Gabriel Pasquini

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Argentine President-elect Javier Milei addresses supporters in Buenos Aires on Nov. 19 after winning the runoff presidential election. (Agustin Marcarian/Reuters)

MundoAmérica

The election of Javier Milei, a far-right outsider and self-described “anarcho-capitalist”, as the next president of Argentina on Nov. 19 has left his supporters ecstatic, those fearing his authoritarian leanings depressed — and columnists such as me trying to guess how likely it is that his radical proposals, including abolishing the national Central Bank and currency, will succeed.

Pundits have pointed out the obvious: With no real party, legislative majority or administrative experience, Milei will be forced to compromise to get anything done. But it’s mainly precedent, not pragmatism, that threatens his success. His program has been tried at least twice before, with terrible costs for Argentina.…  Seguir leyendo »

A supporter of Sergio Massa, presidential candidate for the ruling party, holds a flier in favor of his candidacy in front of Liberty Advances coalition candidate Javier Milei's campaign bus in Ezeiza, Argentina, on Wednesday. (Natacha Pisarenko/AP)

MundoAmérica,

On Sunday, Argentines will select their next president, choosing between Sergio Massa, the minister for the economy, and far-right star Javier Milei, the local version of the many Donald Trump-like figures sprouting up around the world.

This choice has been framed by both the media and the candidates themselves in various ways: anger against the disastrous current administration vs. fear of an untested, mercurial upstart; the old polarizing enmity between governing Peronism and opposing anti-Peronism; and the rebuke of an inept political class by fed-up constituencies. I see it differently. Argentina is about to cross a line it will find very difficult to uncross.…  Seguir leyendo »

Javier Milei, an Argentine congressman and far-right candidate for president, delivers a speech in Buenos Aires on Aug. 7 (Luis Robayo/AFP/Getty Images)

MundoAmérica,

Years ago, as the United States was beginning its descent into political and social polarization, a friend who, like me, had emigrated from well-polarized Argentina, suggested we might be able to lend advice to our new compatriots, pointing out with sarcastic pride: “We come from the future”.

Today in Argentina, that future has given rise to Javier Milei, a far-right politician who, this past Sunday, won the country’s mandatory cross-party primaries by pledging to get rid of the entire political class, dollarize the economy, abolish the central bank, dismantle any remnant of a welfare state and arm citizens. A self-defined libertarian, Milei doesn’t shy away from legalizing the sale and purchase of human organs.…  Seguir leyendo »

Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio attends a rally on Wednesday in Quito, where he was assassinated. (Karen Toro/Reuters)

MundoAmérica,

The assassination of Ecuadoran presidential candidate Fernando Villavicencio in Quito on Wednesday is the latest escalation of the ongoing war between the anarchic world of gangs and what former president Rafael Correa defined after the killing as a “failed state”.

Villavicencio, shot multiple times while exiting a political rally, is one more victim in a country where extreme violence has become the criminal organizations’ way of not just settling scores but also communicating with society. Their aim has been to tame an entire nation through terror.

Homicide rates soared to more than 25 per 100,000 in 2022, and might rise even higher this year, experts say.…  Seguir leyendo »

A Venezuelan boy is seen while crossing with his family from Colombia to Panama en route to the United States on May 9. (Ivan Valencia/AP)

MundoAmérica, ,

Journalists converged on the southern U.S. border two weeks ago in search of yet another crisis. The end of Title 42′s border policy, a covid-era mechanism for automatically expelling asylum seekers back to Mexico, was supposed to provoke a surge in migrant crossings. When those masses did not materialize, everyone was left asking where the crisis was.

Perhaps it was not the right question. Perhaps they should have asked where the border actually lies, what it actually is — and what it represents to the men, women and children who go to great pains to traverse it in pursuit of a dream many Americans no longer seem to be able to recognize.…  Seguir leyendo »

The Brazilian flag is reflected in the broken window of the federal Supreme Court after the Jan. 8 attacks in Brasilia. (Rafael Vilela for The Washington Post)

MundoAmérica

On Jan. 6, 2021, a mob of supporters of President Donald Trump, instigated by his false claims of election fraud, stormed the U.S. Capitol in an attempt to overturn the 2020 presidential election that Trump had lost to Joe Biden. The rioters broke into the building and interrupted Congress, which was in the process of certifying the electoral college vote.

On Jan. 8, 2023, a mob of supporters of President Jair Bolsonaro, instigated by his false claims of election fraud, stormed the Brazilian parliament, presidential palace and Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the 2022 presidential election that had been won by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.…  Seguir leyendo »

MOSCOW, RUSSIA - JUNE 16: Lionel Messi of Argentina sets the ball to kick a penalty shot during the 2018 FIFA World Cup Russia group D match between Argentina and Iceland at Spartak Stadium on June 16, 2018 in Moscow, Russia. (Photo by Carlos Cuin/Jam Media/Getty Images)

MundoAmérica, ,

They say that the best business is to buy an Argentine for what he is worth, and then sell him for what he thinks he’s worth. Those who glean that joke’s meaning may have been shocked to hear Lionel Messi, Argentina’s captain and arguably the best player in the world, if not in history, declare that “we are not candidates” to win the FIFA World Cup just a couple of weeks before its opening. Such modesty would have been branded as defeatism in many a country represented in Russia. However, in Argentina—a soccer superpower ranked among the world’s top four teams, a finalist in the last World Cup (which it lost to Germany by a scarce 0-1 in extra time), and a place and culture foreign to self-effacement—defeatism might well be the most sensible choice.…  Seguir leyendo »