Thousands of supporters lined the streets in front of Congress, waving the country’s blue and white flag and chanting Milei’s war cry of “freedom!”
“Today a new era begins in Argentina. Today we bring to an end a long and sad history of decadence and begin the path of rebuilding our country”, said the new President while speaking outside Congress.
He added that Argentines, in a forceful way, expressed a desire for change and that “there is no return, today we buried decades of failures and senseless disputes, fights that only managed to destroy our country and leave us in ruin, today begins a new it was in Argentina, of peace and prosperity”.
Regarding the challenges ahead, Milei said that “no Government has received a worse situation than the one we are receiving” and announced that “the solution implies, on the one hand, a fiscal adjustment (…) which, unlike the past, will fall on the State and not on the private sector”.
“I have to make it clear that there is no alternative to fiscal adjustment”, warned the new President, reinforcing that “from a theoretical point of view, if a country lacks reputation, businesspeople will not invest until a fiscal adjustment comes”.
Javier Milei reiterated that “there is no money” and cited the population in poverty, the problems in the performance of Argentine students in education and the emergency situation in infrastructure.
“The situation in Argentina is critical and emergency”, stated the new President, also remembering that “there will be inflation”, but not like what is happening now.
The inauguration ceremony of Javier Milei and Vice-President Victoria Villarruel was witnessed by thousands of people and by presidents of Ukraine, Paraguay, Ukraine and Hungary, the king of Spain, and far-right politicians, such as former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, accompanied by politicians from his Liberal Party.
President Lula da Silva, whom Milei criticized during the campaign, even saying that he will not speak to left-wing leaders, was represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira.
It should be noted that Javier Milei took the presidential sash from the outgoing Head of State, Alberto Fernández.
C/AFP