Among the world leaders and politicians at the inauguration of Argentine President Javier Milei, one stood out as the lone attendee from the U.S. Congress who was personally invited by the new government: Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla. Dubbed Milei’s “friend in Washington,” Salazar has made it clear that the new president’s extreme libertarian policies should be the new governing model for the entire Western Hemisphere.
“We need to help Argentina because they are going to be the trailblazers,” she said last week after Milei’s inauguration. “That country is going to set the course and point of reference for the rest of Latin America as to the way that a country should be governed. Free market economy, small government, individual liberties, freedom, private sector, no corruption — that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Simply labeling support for Milei as classic MAGA ideology completely misses a deeper reality about American politics and Latin America.
The Florida Republican of Cuban American descent also made Spanish-language media appearances in Argentina and said she would ask Milei to help “uproot Castroism in Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua.” Those comments followed her endorsement of Milei before his election, when Salazar praised Argentina as a country with “only one culture, only one religion and only one race, completely homogenous.” (As a former news anchor, including nearly 20 years at the NBCUniversal subsidiary Telemundo, Salazar almost certainly knew that her words erased millions of nonwhite Argentines.)
At first glance, Salazar’s unwavering support is just another example of the American right fawning over Milei. In a September interview with Tucker Carlson, Milei praised Donald Trump for continuing “his fight against socialism, because he’s one of the few who fully understood that the battle is against socialism, that the battle is against the statists.” In his inaugural address, Milei prepped Argentines for a series of drastic cuts to government spending that an Associated Press headline called a “painful shock adjustment.”
Trump, who reportedly wanted to attend Milei’s inauguration, made sure to return the praise at a campaign rally in Iowa this month, saying: “You saw what happened: He ran as Trump. It was Trump. ‘Make Argentina Great Again.’ It was perfect. MAGA. He had a MAGA agenda because it’s a conservative agenda.”
However, simply labeling support for Milei as classic MAGA ideology completely misses a deeper reality about American politics and Latin America. Trump, Carlson and other prominent conservative voices see the outsider who wielded a chainsaw to symbolize government spending cuts as a template for the United States. But there are already indications that Milei is trying to be more politically expedient and moderate, including backtracking on his plan to close the country’s health ministry.
Furthermore, there is no indication at all that the Biden administration is at odds with the new Argentine leader. A White House readout in November confirmed that President Joe Biden congratulated Milei for his electoral victory, adding that “the two leaders discussed the importance of continuing to build on the strong relationship between the United States and Argentina on economic issues, on regional and multilateral cooperation, and on shared priorities, including advocating for the protection of human rights, addressing food insecurity and investing in clean energy.”
Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm led the official delegation to the Milei inauguration, and when Milei made his post-election visit to the United States, he had lunch with Bill Clinton and met with Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser. For someone who is so MAGA, there were no reports of Milei meeting with Trump or someone like Steve Bannon, who has a history of staying close to and growing the new Latin American right.
How does one reconcile the Biden administration’s openness to a president who vehemently opposes abortion and feminism and thinks sex education is part of a Marxist plot? The answer is easy: the American dollar.
American voters cannot be surprised that Biden is more centrist when it comes to the region.
Argentina has a reported annual inflation rate of 143 percent. Previous monetary policies from a post-dictatorship Peronist revival have done very little to improve a nation with a 40 percent poverty rate and a combined debt of over $55 billion due to the International Monetary Fund and other creditors. But despite these troubles, the country remains South America’s second-largest economy.
Throughout Milei’s profanity-laced campaign, the 53-year-old economist pushed for the American dollar to be Argentina’s currency. Some critics think converting to the dollar would not solve the country’s structural problems. Political opposition will be fierce, and his governing coalition includes far more moderate parties. Regardless, if Milei is to “dollarize” Argentina’s economy, it will require close diplomatic ties with the U.S. regardless of the president. It’s no surprise then that Salazar told Politico that “extensive conversations” with the Biden administration have occurred and that the White House is already helping Milei with creditors. “They’re going through a very bad moment, but they are supported, and they are helped by the big guys, meaning us,” Salazar noted. That type of policy move from the Biden White House might bring back bad memories of U.S. meddling in Latin America, but American voters cannot be surprised that Biden is more centrist when it comes to the region. His views about Latin America were forged during his decades in the Senate. For example, Biden might have opposed how Nicaraguan contras were conducting death squads in the fight against Sandinista socialism, but as a 1984 New York Times article resurfaced by the Intercept notes, he still approved continued funding for Ronald Reagan’s war. His re-election campaign has equated Trump to leftist dictators, essentially using some of the same rhetoric Salazar used during her Buenos Aires media appearances. “Latin America does not want to deal with the Chinese or with the Russians,” Salazar told Politico. “They would rather deal with the gringos because the Americans are a lot better partners.” Whether that’s true or not, Milei believes it. And thanks to the power of the dollar, Biden will work with this MAGA-approved president.
Julio Ricardo Varela is the founder of The Latino Newsletter. 
