Argentina's new president Javier Milei took office on Sunday, December 10, in Buenos Aires to crowds of cheers. The ultraliberal's arrival announced months of sacrifice and suffering following his landslide election on November 19, with 55.65 % of the vote, against Sergio Massa, the candidate of the outgoing government of Alberto Fernandez (center-left, 2019-2023).

The inauguration was American in style. After taking the oath of office in Congress, the new president did not address parliamentarians, as tradition dictates, but his supporters. "There's no money," said the 53-year-old economist, turning his back on Congress. He said his government had received "the worst legacy in history," seemingly forgetting the economic and social crisis of 2001 and the 1976-1983 military dictatorship. Faced with 143% year-on-year inflation, a trade balance in deficit and 40% poverty, "there is no alternative to a shock adjustment" of austerity, he explained to a crowd whose joy was unshaken by his description of the bleak months ahead: falling economic activity, employment, and wages, against rising poverty and even inflation.

Milei then drove in a convertible to the Casa Rosada, the presidential palace, where he received the foreign dignitaries who had come to attend his inauguration, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Chilean President Gabriel Boric, the Spanish King Felipe, along with representatives of the global far-right: Hungary's Viktor Orban, the former Brazilian head of state Jair Bolsonaro and the leader of the Spanish Vox party Santiago Abascal. Stepping out onto the balcony of the Casa Rosada to greet the crowd, Milei exclaimed, "It's the end of the populist night and the rebirth of a prosperous and liberal Argentina," before concluding with a series of "Viva la libertad carajo!" ("Long live freedom, damn it!"), his unfailing slogan.

His sister Karina Milei, 50, "the chief" as the president calls her, took pride of place throughout the inauguration, waving to the crowds on her way from Congress to the presidential palace. She will take up the post of Secretary General of the Presidency, as close as possible to her brother. On Sunday, Milei enthroned her, his voice filled with emotion. He had to repeal a decree issued by former president Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) to do so since it prohibited the appointment of direct relatives of members of the executive.

Milei signed another decree just a few hours after his appointment reducing the number of ministries from 18 to nine. This decision is part of his drive to slash public spending. The Health Ministry, which Milei had said he was going to downgrade into his new Human Capital Ministry, eventually appointed a new health minister, keeping the ministry.

You have 60% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.