President Javier Milei of Argentina continues to stun his critics with an economy that has outperformed expectations and continues along an ambitious path for national security, including pursuit of a NATO global partnership.

"The fact that you have a president, head of state, who is defending the free market, who is defending the role of entrepreneurs and businessmen as creators of value and just defending deregulation when the tendency in Latin America and much of the West has been to regulate the economy . . . I think that's very positive, not only for Argentina, but for the region as a whole and maybe beyond," Daniel Raisbeck, a policy analyst at the CATO Institute, told Fox News Digital.

Milei won the presidency in November last year and prompted concern from some in the West that he would lead his country down a road to ruin with libertarian policies that would make an already troubled economy even weaker. Voters wanted economic relief from a market hit with some of the highest inflation in the world.

Those attitudes have shifted just months later as Milei has enacted a raft of policy changes: The International Monetary Fund (IMF) agreed to release a tranche of loans due to Argentina under a bailout program thanks to Milei’s government managing to create a fiscal surplus in the previous fiscal quarter and bring inflation down.

Argentina’s inflation in March alone hit 287%, causing poverty to deepen, and citizens to take to the streets with strikes and protests against his policies. The monthly inflation rate was 25% in December when Milei first took office.

Milei then went on to significantly reduce spending with major cuts to public-sector wages as he suspended public works projects and cut subsidies. He also devalued the country’s currency by over 50%, which helped it stabilize in value even as the price of basic goods jumped.

The monthly inflation dropped to 8.8% by April, marking the first single-digit inflation rate in over six months.

Argentina recorded a $589 million budget surplus in January and continued to post a surplus for each of the first four months of 2024, even as the surplus shrank to $299 million in April, Reuters reported. This marks the country's first quarterly surplus since 2008.

Raisbeck stressed that Milei’s primary measure of cutting spending has proven highly effective, while arguing that the significant deregulation in other parts of the economy has helped it revive over those first months of the new administration.

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"Argentina was one of the most regulated economies in the world," Raisbeck said. "So when you have a very well-thought-out package like the one that they introduced . . . and you get rid of as many of those regulations as you can, then it's very positive."

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He noted that Milei has not adhered to some of his more aggressive campaign promises, which included a promise to dollarize the economy and shut down the Central Bank, saying that it was a "non-negotiable matter."

Even days after he won the election, Milei appeared to favor more moderate Cabinet members than many would have expected of a man who jolted the international community with his outsider attitude and plans.

The Wall Street Journal, in December 2023, argued that Milei’s tenure "may turn out to be pretty conventional," with pro-market Economy Minister Luis Caputo leading away from Milei’s more radical plans.

The promised dollarization has been delayed, and Raisbeck explained that Milei’s approach has relied heavily on using the Central Bank to help regulate the economy, though he argued that Milei’s policies remain libertarian due to the deregulation he has pursued in other areas.

"Everything related to deregulation is very libertarian, and we’ve seen great success already in the housing market, for instance," Raisbeck said. "So that obviously brought a huge amount of supply that was suppressed because of price controls."

Milei also brought Argentina back to the international foreground, with a stronger focus on national security and changing up the country’s goals from the previous administration – most notably, he rejected the invitation to join the China and Russia-led economic bloc BRICS.

Milei argued that it was not "opportune" for Argentina to join the bloc as a full member, according to German outlet DW. However, he will continue to develop ties with its members in the meantime.

"They have a good security minister, Patricia Bullrich, who has experience because she was a security minister in the previous government," Joseph M. Humire, the executive director of the Center for a Secure Free Society, told Fox News Digital. "She has been able to get the ball rolling very quickly, and I think that was the benefit of having her in that position."

Humire explained that Milei’s government has largely focused on clearing out external agitators, particularly those connected to Russian disinformation networks, which remain a paramount concern in most parts of the world as Moscow seeks to expand its influence.

"The external forces are usually the key," Humire said. "Usually, it’s the Russians. The Russians have probably the biggest disinformation networks to be able to amplify local grievances and turn them into this macro instability, and they did that in Colombia, in Chile."

"A lot of the specifics of the nation’s security has been in mitigating these agitation networks that create chaos throughout the country, and they have been neutralizing some of these threats while they’re studying others," he added.

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Argentina's Milei stars in global far-right rally in Spain

Milei, a burgeoning superstar on the global right, began his visit to Spain on Friday.

Argentina's President Javier Milei on Sunday threw his weight behind Europe's far right at a Madrid rally that also featured leading stars of the movement like Italy's Giorgia Meloni and France's Marine Le Pen.

The event organised by Spain's far-right party Vox came ahead of elections to the European Parliament from June 6-9.

Surveys suggest those will result in soaring gains for Europe's far right, giving it more influence in Brussels.

Milei urged Europe's ultra-nationalists to unite against "socialism" in his address to the rally at Madrid's Vistalegre congress centre, which was attended by some 11,000 people according to Vox.

