In front of a few hundred fans in the audience and all the empty boxes – in an auditorium that can accommodate 1,700 people – in the building renamed “Palacio Libertad”, Javier Milei inaugurated the third regional meeting of the Madrid Forum, preceded by the words of Santiago Abascal, leader of Vox, and ideologue of this international far-right space.
The Argentine president targeted “the state party, those political structures that reject the model of freedom” and ranked himself at the same level of importance as former president and Republican candidate Donald Trump. This time, Milei held back and did not mention President Pedro Sánchez, whom he had attacked while participating in the ultra summit in the Spanish capital in May, which led to a diplomatic crisis with Spain.
The Kirchner Cultural Center, located in the city of Buenos Aires, has not been called that since Milei took over as president on December 10. In this Madrid-Río de la Plata 2024 Forum, the words Kirchnerism, State and socialism are used to refer to the “bad” other. Abascal used the term “sanchismo” in the enumeration of “those bad guys” from other forums at their ideological antipodes. “With the Madrid Forum, the good guys began to unite. In Europe and Latin America. We are the ones who defend the right to life in the mother’s womb,” he said, drawing applause from the audience, “freedom and true democracy… We are against neocommunism, Kirchnerism, sanchism, the organized crime that represents socialism in the world.
The Vox leader hailed Javier’s “landfall victory” in last year’s elections. “Today, he retains the affection of the people, almost a year later. When I arrived here, I saw a graffiti on the car that said: ‘I love you Milei.’ In Spain, Pedro Sánchez does not see graffiti of this type in the streets. And when Lula, Petro and company travel through Spain, they hear the cries of those who had to abandon their country because of socialism.” In his anti-immigration proclamation, Abascal also accuses Sánchez of helping to “import” express illegal immigration “promoted with the money of the Spanish people” with the aim of “changing the electoral and political landscape” in Spain.
X, Brazil and Venezuela
In his inaugural speech, the Argentine president questioned the suspension of X in Brazil and criticized the country’s judicial system. “Brazilian justice, which dictates the power of the PT, now bans X, which is nothing more than the public space where Brazilian citizens around the world can express their dissent. Who else but a tyrant who is wrong in everything can endorse such an act of oppression?” he said without specifying who he was referring to, whether it was Judge Alexandre de Moraes or President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva himself.
The suspension of the social network of the tycoon Elon Musk was initially ordered as a precautionary measure by Judge De Moraes, and ratified last Monday by the five members of the first chamber of the Supreme Court.
Among the audience, Ana Claudia Rodríguez, from Asunción, waved a Brazilian flag and introduced herself to elDiario.es as a “political refugee” who, as she assured, has been facing a prison sentence in Brazil since May. “I was at a demonstration with Bolsonaro supporters in Brasilia, on January 8, against the electoral results that gave victory to Lula. They were not transparent. The justice opened an investigation and blocked my accounts. Today, Brazil lives a dictatorship, it is on the road to communism,” she said.
Likewise, Milei did not spare the qualifiers when referring to the situation in Venezuela. “The murderous dictatorship of Maduro in Venezuela is bringing Christmas forward to cover up the electoral fraud and now they are putting in jail the one who won the elections.” Argentina recognized the victory of the opponent Edmundo González Urrutia, who has an arrest warrant. The Argentine diplomatic delegation left Caracas following an ultimatum from the Venezuelan government and the six opponents who found refuge in the embassy remained under the representation of Brazil. In other words, the government of Lula da Silva has provided a solution to the request of the Argentine Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Neither Meloni nor Bukele
The two-day forum will also feature José Antonio Kast, a former Chilean presidential candidate, and at that time Eduardo Bolsonaro, one of Jair Bolsonaro’s sons, had not yet been confirmed. “There is a fascination among analysts, politicians and journalists to talk about the global to understand each local phenomenon, something that I put into perspective,” says sociologist Pablo Semán, author of the book, when asked about the event. It’s between us. Where does the far right that we didn’t see coming come from and how far can it go?
“Milei is not the same as Meloni or Bukele. It is to reduce to a common denominator. It serves everyone to federate ideas and carry out actions, and for internal prestige. We must take this with a pinch of salt. Politicians give signs of success if they touch people. Part of the political crisis in Argentina is due to the obsession with the world,” he explains.
