President Javier Milei, of Argentina, announced on Wednesday his intention to withdraw his nation from the World Health Organization, the last of a series of Milei movements which imitate President Trump to break with standards and International alliances.
“We will never forget that they were the architects of draconian locks,” said Milei Written on xReferring to the support of WHO to large quarantines during the pandemic. He called the locking “one of the most flagrant crimes against humanity in history”.
“This is why we have decided to withdraw from such a harmful organization,” he added, “who acted as the branch of application of the greatest social control experience in history.”
President Trump signed an order to withdraw the United States from the WHO in the early hours of his presidency, in the same way criticizing treatment by the Pandemic by the United Nations agency and the cost of being a member. Mr. Milei has long criticized WHO – even by writing a book condemning pandemic policies in 2020 – but he only decided to withdraw from the organization of weeks after Mr. Trump did the same.
If the United States and Argentina follow its plans, it will join Liechtenstein as only UN member countries which are not also members of the UN Global Health Alliance.
This reflects Mr. Milei’s efforts to align his nation with the approach of Mr. Trump’s burnt on international order, even if this is done to the detriment of the previous allies and partnerships in Argentina.
Mr. Milei’s spokesperson said on Wednesday that Argentina also examined the opportunity to withdraw from the Paris Agreement, the main global pact to combat climate change, as the United States have it made last month. Mr. Milei, like President Trump, publicly doubted science showing that human activity dangerously warms the planet.
Shortly after having become president in 2023, Mr. Milei canceled Argentina’s plans to join the British economic alliance led by China, saying that he wanted to get closer to his country in the United States.
Leaving the WHO could end up costing Argentina, who struggles in difficulty under tens of billions of dollars in international debt.
Unlike the United States, which contributes to around 15% of the budget of $ 6.8 billion in the organization over two years, Argentina pays much smaller membership fees, estimated at around 10 million dollars per year by the Argentine press organization La Nación.
The advantages that Argentina receives from membership prevails far on the cost, including monitoring of epidemics, disease prevention and technology sharing, said Leandro Cahn, director of Fundación Huesped, a large organization public health in Argentina. “The problems of the Argentine health system will not be resolved by not being part of the WHO,” he said.
Mr. Milei’s office said Argentina would remain a member of the Pan American health organization. Cahn said that this could allow the country to still receive significant discounts on vaccines and drugs that WHO members receive, but it was not clear.
While Mr. Milei has tamed the extreme inflation of Argentina, the nation remains in a precarious financial situation. Milei suggested that Argentina will need additional loans from the International Monetary Fund. The United States is the largest and most influential IMF contributor.
In the middle of this backdrop, Mr. Milei positioned himself as perhaps the most reliable of Trump on the world scene. He was one of the two world leaders, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy, behind Mr. Trump when he was sworn in as president last month. And Mr. Milei plans to go to the United States this month to speak at the conservative political action conference before President Trump.
Mr. Milei and Mr. Trump see an eye on many subjects, especially since “awake” ideology threatens Western society. Mr. Milei gave a speech to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland last month, which strongly criticized policies that seek to help or protect people according to their sex, race or sexuality.
“The great anvil which appears as a common denominator in defaulting countries and institutions is the virus of the awakened mind,” he said in discourse, imitating the language of the billionaire Elon Musk. “This is the great epidemic of our time.”
He cited “feminism, diversity, inclusion, equity, immigration, abortion, environmentalism, gender ideology”, as problematic consequences of “sensitivity”. He added that parents who help young children go to different sexes are “pedophiles” committing abuse. His comments against the rights of gays and transgenders caused great protests last week through Argentina.
Trump and Mr. Milei both banned non -sexist language and many government diversity policies.
Mr. Milei made these movements before Mr. Trump returned as president. Mr. Musk and others also credited Mr. Milei as an inspiration for the work of the Trump administration – managed by Mr. Musk – to considerably reduce the size of the United States government. Mr. Milei has made a similar effort in Argentina and should soon reveal plans for a second phase which would eliminate or combine 50 state agencies.
In other respects, it seems that Mr. Milei is inspired by Mr. Trump. Mr. Milei and his ministers recently sharpened their rhetoric against migrants. Mr. Milei’s spokesman Manuel Adorni said on Wednesday that the government was working on new immigration laws “and safer borders”.
Last month, an Argentinian governor announced his intention to build a wall 200 meters long along a section of the Argentinian border with Bolivia which, according to officials, was frequently crossed illegally. Mr. Milei published the news on X, noting: “Excellent”.
Natalie Alcoba And Lucía Cholakian Herrera Reports contributed to Buenos Aires.
