On the campaign trail in Argentina, Javier Milei famously used a chainsaw as a prop to show how he would cut down the bloated national budget if elected.
Now as president, Mr. Milei is steadily making that metaphor a reality, Argentine Ambassador Gerardo Werthein said in Atlanta.
Visiting for the Copa America opener with a delegation of Argentine sports tech companies, the ambassador said the new government inherited a budget deficit of 17 percent and a poverty rate of more than 50 percent.
“This has been basically the result of so many years of populism, in which leaders were giving subsidies, trying to control the country. Well, it didn’t work; the results were terrible. Argentina is a country that can generate food for more than 500 million people — it’s unacceptable that we have kids that don’t eat.”
Mr. Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist” whose policies might be characterized as libertarian in the U.S., has cut subsidies and services, promising that long-term gain will outweigh short-term pain as lenders return to a country on firmer fiscal footing.
The ambassador said Mr. Milei is keeping his promises to the Argentinian people to address the economic rollercoaster ride that the country has been on in the last few decades. Facing out-of-control debts and skyrocketing inflation, Argentina has often pleaded for rescue from international financial institutions and then courted investors, only to fall into the trap of populist policies again.
“(Milei) said, ‘If I win, I’m going to do this, because we can we have to stop trying to cure the symptoms. We have to address the cause of the problem.’ And the cause of the problem is an enormous state, enormous government that is a corporation like any other but it has the monopoly of violence to impose things.”
Populism brings regulations that sap innovation, said Mr. Werthein, a businessman whose family runs a multi-billion-dollar conglomerate with interests in media, tech, agribusiness and more.
“And if you kill innovation, you have no economic growth,” he said, adding that the president is tackling widespread corruption bred by all the necessary approvals under a heavily bureaucratic system.
“We have to bring the country back to the rule of law,” Mr. Werthein said. “You couldn’t imagine what we found in the government. You open a drawer, corruption here, corruption there. So that’s what populism and regulations bring.”
While the president has about a 50 percent approval rating, he said, more than half the public approves of his policies, and things are starting to look up, Mr. Werthein said.
“If you can see it as V, we have already reached the lowest point of the V, and there are some signs of recovery,” he said. “We believe that this situation is going to start to build up sometime in the second quarter and the second half of the year.”
Mr. Werthein offered his remarks in an introduction to a panel discussion at the Metro Atlanta Chamber with Peter Russo, head of Canada Soccer. Canadian Consul General Rosaline Kwan also gave an intro before Argentina Consul General Alana Lomonaco Busto, led a discussion with sports tech companies who shared ways they are using immersive technologies to boost inclusion while driving growth for clubs.
Mr. Werthein serves on the board of the International Olympic Committee and led Argentina’s committee for the games from 2009-21. The summer Olympics will be hosted in Paris this year.
While in Atlanta, the ambassador met with Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens as well as Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. At the latter meeting, Adjutant General Richard Wilson, head of the Georgia National Guard, was present. The Georgia guard maintains a partnership with Argentina’s armed forces.
Mr. Werthein visited the Coca-Cola Co. headquarters to meet with executives and discuss their plans for the Argentina market.
Read more: Argentina Beats Canada in Copa America Opener, But Atlanta Is Clear Winner
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