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Argentina Braces Itself for Its New ‘Anarcho-Capitalist’ President
Javier Milei was first introduced to the Argentine public as a combative television personality with an unruly hairdo and a tendency to insult his critics. So when he entered Argentina’s presidential race last year, he was viewed by many as a sideshow.
On Sunday, he was elected Argentina’s next president, and is now tasked with guiding one of Latin America’s largest economies out of one of its worst economic crises. A far-right political outsider with little governing experience was set to take the reins of a government that he has vowed to upend.
In other words, it is Argentina’s Donald Trump moment.
Mr. Milei, 53, has said he wants to slash spending and taxes, privatize state companies, eliminate 10 of the 18 federal ministries, move public schools to a voucher system, make the public health care system insurance-based, close the nation’s central bank and replace the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar.
He identifies as an “anarcho-capitalist,” which, he has said, is a radically free-market strain of libertarianism that believes “society functions much better without a state than with a state.” Now he is the head of the state.
“Argentina has historically been a laboratory for weird ideas,” Eduardo Levy Yeyati, an Argentine economist and professor, said, but many are never implemented because of economic and political realities.
Across the country, Argentines were reeling on Monday with what Mr. Milei could bring, both good and bad.
讲解
扬言“炸掉央行”，新总统将带领阿根廷走向何方？
当地时间11月19日，阿根廷大选落下帷幕，新当选的总统——被称为“阿根廷特朗普”的哈维尔·米莱引发世界关注。戴着眼镜的米莱在胜选演讲中说：“阿根廷的重建，从今天开始。阿根廷衰落的终结，从今天开始。”美国前总统特朗普向他表示祝贺，并称他将“令阿根廷再次伟大”。米莱的身上有许多标签：经济学家、电视名人、摇滚歌手等等，但都和政治毫不相干。米莱究竟是何方神圣，为何能够赢得大选？他会带领阿根廷走向何方？一起来听今天的讲解。
Argentina Braces Itself for Its New ‘Anarcho-Capitalist’ President
阿根廷准备迎接新总统，他是一名“无政府资本主义者”
Javier Milei was first introduced to the Argentine public as a combative television personality with an unruly hairdo and a tendency to insult his critics. So when he entered Argentina’s presidential race last year, he was viewed by many as a sideshow.
哈维尔·米莱（Javier Milei）最初进入阿根廷的公众视野时，是狂野好斗的电视名人形象；留着一个蓬乱不羁的发型，喜欢对批评他的人口出不逊。因此，当他去年参加阿根廷总统竞选时，很多人认为他只是来陪跑的。
On Sunday, he was elected Argentina’s next president, and is now tasked with guiding one of Latin America’s largest economies out of one of its worst economic crises. A far-right political outsider with little governing experience was set to take the reins of a government that he has vowed to upend.
然而就在周日，米莱成功当选阿根廷下一任总统，他现在的任务是，带领这个拉丁美洲最大的经济体之一，走出其最严重的一场经济危机。一位缺乏执政经验，思想极右翼的政界局外人，将接掌一个他曾誓言要颠覆的政府。
In other words, it is Argentina’s Donald Trump moment.
换句话说，这是阿根廷的“唐纳德·特朗普时刻”。
Mr. Milei, 53, has said he wants to slash spending and taxes, privatize state companies, eliminate 10 of the 18 federal ministries, move public schools to a voucher system, make the public health care system insurance-based, close the nation’s central bank and replace the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar.
现年53岁的米莱表示，他希望大幅削减国家开支和税收，将国有企业私有化，从现有的18个联邦政府部门中砍掉10个，公立学校采取学券制，使公共医疗体系以保险为基础，关闭国家央行，用美元取代阿根廷比索。
He identifies as an “anarcho-capitalist,” which, he has said, is a radically free-market strain of libertarianism that believes “society functions much better without a state than with a state.” Now he is the head of the state.
他视自己为“无政府资本主义者”，并表示这是自由放任派中，支持市场自由彻底化的一个分支，即认为“没有国家约束的社会，会比有国家管理的运转得更好”。而现在，他成了这个国家的元首。
“Argentina has historically been a laboratory for weird ideas,” Eduardo Levy Yeyati, an Argentine economist and professor, said, but many are never implemented because of economic and political realities.
阿根廷经济学家爱德华多·列维·耶亚蒂（Eduardo Levy Yeyati）教授表示：“阿根廷历来是各种怪异主张的实验场”，但由于经济和政治现实，许多想法从未得到实施。
Across the country, Argentines were reeling on Monday with what Mr. Milei could bring, both good and bad.
周一，阿根廷举国懵圈，民众不知道米莱会带来的，是福还是祸。
生词好句
1.brace oneself for something
作好准备迎接某事（通常是困难或者坏事）
拓展:
brace n. 支撑物，支架；支撑，加固
back brace 背部矫正带
braces 牙套
That’s what you had to do, learn to survive. Brace yourself for the storm.
