By James Grainger
Copyright batimes
President Javier Milei once again paid tribute Monday to murdered United States conservative activist Charlie Kirk, warning against “third way” options in what he described as a battle between the right and socialism.
“I want to begin by remembering Charlie Kirk, one of the best popularisers of the ideas of liberty,” Milei told an audience of 600 people at CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) Paraguay, held at a downtown hotel in Asunción.
The forum opened with a minute of silence for the US activist, a close ally of President Donald Trump who was shot dead at a Utah university event.
“His death must not paralyse us. We have an obligation to stay on the front line and not yield in the battle for ideas. Sooner or later, good and truth will triumph,” Milei declared.
CPAC president Matt Schlapp said the gathering was taking place “at a critical moment” for international politics, underlined by the killing of the right-wing influencer.
Milei, who is undergoing one of the biggest crises in his 21 months in office, with accusations of corruption involving his administration adding to political challenges and financial turbulence. In his speech, he vociferously defended his economic reforms and warned against any middle ground in politics.
“There is free enterprise capitalism and there is real socialism. Any intermediate solution leans towards socialism and that means poverty,” he said.
With an eye on October’s midterms, he added: “It is important to understand that there are no third ways. Any so-called moderate option is functional to the decadent system we are working so hard to leave behind.”
“There is no room for greys – what’s right is right and what’s wrong is wrong,” he explained, adding: “There is no negotiating with evil. You have to know what is correct and what is wrong.”
Praise for Paraguay
Milei praised his Paraguayan counterpart Santiago Peña, calling his administration “an example of what should be done in the economic area.”
He highlighted Paraguay’s long-standing embrace of “the ideas of liberty,” crediting it with ending inflation and boosting exports through assembly-plant investment.
“Thanks to their regime of export assembly plants, they have known how to exploit their local industry to its maximum, increasing exports and creating genuine jobs,” he pondered.
“Their experience is irrefutable proof that when regulations accompany instead of hinder, when taxation is low instead of suffocating, the commercial capacity of countries grows,” he said.
In contrast, Milei lambasted Argentina’s past two decades of governance, accusing leaders of creating “an elephantiasis of a state with enormous public spending,” running up debt “with every credit organisation in existence” and then defaulting.
“Between 2012 and 2024, Paraguay averaged annual growth of 3.1 percent, while Argentina declined 0.1 percent in the same period. In per capita terms we are 15 percent down — a truly terrifying regression,” he argued, in reference to the Peronist opposition.
Lunch with Peña
Milei later lunched with Peña, joined by his sister and chief-of-staff Karina Milei, who is implicated in a developing corruption scandal. In the afternoon, he was scheduled to meet hundreds of young people at the SND ((Secretaría Nacional de Deportes) sports centre.
The libertarian leader has forged a close relationship with Peña, the first Latin American head of state to visit Buenos Aires after Milei took office in December 2023. Both men also share common ground on Mercosur’s trade policy.
Milei closed his day with a lecture on technology and growth for the FEIP manufacturers association. On Wednesday morning he is due to address Paraguay’s Congress in a session of honour marking his state visit.
– TIMES/NA/AFP
