Javier Milei will on Sunday, December 10 be sworn in as Argentina's president. The 53-year-old libertarian economist has vowed there will be no "half-measures" as he tackles decades of overspending, debt, and convoluted currency controls in Latin America's third-biggest economy.
The inauguration ceremony in Buenos Aires is bringing together a diverse handful of world leaders, including Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky and Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orban – the only EU leader who has maintained close ties to the Kremlin. Chile's leftist leader Gabriel Boric and the King of Spain Felipe VI are also attending, as is Brazil's former president Jair Bolsonaro.
After taking the oath of office, Milei will give his first speech as president from the steps of parliament. He will later swear in a cabinet of nine ministers – a major slimdown from the current 18. He has said his first set of measures will be presented to parliament in a matter of days.
Milei's inauguration caps a meteoric rise for the former television panelist who entered politics only two years ago after grabbing public attention with his rants against the "thieving" establishment. With his deliberately disheveled mop of hair and rock star persona, he would wave a powered-up chainsaw at political rallies, vowing to slash public spending and a bloated cabinet.
He vowed to "dynamite" the central bank, replace the ailing peso with the US dollar, and ditch key government ministries. His red-faced fury struck a chord with voters fed up with economic crisis – a phenomenon as Argentine as Malbec or the tango. Inflation has hit almost 140% year-on-year and 40% of the population lives in poverty.
With few lawmakers in Congress the hard reality of politics has quickly set in, and Milei has softened many of his stances, and allied with politicians he previously insulted, incorporating some into his cabinet. Talk of shutting the Central Bank, dollarization, and welfare cuts have dissipated.