“Without a doubt, we are partying tonight,” the president-elect of Argentina, Javier Milei, promised his supporters after winning the nation’s presidency on Sunday night – sending thousands to flood the streets of Buenos Aires chanting “Freedom!” and waving Gadsden flags.
Milei, who for most of his career has been an economic analyst and television commentator, ran his campaign for the presidency as an anarcho-capitalist and self-proclaimed libertarian, railing against triple-digit inflation and decades of socialist rule in his country.
Supporters of the Argentine presidential candidate for the La Libertad Avanza alliance, Javier Milei, celebrate his victory in the presidential election runoff at the Obelisk in Buenos Aires on November 19, 2023. (JUAN MABROMATA/AFP via Getty Images)
His political party, Liberty Advances, first appeared on election ballots in 2021 and triggered the first loss of control of Congress for the Peronist socialists since 1983. Milei, a lawmaker following the 2021 election, shocked political observers by topping the August 2023 open primary; in Argentina, all prospective presidential candidates must obtain at least 1.5 percent support in a single primary election.
Presidential candidate of the Liberty Advances coalition Javier Milei speaks to supporters outside his campaign headquarters after winning the runoff election in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Sunday, Nov. 19, 2023. At left is his running mate Victoria Villarruel, second from right his girlfriend Fatima Florezi and at right his sister Karina Milei. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
Milei lost the initial round of presidential voting in October to socialist current Economics Minister Sergio Massa but obtained enough of the vote to secure a place in Sunday’s runoff. He won decisively, obtaining about 55 percent of the vote to Massa’s 44 percent. Most polls prior to the election indicated the race would be close, though they showed Milei with a slight lead within the margins of error.
“Today ends the idea that the state is loot to be divided among politicians and their friends. Today ends that vision that the victimizers are the victims and the victims the victimizers,” Milei declared in his victory speech. “Today, we retake the path that made this country great, today we again embrace the ideas of liberty.”
The atmosphere in the heart of Buenos Aires was a festive one, attracting thousands of people, including many young Argentines, waving their nation’s flags and the insignia of the Liberty Advances Party, a yellow and black flag featuring a lion.
Supporters of Argentine presidential candidate for the La Libertad Avanza alliance, Javier Milei, celebrate his victory in the presidential election runoff outside his party headquarters in Buenos Aires on November 19, 2023. (LUIS ROBAYO/AFP via Getty Images)
Crowds sung anti-politician campaign songs and repeatedly chanted Milei’s campaign slogan, “Viva la libertad, carajo!” (roughly, “Long live freedom, damn it!”). Couples embraced in celebration.
Supporters of newly elected President of Argentina Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza kiss after the polls closed in the presidential runoff on November 19, 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)
Many supporters also wore the jerseys of the Argentine national soccer team, the current holders of the FIFA World Cup championship.
A child wearing an Argentine soccer jersey holds a banner reading, “Finally, my country is free,” during celebrations following the victory of libertarian Javier Milei in the presidential election on November 19, 2023. (Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)
Supporters of newly elected President of Argentina Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza celebrate after the polls closed in the presidential runoff on November 19, 2023, in Buenos Aires, Argentina. (Photo by Tomas Cuesta/Getty Images)
Some supporters adopted the American Gadsden flag, emblazoned with a snake and the slogan “Don’t tread on me,” as a symbol of limited government and classical liberalism. Omnipresent at the rally were plush lions and supporters dressed as lions, the symbol of the Liberty Advances party. Milei adopted the lion as a mascot following a promise not to “shepherd lambs, but to awaken lions.”
Two young women wear shirts with Gadsden flags on them and hold up signs in support of Argentine President-elect Javier Milei in Buenos Aires, Argentina, following his victory in the presidential election on November 23, 2023. The poster on the left reads, “The lion has awakened!”; the one on the right reads, “I didn’t come to shepherd lambs, I came to awaken lions.” (Anita Pouchard Serra/Bloomberg)
Supporters of the Argentine presidential candidate for the La Libertad Avanza alliance, Javier Milei, celebrate his victory in the presidential election runoff at the Obelisk in Buenos Aires on November 19, 2023. (ALEJANDRO PAGNI/AFP via Getty Images)
Also heavily present in Buenos Aires was the Venezuelan flag. Argentina has taken in over 174,000 Venezuelan refugees, who have fled the economic collapse and political destruction of their country under socialism. Venezuelans joined Argentines in the heart of the capital in appreciation and celebration of the end of another socialist government in their adopted country. Some Venezuelans held up signs reading “We come from the future,” suggesting that the election of another socialist government in Argentina could result in the same dictatorship and collapse that Venezuela has experienced for 20 years.
Javier Milei supporters stand on top of a car – and in front of a Venezuelan flag – to celebrate his victory in the Argentine presidential election on November 19, 2023. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix)
“We are full of hope with the very big promise that Argentina has finally awakened and with all the hope possible that next year, Venezuela will be taking the same steps that Argentina is taking today,” René Ayala Bueno, a Venezuelan refugee, told Argentina’s Clarín newspaper from the celebrations on Sunday.