Argentina’s Javier Milei Begins Whirlwind U.S. Tour with Jewish Holy Site Visit in NYC

Argentine congressman and presidential candidate for La Libertad Avanza Alliance, Javier M
LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty
Frances Martel

Argentine President-elect Javier Milei announced on Sunday night he would be flying to the United States overnight and making stops in New York and Washington, DC, on Monday.

Milei landed in New Jersey on Monday morning, the Argentine newspaper Clarín reported, and began his travel to New York City.

Milei, a libertarian economist who first held elected office in 2021, won a decisive victory in the November 19 presidential election against current Economy Minister Sergio Massa, an establishment socialist whose tenure has corresponded to historically high levels of inflation, unemployment, and poverty. As a presidential candidate, Milei repeatedly stated that he would seek to realign Argentina’s foreign policy – inclined towards growing ties with rogue states such as China and Iran during the 12 of the past 16 years it has been led by socialist presidents – toward making America and Israel the country’s top allies.

Milei posted a photo on social media before departing alongside Luis Caputo, the man he has chosen for minister of economics, and Nicolás Posse, who is expected to take on the chief of staff role.

Argentine newspaper La Nación confirmed on Monday morning that Milei had landed on American soil – in New York, where he is expected to make a quick stop at the Ohel, a Jewish holy site, to pray thanks for his success in the presidential election. From there, he is expected to travel to Washington to meet with several officials in the administration of President Joe Biden – though no indication suggests he will meet Biden himself – and officials with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), a global financing institution to which Argentina is heavily indebted.

In an interview on Sunday with La Nación, Milei explained his visits, beginning with his stop at the Ohel, the final resting place of Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the seventh Lubavitcher Rebbe.

Milei was raised Catholic but has in the past two years begun publicly studying Judaism, incorporating Jewish iconography into his presidential campaign and openly discussing conversion. Milei made a stop at the Ohel in New York in July and said that he now felt it necessary to return and pray in gratitude following the election.

The Associated Press

File/Presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition Javier Milei greets supporters during a campaign rally in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Wednesday, Oct. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Natacha Pisarenko, File)

“I am going to New York first, I am going to the Ohel… it is the place where the Rebbe prayed … who has been a man of great influence on the global level, someone very, very spiritual,” Milei told La Nación. “Basically, I am going to say thanks because – I can say it now – because when I went, what I did was to ask for wisdom, courage, and temperance: wisdom to separate the good from evil, courage to choose the good, and temperance to sustain myself and to accept the will of the Creator.”

“The Creator put me in a role of maximum responsibility, so I am going to say thanks and to try to rise to the level of the circumstances,” he continued. “Then I will go to Washington and have a bunch of meetings strictly related to my activities as president-elect.”

He added that he did not anticipate a meeting with former President Donald Trump during his brief stay in America this time, but that such an in-person meeting is “almost a fact.” Trump congratulated Milei in a video on his Truth Social profile, called him personally, and is reportedly planning to attend Milei’s inauguration in Buenos Aires on December 10.

In Washington, Milei is expected to meet with Juan González, Biden’s top policy adviser on Latin America, and representatives of the State Department and Treasury. He will also meet with IMF officials to discuss his plans to address Argentina’s crippling public debt.

Marc Stanley, the American ambassador to Buenos Aires, told Clarín that Milei’s engagements would be “introductory meetings at the technical level to generate common synergies and to understand how we would work together towards the future.”

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The Biden administration received Milei’s victory tepidly. In contrast to President Trump’s effusive congratulations, Biden called Milei on November 22 to offer congratulations but has not commented on the election beyond the White House readout of their chat. The readout claimed Biden and Milei “discussed the importance of continuing to build on the strong relationship between the United States and Argentina on economic issues” and topics such as “advocating for the protection of human rights, addressing food insecurity and investing in clean energy.”

Milei, in turn, has been harshly critical of Biden.

“Biden himself is a threat to Western values,” Milei declared in an interview with the Colombian radio network RCN in August, adding that Biden was “putting the world’s leading power in check.”

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