The far-right candidate Javier Milei, from the Freedom Advance party, surprised the result of the Argentine primaries this Sunday (13) by being the most voted candidate, with 31.85% of valid votes after 69% of ballot boxes have been counted.
He needed only 1.5% of the valid votes to advance to the first round, as he was not running against any other candidate from the same party.
Despite the prominence, the candidate appeared in polls with only 20%
Despite the surprise, Milei’s name did not go unnoticed in the campaign. The economist burst into the media with his “freedom tour” and stood out mainly for his performance outside of politics: his performance as a football player and his passage through music with his tribute band to the Rolling Stones, are some examples.
First years
The story began a bit difficult for this former goalkeeper of the Argentine football club Chacarita Juniors, who was featured in 1989. Born in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, on October 22, 1970, Milei had a childhood marked by repeated controversial moments in his family that he himself recognized in a program on the Argentine Telefé channel.
Although the relationship with her parents was not good, Milei found support in her sister. The economist recognizes that Karina Milei is the person who knows him best and “the great architect” of his political events. Milei told different media that if she becomes president, she will play the role of first lady.
Journalist Juan Luis González is one of the researchers of the economist’s unauthorized biography, entitled “El Loco”. A CNN he declared that Javier Milei’s time at Colégio Cardenal Copello, in Villa Devoto, was marked by bullying for most of that stage.
For the preparation of the book, the author guarantees that he spoke with the schoolmates of the presidential candidate and they all agreed with the memory of a withdrawn and silent boy who liked to dance in the best Mick Jagger style and was the target of constant jokes.
His passion for the Rolling Stones has remained undimmed since he was a teenager. Milei recently said that she has seen the British group live 14 times, and even had a tribute band called Everest.
Today Milei lives with five English Mastiffs, each weighing around 100 kilos, and he recognizes in these dogs his true family.
In this sense, a few years ago, the current National Deputy for La Libertad Avanza had to face a difficult scenario: it was the year 2017 and he was starting to make noise in the media.
In the midst of that radio and television turmoil, he received a heavy blow. According to the account in González’s book, Conan, the economist’s dog, had a degenerative disease and Milei had to prepare for the worst news.
VIDEO – Milei’s best performance began to be expected after voting closed
Passage through the lawns
The 1980s were at their peak. Democracy had returned and young Milei, 18 years old, was trying to be a goalkeeper in the base categories of the Argentine football club Chacarita Juniors to definitively become “El Loco”, according to his former teammates.
“I’m not a Chacarita fan, but I became part of the professional team in 1989”, confessed the economist in an interview to Urbana Play FM radio in Buenos Aires.
And when it comes to football, other information appears: Milei went from having a box and a star at the Museo de la Pasión Boquense to wanting River to win the 2018 Copa Libertadores final.
“I am a very particular Boca fan because, in fact, I stopped being one. I stopped going to the field when the [Martín] Palermo retired when [Daniel] Angelici brought him to Riquelme lately, I defended that he was going to be a failure and that’s why I stopped being from Boca”, recalled the deputy on the radio station.
presidential race
From 2018, Milei’s rise began in the main Argentine media, with the dissemination of her “libertarian liberal” speech, as she usually calls it. His appearances on local radio and television sparked controversy, whether among fellow economists, journalists or presenters.
The big leap in his political career came in 2020, when he announced his candidacy for the presidency in the 2023 elections.
That step paved the way for his party, La Libertad Avanza, to win two seats in the Chamber of Deputies the following year, occupied by him and his vice-presidential candidate, Victoria Villarruel.
Javier Milei is now a right-wing candidate for the presidency of Argentina. Within his political space La Libertad Avanza, his main campaign proposals are the dollarization of the Argentine economy in stages, the reduction of state spending and the privatization of public companies.
On the labor front, he proposes the end of severance pay to reduce labor costs, but two of the proposals that generated the most controversy are in the security sphere: the deregulation of carrying weapons and the militarization of prisons.
With her eccentric and provocative views, Milei turns up the heat of the entire political arc. The polls will speak on Sunday (13), in the open, simultaneous and mandatory primary elections (Paso, in the Spanish acronym), where her candidacy for the general elections is not at risk, since she is the only pre-candidate of her strength.
If elected in the October 22 elections, the economist will have the opportunity as president to implement his 35-year-old transformation proposal, a hallmark of his campaign.
*With information from CNN Español
Source: CNN Brasil
Bruce Belcher is a seasoned author with over 5 years of experience in world news. He writes for online news websites and provides in-depth analysis on the world stock market. Bruce is known for his insightful perspectives and commitment to keeping the public informed.
