree from the private University of Belgrano and received two master’s degrees from the Instituto de Desarrollo Económico y Social and the private Torcuato di Tella University.
At school, he was nicknamed El Loco (“The Crazy One”) for his outbursts and aggressive rhetoric.
Milei claims he hasn’t combed his hair since he was 13, adding: “From that moment on, the invisible hand combs my hair.”
Javier Milei gave football and singing a try before becoming an economist
At school, he gained the Madman nickname partly due to his exploits as a goalkeeper. He was good enough to be a reserve player for the youth team of second-division side Chacarita Juniors.
But he quit football at 18 in 1989 when there was hyperinflation in Argentina to study economics, going on to lecture at university, then working as an economist at various financial institutions.
In his late teens and early adulthood, Milei sang in the cover band Everest, which mostly played Rolling Stones’ covers.
As an economist, Milei is a vocal proponent of the Austrian School. He has critiqued the fiscal policies of various Argentine administrations and advocates for reduced government spending. As a university professor, he taught courses in macroeconomics, economic growth, microeconomics, and mathematics for economists. Milei also authored numerous books and hosted radio programs.
He is also a former television pundit with no governing experience. His combative style and controversial stance soon grabbed the public’s attention when he appeared on TV to discuss politics.
Milei would shout and swear on live shows and didn’t care who he insulted.
He called Pope Francis, an Argentinian largely revered in his homeland, “the representative of evil on Earth”.
Milei even dared to disrespect the country’s most famous footballer, the late Diego Maradona — whose controversial Hand of God goal put England out of the 1986 World Cup.
But rather than addressing the infamous handball incident, Milei simply said Maradona had not been as good as Brazil’s recently deceased football legend Pele.
Javier Milei entered into politics in 2021
Javier Milei, with no governing experience ventured into politics in 2021 and was was elected as a national deputy representing the City of Buenos Aires for La Libertad Avanza.
As a national deputy, he limited his legislative activities to voting, focusing instead on critiquing what he describes as Argentina’s political elite and its propensity for high government spending.
The now political public figure, who has pledged not to raise taxes and has donated his national deputy salary through a monthly raffle, reportedly takes advice from his dead dog, used to teach tantric sex, once dressed up as a masked superhero and wielded a chainsaw during his political rallies.
Though he has been described as Argentina’s Donald Trump, he makes the former American President appear moderate by comparison.
Mutton-chopped Milei advocates selling body organs, scrapping most government departments, selling off the impoverished country’s rivers and seas, and making the US dollar its official currency.
When the far-right leader was asked if he favoured selling children, he replied “it depends”.
Even so, from a British perspective, Milei may not sound all bad.
Although he vowed to “get the Falkland Islands back” from British control during his election campaign, he doesn’t want to force Argentinian rule on the South Atlantic islanders.
He is also a huge fan of Margaret Thatcher — who led the British military response in defeating Argentina’s 1982 Falklands invasion — calling her “one of the great leaders in the history of humanity”.
However, those aren’t the kind of ideas that tend to appeal to the electorate in South America’s second biggest country, where 80 per cent of voters want Argentina to take control of the Falklands again.
But Milei was up against finance minister Sergio Massa, a candidate who had been in charge of an economy with 140 per cent inflation and 40 per cent poverty rates.
Even El Loco, who won nearly 56 per cent of the vote in this year’s election, admitted he was a gamble.
During the final week of campaigning, he said: “Like all change, it always entails a risk. That’s why we have courage — we take the risk, and we go for glory.”
No one could accuse Milei of being a political insider.
Already a hero to many on the far right, at a comic book convention in 2019 Milei dressed up for the part in a black suit, yellow cape, golden shield, and mask to appear as his creation, General AnCap.
That, he explained, was because he is an “anarcho-capitalist” whose “mission is to kick the ass of Keynesians” — those who share the ideas of 20th century British economist John Maynard Keynes on the benefits of public investment.
Javier Milei becomes the newly-elected president of Argentina
Milei defeated the incumbent Minister of Economy Sergio Massa in the second round of the 2023 presidential election, running on a platform that accused the ideological dominance of Peronism in the country as being behind the ongoing Argentine economic crisis.
His victory comes after he joined the newly- formed right-wing party Avanza Libertad, or Freedom Advances, and was quickly elected as a congressman. He then became the party’s presidential candidate.
With the country £35billion in debt to the International Monetary Fund, and inflation predicted to reach nearly 190 per cent by the time he takes over on December 10, Milei has a tough job on his hands.
His party has only eight seats out of 72 in the senate, so he will struggle to get his radical reforms through.
And that could lead to more trouble for Argentina.
He has extreme ideas as a president
Milei said he wanted to burn down the central bank and wouldn’t trade with communist nations such as China.
He also talked about privatising education by issuing vouchers and making people pay for healthcare.
Abortion, which was only legalised in 2020, was to be banned again, but owning a gun was to be made easier.
Milei doesn’t think humans are to blame for climate change and reckons sex education is a form of left-wing brainwashing.
His most radical plan is for the country’s peso currency.
Milei has called it “worth less than excrement” and vowed to tie the country to the US dollar instead.
Even his backers doubt this is possible.
Billionaire supporter Eduardo Eurnekian told the Financial Times: “I think Milei would be a very good president. But I don’t want the dollar.”
Even so, as the nation’s inflation rate has risen, so has his popularity.
For many Argentinians, Milei’s views on the Falkland Islands are not likely to play well.
He has said another war is not an option and instead hopes to persuade the British to agree to a diplomatic solution whereby the Falklands are tied to Argentina like Hong Kong is to China.
But he says: “We must include the interests of people living in the islands” — and currently they don’t want to be ruled from Buenos Aires.
As victory came within his grasp this month, Milei did start to tone down some of his rhetoric.
In a recent advert he told voters: “We’re not going to privatise healthcare. We’re not going to privatise education. We’re not going to privatise soccer.
“We’re not going to allow the unrestricted carrying of weapons.”
What is Javier Milei’s net worth?
The President-elect, a right-wing populist with authoritarian instincts, who has been compared to Donald Trump, has made an impressive frotune over the years.
Per online reports, he is a multimillionaire.
Javier Milei has an estimated current net worth of between $1 million and $5 million and earns a sizable salary. Now that he’s the president of Argentina, his net worth is expected to see a surge.
He accrued his fortune from his work as a politician, economist, author and a former television pundit. Now that he’s the president of Argentina, his net worth is expected to see a surge.