#argentina-politics

#argentina-politics

The streets of Buenos Aires were filled with sounds of celebration and protest on Saturday as Argentina's largest Pride march rolled from the city's central Plaza de Mayo to the National Congress building. Hundreds of thousands turned out in support of the LGBTQ+ community and against right-wing Argentine President Javier Milei's public attacks on it. The political backdrop for the march was a resounding victory last week for Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza (LLA), in legislative elections.

The Argentine president, Javier Milei, who won a resounding midterm victory on Sunday, has received ample support from Donald Trump. Ahead of the congressional elections, Trump endorsed Milei and warned: If he loses, we are not going to be generous with Argentina. Washington extended a $20bn currency swap line to the government money aimed at stabilising financial volatility that would have undermined Milei's chances. The US treasury even intervened directly, buying more than a billion dollars of pesos to slow the currency's freefall

Javier Milei threw himself into Donald Trump's arms and was welcomed. Last week, the U.S. president offered Argentina an unprecedented $20 billion rescue package, in addition to an open-ended line of credit and even the possibility that the United States might purchase its debt bonds. True to form, Trump did not hold back: he said Milei was a truly fantastic and powerful leader and, perhaps misinformed about the Argentine electoral calendar, even offered him his complete and total endorsement for re-election as president.