The Economist October 9th 2021 The Americas 47
Argentina’slibertarians
No me pises
“L
ongliveliberty, goddammit!”pro
claimed Javier Milei, a 50yearold
economist,ata meetingofcomicbookafi
cionadosinBuenosAiresin2019.Hewent
dressedasGeneralAncap,a characterhe
inventedwhoisthefictionalleaderofLi
berland, a plot of land covering seven
square kilometres that is disputed be
tween Croatia and Serbia and which a
Czech libertarian politician declared
sovereignin2015.Ancapisa portmanteau
foranarchocapitalist,a strandoflibertar
ianismthatseekstoabolishthestateinfa
vourofunfetteredfreemarkets.MrMilei’s
superheromissionisto“kickKeynesians
andcollectivistsintheass.”
TodayMrMileiispoisedtobecomea
nationaldeputyfortherealcountryofAr
gentina.InthefirstroundofvotingonSep
tember12th(technicallya formofprimary)
theallianceheleadsgotthethirdhighest
number of votes in the city of Buenos
Aires,theonlyplacewhereitwasonthe
ballot.Ithadbeenregisteredlessthantwo
monthsbeforetheelection.Iftheresults
arerepeatedinNovember,whichislikely,
itcouldwintwoseatsinCongress.This
would make Mr Milei the first selfde
scribedlibertarianinArgentina’slegisla
ture,saysMartinD’Alessandro,a political
scientistattheUniversityofBuenosAires.
MrMileiwonrecognitionasaneccen
tricguest ontalkshows,eventually be
coming the country’s most interviewed
economistontelevisionandradio.Aself
styledprofessor oftantricsexandone
timefrontmanofanobscurerockband,he
claimsnottohavebrushedhishairsince
hewas13,preferringtolet“theinvisible
hand”dothework.Hisfivemastiffsare
namedaftereconomists,includingMurray
Rothbard,ananarchocapitalist,andMil
tonFriedman,a moreconventionalone.To
“makeArgentinaa greatpoweragain”,he
wantsto reduceregulations,lowertaxes
andeliminatethecentralbank.Hedislikes
abortion,believinglibertytobeunattain
ableifonecannotfirstbeborn.Butsame
sexmarriage shouldbe legal,asshould
mostnarcotics.
Libertarianismisfindingfertileground
amongyoungsters.OnecandidateonMr
Milei’slistforcitylegislatorsis 18 yearsold
andstillinsecondaryschool. “Mygenera
tionhasgrownupinrecession—obviously
thatmakes methinkthatwhatwehave
triedsofarisn’tworking,”saysIñakiGu
tiérrez, a20yearold who votedfor Mr
Milei.LiliaLemoine,a cosplayerwhohas
over100,000followersonInstagramandis
MrMilei’s makeup artist, promoteshis
ideasbyoccasionallypostingraunchysel
fieswearingTshirtswithsuchslogansas
“FreeMarket&PrivateProperty”.
SomeanalystsseeMrMileiaspartofa
resurgenceofliberalideasofallsorts.Ri
cardoLópezMurphy,aliberaleconomist
andformerpresidentialcandidate,com
petedaftera tenyearhiatusfrompolitics
andgot11%ofthevotesinthecapital(he
ranwithinthemainoppositioncoalition).
JoséLuisEspert,a liberalcandidateinthe
widerprovinceofBuenosAires,wherea
thirdofthecountry’svoterslive,got5%of
votesthere.InArgentina’scrowdedprima
riesthosearebignumbers.“Thisisa re
sponseagainstthePeronistlogicofsolving
allproblemsthroughthestate,”saysLucas
Romero,a politicalanalyst,referringtothe
movementthathasgovernedArgentinafor
mostofthepast 70 years.
Theinterestinlibertarianismalsore
flectsa backlashagainstconventionalpol
itics. The particular brand of Peronism
promoted by thecurrent vicepresident,
CristinaFernándezdeKirchner,whowas
presidentfrom 2007 to2015,leftArgentina
witha currencynobodytrusts,skyhighin
flationandeconomicstagnation.Theop
position,inpowerbetween 2015 and2019,
piledupdebtbutfailedtoimprovethings.
“IfKirchnerismhasbecometheestablish
ment,libertarianismhasbecomethereac
tiontothestatusquo,”saysJuanGermano,
head of Isonomía Consultants, a pollster.
Almost half of voters do not identify with
any of the big parties, up from 39% in 2019.
Turnout was the lowest it has been since
such elections were introduced in 2011. Mr
Milei, who attacks government and oppo
sition members together as a “political
caste”,is a big winner, but other parties,
suchasMarxists, got record results too.
Indeed, many of the people Mr Milei
drawsin are more conventionally right
wing, opposed to government policies
suchaslegalising abortion and creating a
quotafor trans people in government jobs.
“Iwillally with all those who believe that
theleftis the enemy,” Mr Milei told The
Economist. He recently signed a letter spon
soredbyVox, an ultranationalist party in
Spain,that rails against “the advance of
communism” in the Spanishspeaking
world.Even climate change, he claims, is a
“socialist lie”. Eduardo Bolsonaro, the son
of Brazil’s president, and José Antonio
Kast,a farright presidential candidate in
Chile currently polling in second place,
haveendorsed Mr Milei.
Willthis growing popularity last? “If the
nextgovernment manages to stabilise the
economy, Milei’s discourse will lose its ap
peal,”says Sergio Berensztein, a political
consultant. Third parties have done well
beforein the capital, especially in times of
crisis,only to implode soon after.
Nonetheless, Mr Milei is having an im
pact.The head of the main opposition par
tyhasadopted his term “political caste”.
EvenPresident Alberto Fernández seems
nervous.He told a young audience shortly
beforethe primaries that being rebellious
shouldmean embracing “hippy and rock
culture”and “May 1968”, not “liberal” ideas
that,hesaid, “caused catastrophe and pen
ury for millions”. Liberland may be no
matchfor Argentina’s 2.7m square kilo
metres,but General Ancapisconquering
groundin the battle of ideas.n
B UENOS AIRES
What Javier Milei, a comic-book-loving libertarian, says about Argentina’s politics
Always twirling, twirling, twirling towards freedom