After just one day in office, the newly elected president of Argentina, Javier Milei, has already started making good on his campaign promises.
Milei, a far-right libertarian and self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” was sworn in on December 11. The following day he announced on social media that he’d signed a sweeping decree that would cut the number of Argentinian ministries by more than half. On the chopping block is the Argentine Ministry of Culture, along with the ministries of Health, Labor, Social Development, and Education (which Milei had previously referred to as “the Ministry of Indoctrination”), according to Artforum.
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The aforementioned government agencies will be thrown together in the newly created Ministry of Health and Human Capital under the stewardship of former television producer, and current Milei supporter, Sandra Pettovello. In a similar act of consolidation, the ministries of Public Works, Transportation, Energy, Mining, and Telecommunications will be lumped together to become the Ministry of Infrastructure.
During his inaugural address, Milei, a former economist who was often seen brandishing a chainsaw during his stump speeches and campaign appearances, said the country should prepare for a “shock adjustment,” as “drastic spending cuts” were the only way to reel in Argentina’s quivering economy, according to the Associated Press.
“We don’t have margin for sterile discussions. Our country demands action, and immediate action,” Milei said. “The political class left the country at the brink of its biggest crisis in history. We don’t desire the hard decisions that will need to be made in coming weeks, but lamentably they didn’t leave us any option.”
During his campaign Milei frequently took aim at what he called the country’s “political caste,” whom he has said ruined the country’s economy. According to Argentina’s National Institute of Statistics and Censuses, more than 40 percent of the country’s 46 million people live in poverty, up from just over 30 percent in the second half of 2016.