A communicational and decolonial analysis of Javier Milei’s first speech as president

Javier Milei repeated the phrase “the adjustment is inevitable” four times in his first speech as president. He also quoted Roca, Sarmiento and Benegas Lynch (h). He invoked God and “the forces of heaven”. He recalled the times of the Expeditionary Campaign to the Desert as the most productive in the country’s history. He treated the pre-existing peoples as “barbarians” and indicated that a programme of shock is more efficient than one of gradualism. On the other hand, on a symbolic level, Milei greeted Mauricio Macri during the change of commands with Alberto Fernández, spoke of the “heavy inheritance” of Kirchnerism, while the audience first (twice) chanted the phrases: “Yes, we can! Yes, we can!” and then: “Police! Police! Police! Police!”. The presence of Spain’s King Felipe VI and that of Chile’s president, Gabriel Boric, completed the semantic field of the “financial confidence” that the new president will be proposing to promote a new neo-colonial and neo-extractive era in Argentina, as a window to the world.

Kiñe | One

“An adjustment that falls with all its force on the State and not on the private sector”.

Javier Milei’s first sentence was the one that made reference to the great demands of business power – to which he responds – without hesitation, without whining and with the force of law: “We have to show the fiscal adjustment, so that business capital wants to invest in the country”.

The message is clear: “there will be reforms to the constitution and repression in the streets”. “He who cuts, doesn’t get paid”, he warned later. A programme that does not have much in the way of novelty. But it calls exclusively on the security forces of the State.

There is no reform without repression. No reform without “painful sacrifices”, the new president warned.

What is perhaps new is that Milei intends Argentina to be a window in terms of adjustment, repression and “financial confidence”. That is the real plan of the New Conquest in Argentina. To dispossess the locals again for the benefit of foreign capital.

Epu | Two

The shock programme is executed without graduations

Javier Mlilei’s entire presidential speech was focused on economic (business) priorities. Specifically, on how they will be implemented:

“There is also no room for discussion between shock and gradualism. First of all, from an empirical point of view, all gradualist programmes have ended badly. While all shock programmes (except for the 1959 programme) were successful. Secondly, because from a theoretical point of view, if a country lacks reputation (as is unfortunately the case in Argentina), businessmen will not invest until they see the fiscal adjustment making it recessionary. And, thirdly, and not least, for it to make gradualism it is necessary to have financing, and unfortunately, I have to repeat it again: ‘ There is no money!

It is expected that on Tuesday 12 December, Nicolas Caputo (current Minister of Economy of the Nation) will present the new package of economic measures that will summarise this first stage of “austerity”: elimination of subsidies, stopping public works, liberalisation of fuel prices and prepayments, the conversion of public companies into corporations (to facilitate their sale).

Kvla | Three

The vindication of Roca is like the vindication of Videla

Javier Milei among the wide variety of political representatives he admires (mainly with foreign names) decided to quote and vindicate Julio Argentino Roca with the phrase:

“Nothing great, nothing stable and lasting is conquered in the world, when it comes to the freedom of men and the aggrandisement of peoples, if it is not at the cost of supreme efforts and painful sacrifices”.

Quoting Roca is like quoting Videla. And this is no accident. Nor is it by chance that Milei quotes Sarmiento and the colonial project that was sustained with the slogan “Argentina must be repopulated (with European migration)”.

“In 1853, 40 years after declaring independence, under the auspices of a small group of young idealists – known today as the generation of ’37 – we decided as a people to embrace the ideas of freedom. Thus, a liberal constitution was condemned, with the aim of securing the benefits of freedom, for us, for all posterity, and for all citizens of the world who wish to inhabit Argentine soil. What came after the condemnation of that constitution, with strong liberal roots, was the most impressive economic expansion in our history. From being a country of barbarians, engaged in an all-out war, we became the world’s leading power. By the beginning of the 20th century, we were the beacon of the West. Our shores welcomed with open arms millions of immigrants escaping a devastated Europe in search of a horizon of progress.

European migration and the concept of progress intermingled to the detriment of local populations. The expulsion, banishment and appropriation of the lands of the pre-existing peoples was and has been the initial capital used by the Argentine national state and foreign “visionary” capital. Javier Milei recalls this era with nostalgia. For this reason, it is neither arbitrary nor random that he quotes Roca. A new desert campaign is key for this government to extend the lithium industry, “Vaca Muerta”, and “foreign investment”.

Meli | Cuatro

“He who cuts, doesn’t get paid”.

That’s why those who cut, don’t get paid. And he will have judicial condemnations. Milei anticipates the inevitable “sopapo”. The people, the people, as in 2001, will take to the streets, even knowing that the “sacrifice will be painful”.

