Argentina is in a state of crisis. 40% of the population live below the poverty line and inflation is in the triple digits. But just when all seems lost, a hero swoops down to save the day - General AnCap. Donning a yellow and black costume and wielding a trident, General AnCap announces: “I come from Libertyland, where no-one has to pay taxes!”
Believe it or not, this was recent elected president of Argentina and far-right populist, Janvier Milei, at an Argentinian Comic-Con in 2019. He was cosplaying as his very own superhero “General AnCap” in accordance with his fringe political ideology of anarcho-capitalism, a form of ultra-liberalism adopted by Argentina in their recent 2023 general election. This ideology is how Milei plans to bring back Argentina’s economy – and 56% of the country seems to agree with him.
Milei’s past is mostly in academics; he taught several university courses on economics throughout his life but began to rise in fame when he began television debating, creating a name for himself by repeatedly insulting his rivals. He then made the move to politics in 2021 when he was elected as the representative for the city in Buenos Ares in the Argentinian Chamber of Deputies (the lower house of Argentine Congress) as a member of the ‘Freedom Advances’ political party. Later, in October 2023 Javier Milei won the presidential election against his rival Sergio Massa in a tight 56% victory. Somewhere along this timeline Milei also claims to have experience as a “tantric sex instructor,” although it is not clear when this occurred.
He has been compared to other populist politicians such as Boris Johnson and Donald Trump due to his extremely flamboyant personality when it comes to publicity. Not only did he rise to fame in the aforementioned talk shows, but during his presidential campaign, Milei repeatedly arrived at stages wielding a chainsaw and yelling “chainsaw, chainsaw!” while continuously thrusting it into the air, in what Milei clarified was a visual metaphor for cutting state funding – one of his main proposals for his time as president.
But Milei is not the only one calling the shots – he is reported to receive political advice from his English Mastiff named “Conan the Barbarian”. Conan died in 2017 but Milei still claims to receive telepathic advice from his four-legged friend, and of course the six clones of Conan created after the dog’s death, each named after Milei’s favorite free market economists: Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbart and Robert Lucas Jr. (two are named after the latter and one is named after the original Conan).
Many policies have been put forward by Milei (and Conan by extension). As well as the cutting of state funding and taxes (a policy very reminiscent of Margaret Thatcher, who he has praised as a “great leader”), he is also a proponent of freedom of choice amongst drugs, guns, prostitution, is indifferent to gay marriage, and he is even open to the sale of children. Despite this, Milei is outspoken about the removal of abortion rights, on the grounds that it is a “brainwashed and homicidal policy”, and that life begins at fertilization.
Above all of this, Javier’s biggest and most libertarian policy of all, is the complete abolition of the central bank – a policy which, with the help of removing currency controls (which he also promises) could make the dollar overtake the peso as the national currency. In short, Milei’s plan to fix inflation is the complete dollarization of Argentina. Many people criticize this notion as economic suicide, claiming that due to Argentina’s and America’s economies being radically different, they are incompatible. Some even say that there aren’t enough dollars in Argentina to start with so the plan could not even begin to work.
Only time will tell what the future of Argentina's economy is from this point forward. Whether the shift to complete right-wing libertarianism will bring prosperity or wreak havoc, all we do know is that historically the latter has been truer than the former. It is more than likely that should Javier Milei come to pass the policies he has promised that the people of Argentina will experience suffering like they never have before, that the economy won’t heal and in fact will crash and burn. But this is all speculation of course – perhaps in General AnCap will save the day after all.
image from voxpopuli.net