"Let's not give in to socialism, let's face it with greater courage. It seems that we are few, but we have nothing to fear, because victory on the battlefield does not depend on the number of soldiers, but on the forces that come from heaven," he said.

"I will lead by example and show the world that a government with our ideas can succeed. It is up to me to show them how sinister and nefarious socialism is, because... Argentina has been infected by socialism for decades," he added.

A self-declared "anarcho-capitalist", Milei won elections last November vowing to reduce the Argentine deficit to zero.

To that end, the chainsaw-wielding, anti-establishment Argentine has instituted an austerity programme that has seen the government slash subsidies for transport, fuel and energy, even as wage-earners lost a fifth of their purchasing power.

The Argentine leader is the "example" that "it is possible to propose an alternative," one of the founders of Vox, Javier Ortega-Smith, told AFP.

"He is a good example for Spain," he added.

Milei, a burgeoning superstar on the global right who began his visit to Spain on Friday, will not be meeting Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez or King Felipe VI during his stay as usually is the case when a foreign leader visits.

- 'Benefit a few' -

Le Pen, France's far-right standard-bearer and former presidential candidate, told the crowd that "the real Europe, the Europe of freedom" needs nationalist forces to be "united".

"We are, all of us together, in the home straight to make June 9 a day of deliverance and hope," she added.

Like other speakers, Le Pen stressed the need for tighter restriction on immigration, a central theme of European far-right parties.

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"Entire areas of my country, France, are being submerged by immigration and are no longer under the authority of the state," she said.

In video messages, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban urged "patriots" to "occupy Brussels", while Meloni, Italy's premier, called for a "mobilisation" to bring about "change in Europe".

In a message posted on social network X, Sanchez said the "international far-right" was meeting in Madrid "because Spain represents what they hate: feminism, social justice, labour dignity".

Hundreds of people, many holding up signs that read "no fascism!" protested in Madrid's central Plaza de Colon against the gathering.

Amid flags of Argentina, Mexico and Palestine, 27-year-old Argentinian Marisel Cherasco criticised Milei's policies because they "benefit a few at the expense of the well-being of the majority".

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Protesters rally against Spain's right-wing Vox party's conference in Madrid

The demonstration was called by a number of groups in response to the weekend Vox event. The protesters gathered under the slogan 'All to Colón against fascism'.

Many see the meeting in the Spanish capital as a significant step in the international consolidation of far-right ideology.

''Here it (fascism) is growing,'' one protester said. ''With (Javier) Milei's visit we are seeing the grouping of a lot of sectors of politicians and the business world, which is quite worrying and I think that has to raise the alarm a little."

Argentinian President Javier Milei is among the leaders attending Europa Viva 24, held two weeks before voters cast their ballots in the EU Parliament elections.

Milei is on the second day of a three-day visit to Spain. His itinerary does not include meetings with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, Spain's King Felipe VI, nor any other government official.

France's presidential candidate, Marine Le Pen, Portugal's Chega, Andre Ventura, and Chile's presidential runner-up, Jose Antonio Kast, also attended the event.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni appeared via video link, while Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and former Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki pre-recorded their messages.

''Somehow, we have to go ahead and tell them that we are here and that all the rights we have achieved, we are not going to allow them to take even one step back,'' another protester said.

Meanwhile, nearly 11,000 supporters - according to Vox - packed a former bull ring waving Spanish flags, as well as some from Argentina, Cuba, Venezuela and Israel.

They cheered speakers from Le Pen to Ventura and jeered at every mention of Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, the United Nations' 2030 Agenda, feminism and socialism.

Nationalism and sovereignty were at the forefront of the speeches, including one by Vox candidate for the EU elections, Jorge Buxade.

''On 9 June, we decide that Europe is still in the hands of globalist fanatics who pursue the destruction of the countryside, the devastation of the middle classes, the unprotection of borders and the submission of Europe to the whims of a bureaucratic caste of UN rapporteurs. Or, on the contrary, we European nations regain control of our lives, our economy, and our freedom," he said.

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French National Rally party leader, Marine Le Pen said: ''The European Union wants to standardise the whole continent. While we want a Europe that guarantees the diversity of cultures and identities of the European peoples. The European Union wants to promote Islamism and the woke movement. Whereas we want a Europe of proud cultures and which allows each people to defend its own identity.''

Argentinian President Javier Milei spoke about the impacts of socialism on society.

"Since socialism is an ideology that goes directly against human nature, it necessarily leads to slavery or death. There is no other possible destiny. To open the door to socialism is to invite death," he said.

Vox leader Santiago Abascal acknowledged the growth of right-wing support.

"We are not alone. We are alive and we are very well accompanied by all of you and by magnificent international allies. Today we have been able to prove it once again and we have been able to hear voices here that form a chorus alongside ours from both sides of the Atlantic. A choir that proclaims that another world is possible," he said.

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