Political U-turn: Extravagant Argentine President Millay refused to join BRICS

“Outsider with a chainsaw” turned towards the USA and Israel

Argentina will not join the BRICS bloc, newly elected President Javier Miley said, marking a change in Buenos Aires’ policy. The South American country’s far-right president says it is “not the right time” for Argentina, which was due to become a BRICS member on January 1, to become part of the alliance.

Argentina has officially announced that it will not join the BRICS bloc of emerging economies, the latest dramatic change in the foreign and economic policies of Argentina’s new far-right populist President Javier Milei, the Associated Press notes.

In a letter addressed to the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – all members of the alliance – Miley said the moment did not seem right for Argentina to join as a full member. The letter was dated a week ago, December 22, but was released by the Argentine government on Friday, the last working day of 2023.

Argentina was among six countries invited in August to join a bloc made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to create an 11-nation bloc, and was due to become a member on January 1, 2024.

This step was taken in connection with the deepening economic crisis in Argentina, the Associated Press emphasizes.

Milea’s predecessor, former center-left President Alberto Fernandez, supported joining the alliance as an opportunity to enter new markets. The BRICS countries currently account for about 40% of the world’s population and more than a quarter of global GDP.

But economic turmoil has left many in Argentina yearning for change, ushering in the presidency of “chainsaw-wielding political outsider” Javier Miley.

Javier Miley, who defines himself as an “anarcho-capitalist”—a movement within liberalism that seeks to eliminate the state—has implemented a series of measures to deregulate an economy that has been marked by heavy government intervention in recent decades.

In foreign policy, Millay proclaimed complete rapprochement with the “free nations of the West” – especially the United States and Israel.

Throughout the presidential campaign, Miley also spoke disparagingly of countries ruled by “communism” (such as China and neighboring economic power Brazil) and announced that he would not maintain diplomatic relations with them, despite growing Chinese investment in South America.

However, in a letter addressed to his colleague Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in neighboring Brazil and the other leaders of the full BRICS members – China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa – Miley suggested “strengthening bilateral ties ” and increase “trade and investment flows.”

Miley also expressed readiness to hold meetings with each of the five leaders, the Associated Press reports.

At home, however, Miley also faces significant opposition from the country’s powerful organized labor groups as he embarks on a program of economic shock therapy and deregulation as Argentina suffers from sky-high inflation.