这是你必须要做的，学会生存。
2.anarcho-capitalist
无政府资本主义者
拓展:
anarcho 无政府状态
anarchy n. 无政府状态
3.combative
英 [ˈkɒmbətɪv] 美 [ˈkɑːmbətɪv]
adj. 好斗的，好战的，好争论的（aggressive and eager to fight or argue）
4.television personality
电视名人（指主要通过电视节目上的形象为人们所熟知）
拓展:
media personality 网红
5.unruly
英 [ʌnˈruːli] 美 [ʌnˈruːli]
adj. （本文）蓬松的，乱糟糟的；难管理，难约束的
拓展:
rule v. 管理
unruly pupils 叛逆的青少年
6.hairdo
英 [ˈheəduː] 美 [ˈherduː]
n. 发型（hairstyle）
拓展:
a punk hairdo 摇滚朋克头
7.a tendency to do something
倾向于做某事 （即“喜欢做，经常做”）
拓展:
He has a tendency to exaggerate.
他总是喜欢夸大其辞。
8.sideshow
英 [ˈsaɪdʃəʊ] 美 [ˈsaɪdʃoʊ]
n. （本文）助兴节目，插曲；次要附带事件
拓展:
The media still regards women’s sport as a sideshow to the main event.
媒体仍然认为女子体育是主赛事的附带赛事。
9.be tasked with
被指派某项任务
拓展:
Interns were tasked with updating the files.
实习生被指派更新文件。
10.outsider
英 [ˌaʊtˈsaɪdə] 美 [ˌaʊtˈsaɪdər]
n. （本文）外人，局外人；（在比赛中取胜）希望渺茫的人
拓展:
She felt like an outsider in her new school.
她觉得在新学校里像个外人。
rank outsider 原来不被看好，结果拿下比赛的选手
11.take the reins
接管，控制
拓展:
rein n. 缰绳
近义表达：take the helm
12.upend
英 [ʌpˈend] 美 [ʌpˈend]
v. 掀翻，颠覆
拓展:
upend the chessboard 掀翻了棋盘
13.slash
英 [slæʃ] 美 [slæʃ]
v. 削减；劈，砍
拓展:
slash the budget 削减预算
14.privatize
英 [ˈpraɪvətaɪz] 美 [ˈpraɪvətaɪz]
v. 私有化
拓展:
nationalize v. 国有化
state companies 国企
15.voucher
英 [ˈvaʊtʃə] 美 [ˈvaʊtʃər]
n. 代金券，票券
16.somebody identify as
属于某一类人，有某种特点
拓展:
A man can identify as a feminist as well.
一个男人也可以是女性主义者。
17.radically
英 [ˈrædɪkəli] 美 [ˈrædɪkəli]
adv. 彻底地，完全地
18.strain
英 [streɪn] 美 [streɪn]
n. 品种，株系，分支
拓展:
a new influenza virus strain 新的流感毒株
19.libertarianism
英 [ˌlɪbəˈteəriənɪzm] 美 [ˌlɪbəˈteriənɪzm]
n. 极端自由主义；激进自由主义
拓展:
liberal n. 自由主义者
20.reel
英 [rɪəl] 美 [riːl]
v. （本文）懵，眩晕；蹒跚地走；摇晃
拓展:
He reeled out of the bar.
他摇晃地走出酒吧。
We were reeling with the news that we had won the lottery.
得知我们中了彩票时，我们都发蒙了。
外刊原文
Argentina Braces Itself for Its New ‘Anarcho-Capitalist’ President
Javier Milei was first introduced to the Argentine public as a combative television personality with an unruly hairdo and a tendency to insult his critics. So when he entered Argentina’s presidential race last year, he was viewed by many as a sideshow.
On Sunday, he was elected Argentina’s next president, and is now tasked with guiding one of Latin America’s largest economies out of one of its worst economic crises.
Many Argentines awoke on Monday anxious, others hopeful, but just about everyone was uncertain about what lay ahead.
Perhaps the only certainty about the country’s political and economic future was that, in three weeks, a far-right political outsider with little governing experience was set to take the reins of a government that he has vowed to upend.
In other words, it is Argentina’s Donald Trump moment.
Mr. Milei, a libertarian economist and freshman congressman, made clear in his victory speech on Sunday that he would move fast to overhaul the government and economy. “Argentina’s situation is critical,” he said. “The changes that our country needs are drastic. There is no place for gradualism.”
Markets cheered his election, with Argentine stocks and bonds rising on U.S. exchanges (the Argentine market was closed for a holiday). Even without clarity on what he can accomplish, markets appear to view him as a better economic bet than his mostly leftist predecessors.
Failed economic policies — including overspending, protectionist trade measures, suffocating international debt and the printing of more pesos to pay for it — have sent the nation of 46 million people into an economic tailspin.
Annual inflation has surpassed 140 percent, the world’s third highest rate, leaving many residents rushing to spend or convert their pesos to U.S. dollars or cryptocurrencies as quickly as they can, while the country’s growing number of poor increasingly line up at food banks and soup kitchens.
To fix it, Mr. Milei has proposed turning the world’s 22nd largest economy into a laboratory for radical economic ideas that have largely been untested elsewhere.
Mr. Milei, 53, has said he wants to slash spending and taxes, privatize state companies, eliminate 10 of the 18 federal ministries, move public schools to a voucher system, make the public health care system insurance-based, close the nation’s central bank and replace the Argentine peso with the U.S. dollar.
