By Candelaria Grimberg
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) – Argentina’s libertarian President Javier Milei, increasingly a poster child for rightwing politics and free-markets, is hosting allies of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro at a summit in Buenos Aires on Wednesday.
Buoyed by the election win of ideological ally Trump, Milei is kicking off the Conservative Action Political Conference at which Bolsonaro and Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump are expected to speak, the former via video.
Bolsonaro’s son Eduardo is also on the speaker list.
At the opening gala, Milei danced with Lara, co-chair of the Republican National Convention who is married to Eric Trump, and railed against the rise of socialism.
“The West is in danger… We must not let socialism advance, we must oppose regulation, shed the idea of market failure, and stop the advancement of the murderous (abortion) agenda,” the bombastic economist and relative political newcomer said.
“We won’t yield in the fight for freedom.”
The guest-list is packed with right-wing names. U.S. media personalities like Ben Shapiro, Kari Lake, and Steve Bannon will make in-person or video appearances, alongside politicians like the head of Spanish far-right party Vox.
Milei’s star has risen since winning a shock election last year amid a painful economic crisis that drove many voters away from the traditional political parties. He has tempered runaway inflation and overturned a deep deficit with spending cuts, which have though hurt economic growth and pushed up poverty.
The libertarian, who campaigned with a chainsaw to illustrate his planned austerity, is economically from a different school to Trump, but the two have drawn close ideologically. Milei recently visited Trump in the United States, with Trump calling him his “favorite president”.
(Reporting by Candelaria Grimberg; Writing by Nicolás Misculin; Editing by Christina Fincher)
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