The imprisonment represents hunger. The captive state is pressuring and corralling. But the Argentinean people already have experience with vultures and hyenas. Deep down the Argentinean people know that the libertarian project has more the smell of burnt rubber and gas bombs of 2001 than the smell of new plastic produced in modern times.

Kechu | Five

“Police! Police! Police! Police!”

It is the first time in my history (38 years) that I hear in a presidential inauguration or political act a group of people haranguing: “Police! Police! Police! Police!”, in answer to the discursive “caresses” that Milei will be proposing to the security forces that will be led by Security Minister Patricia Bullrich.

“The national security forces have been abandoned,” complains Milei. And he knows that there, in these forces, coexists an essential ally to carry out an adjustment with repression.

The questions are: how far will the anti-terrorist law go? How will it be enforced? Will only Mapuche activists be persecuted? Will the judicial set-ups with prison sentences multiply?

Kayu Six

“Yes, it can be done! Yes, it can be done!

There are multiple gestures that showed the prominence of Mauricio Macri in Milei’s inauguration: the thoughtful greeting at the change of command with Alberto Fernández, the constant reference to the “heavy inheritance” of Kirchnerism, the constant idea of change (“Argentines have expressed a will for change that has no return”) and the final seal, the chant of the public chanting: “Yes, it can be done! Si, se puede!” Without knowing if this last slogan was premeditated, a gesture born from the deepest depths of the supporters or the singularity that this (bought) audience is the same as Macri’s.

“There will be light at the no end of the road”, Javier Milei proposed in another fragment of his speech, recalling the mythical phrase of former Macri vice-president Gabriela Michetti about the tunnel and the lights of the second semester that never had an impact on the pockets of Argentine families.

The almighty, the Spanish crown and Vaca Muerta seem to complete the implicit semantic field of Javier Milei, precursor of the presence of European colonies in the country and the strengthening of the security forces and the Ministry of National Defence.

Milei also, like his political predecessors, used the theory of the “heavy inheritance”, accusing Kirchnerism of leaving the worst indices in Argentine history.

“The outgoing government left us with hyperinflation. And it is our priority to make every possible effort to avoid such a catastrophe that would push poverty above 90% and indigence above 50%. Consequently, there is no alternative to adjustment.

Regle | Siete

Milei quoted Benegas Lynch in front of Boric

It is not the first time that Milei quotes the Lynch family in his dialectical interventions, this time with greater symbolic weight, given the presence of his presidential peer Gabriel Boric, understanding the historical positioning of this liberal family with respect to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Which makes us ask ourselves: why did Boric go to this inauguration? What do both presidents have in common? What kind of agreements can both countries establish in economic matters? Or are the agreements of interest framed within the Ministries of Security and Defence? What agreements will both countries carry out to stop the “Mapuche terrorist gene”? Is Boric coming in search of lithium and gas? Or is he coming in search of generating a bilateral strategy to redirect the Unified Patagonian Command?

Incidentally, Milei documented, quoting Benegas Lynch (h):

“Liberalism is the unrestricted respect for the life project of others, based on the principle of non-aggression, in defence of the right to life, liberty and property. Its fundamental institutions are: private property, markets free from state intervention, free competition, division of work and social cooperation”.

It is curious that Milei spoke of “unrestricted respect for the life project of others”, when he has had an aggressive campaign speech against women, left-wing movements, the elderly, and journalists.

Purra | Eight

“Victories do not depend on the number of soldiers, but on the forces that come from heaven”.

The last piece of information was offered at the no end of the speech, where Milei invoked God and “the forces of heaven” to achieve the goals that corporate power demands. “Victories do not depend on the number of soldiers, but on the forces that come from heaven”.

Milei invoked God and the Jewish people. On more than one occasion he has taken a pro-Israeli stance and understands that Israel has every right to defend itself against Palestinian “attacks” in the current “war” context.

The almighty, the Spanish crown and Vaca Muerta seem to complete the implicit semantic field of Javier Milei, precursor of the presence of European colonies in the country and the strengthening of the security forces and the Ministry of National Defence.

It should not be redundant to state that the future in Argentina is neo-extractive, neo-colonial and neoliberal. A window to the world from a stale developmentalist perspective, but with the updating of the model with the tools of the future (having Elon Musk as the ultimate representative of progress and world evolution).

“Financial trust”: the semantic field of seduction and repression. A window into the pain and humiliation that the world will see.

How many rivers will have to be dried up to realise the pharaonic projects of this new colonial stage in Latin America?