He identifies as an “anarcho-capitalist,” which, he has said, is a radically free-market strain of libertarianism that believes “society functions much better without a state than with a state.”
Now he is the head of the state.
“This is a completely new scenario we’ve never been in,” said María O’Donnell, an Argentine political journalist and radio host. “Milei has these very extravagant ideas we’ve never seen implemented anywhere in the world.”
There has been little consensus among economists over the best path ahead for Argentina, but few had suggested Mr. Milei’s approach before he arrived on the scene — and few know what to expect now that he is in charge.
On Monday morning, Mr. Milei already began to wobble on some of his campaign pledges. In one radio interview, he said Argentine law would restrict him from privatizing health care and education. In another, when asked about his plan to use the U.S. dollar, he responded that “the currency we adopt will be the currency that Argentines choose.”
What does that mean? “I’m not sure he knows,” said Eduardo Levy Yeyati, an Argentine economist and professor.
Mr. Levy Yeyati interpreted it as a sign that Mr. Milei would first aim to eliminate most restrictions on trading foreign currencies, which the Argentine government has restricted as part of its effort to prop up the value of the Argentine peso. Mr. Milei’s other comments on Monday appeared to support that idea.
“Argentina has historically been a laboratory for weird ideas,” Mr. Levy Yeyati said, but many are never implemented because of economic and political realities.
He said that he believes the same will happen with Mr. Milei, at least at first. “There will be a reality check,” he said. “Most of these proposals will still be talked about, but it will be hard to implement them in the first year.”
Mr. Milei is expected to have to make political deals to carry out his plans, as his two-year-old political party controls just 10 percent of the seats in Argentina’s Senate and 15 percent in its lower house of Congress.
He will most likely broker many of those deals with Mauricio Macri, Argentina’s former president, a conservative who has retained broad control over a large political party. The two met on Sunday night.
Fernando Iglesias, a congressman from that conservative bloc, said that he and his colleagues were eager to help Mr. Milei fix the nation. “It’s true that he has the handicap of inexperience,” he added, “but I’m hopeful that he can put together a reasonable governing team to make the changes the country needs.”
While many key people in Mr. Milei’s campaign also lack much governing experience, they have pitched that as an asset, not a liability, and many voters agreed.
One person who will almost certainly have influence in the new government is Mr. Milei’s sister, Karina Milei, who ran his campaign and whom he has described as his most important adviser.
In a 2021 television interview, he even compared her to Moses, the biblical figure bearing the message of God. “Kari is Moses,” he said with tears in his eyes. “I’m the one spreading the word.”
Ms. Milei has been an enigma in Argentina, always present at Mr. Milei’s side but almost never speaking publicly. Not much is known about her past, beyond unconfirmed reports in the Argentine news media that she studied public relations in college, ran a cupcake business and co-owned a tire shop. Mr. Milei’s campaign said she would help run the transition.
Mr. Milei announced Monday that his justice minister would be Mariano Cúneo Libarona, a lawyer turned television pundit who rose to prominence defending celebrities, including in a 1996 drug case when he represented the soccer star Diego Maradona’s manager.
His new foreign minister, Diana Mondino, an economist, told reporters that one of the government’s main foreign policy goals was to end most regulations on imports and exports. She also said that Argentina would likely not enter the BRICS club of emerging nations, as had been announced in August.
“We don’t understand, with the public information available now, what the advantage would be for Argentina,” she told reporters at Mr. Milei’s victory rally on Sunday. “If you all can explain to me what the BRICS are, I’ll take advantage and learn.”
Mr. Milei’s running mate, Victoria Villarruel, has spent much of her career running an organization that recognizes victims of attacks carried out by leftist guerrillas, which Argentina’s military used as justification for its bloody dictatorship from 1976 to 1983.
Ms. Villarruel, who comes from an Argentine military family, has long claimed that the atrocities of the dictatorship have been overstated, claiming that 8,500 people disappeared despite declassified records showing that even the military admitted, just two years into its rule, that the number was 22,000.
Ms. Villarruel and Mr. Milei were elected to Argentina’s lower house of Congress together in 2021, the first two seats for their Liberty Advances party.
Mr. Milei has spent little time in Congress since, proposing his first bill just earlier this month, calling on the government to do more to bring home the roughly 25 Argentines held hostage by Hamas.
Across the country, Argentines were reeling on Monday with what Mr. Milei could bring, both good and bad.
Micaela Sánchez, 31, an actress and drama teacher, said she and many friends were worried by Mr. Milei’s pledges to overhaul the government, his history of attacking political adversaries and his comments downplaying the atrocities of the dictatorship.
“It’s really a bleak and frightening panorama for all of us who work in culture, who work with people, for those who educate, and for those in health care,” she said. “The only thing I can say is that I’m very scared and very sad.”
But Yhoel Saldania, 27, a shop owner, said keeping Argentina as it is would have been far riskier than taking a bet on Mr. Milei. “The other governments promise and promise, and nothing ever changes,” he said. “We want a change that’s real.”