Argentinas Milei in the US: I want to invite you to invest in this country

President Javier Milei called on businesspeople to invest in Argentina during his thirteenth trip to the United States since he took office in December 2023. His next stop is Bolivia, where he will attend Rodrigo Paz Pereira’s inauguration. “I want to invite you to invest in this country and demonstrate the power and moral superiority of capitalism, to be part of the redemption that the Argentine people need and that will serve as an example for the rest of the world,” said Milei in the American Business Forum in Miami, Florida, on Thursday. The event featured speeches by global leaders in politics, sports, and business, including U.S. President Donald Trump, Argentine football player Lionel Messi, Spanish tennis player Rafael Nadal, and U.S. businessman Jeff Bezos, among others. During his speech, Milei celebrated his party’s victory in the October 26 midterms and took a jab at the recently-elected mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani. “Kirchnerism is one of the branches of 21st-century capitalism that has taken hold in some parts of the East Coast,” he said. “They dress up as sheep, but they are worse than wolves.” The same day, he participated in the American Business Forum and the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), a far-right annual event that he usually attends, which included a gala dinner at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s resort in Palm Beach. During his speech, Milei danced to the Village People’s iconic song “YMCA” on stage. There, he thanked Trump for the U.S. bailout of Argentina, which he called “an unprecedented gesture that we Argentines will never forget and that will forever remain a milestone in our bilateral relations.” “Both the Trump administration and ours—in some way—embody the spirit of the times, a shift toward truth, toward market optimism, toward reconnecting with Western values,” he said. The next day, in New York City, he held a private meeting with executives of international companies at the Council of the Americas. In a mansion on Park Avenue, he outlined the steps his administration will take in fiscal, labor, and tax matters. After his initial presentation, he answered questions from representatives of companies such as Morgan Stanley, Pepsico, Glencore, FedEx, Pfizer, Cisco, Merck, Continental Grain Company, AES Corporation, and Newmont Corporation, among others. At 7:00 p.m., he left for Bolivia, where, on Saturday, he will attend the inaugural session of the Plurinational National Legislative Assembly, meet with president-elect Rodrigo Paz Pereira, and attend his inauguration ceremony. What is the American Business Forum Hosted annually since 2017, the ABF describes itself as “the global leadership summit of the world.” It aims to bring together leaders from various sectors, including politics, technology, sports, and social development. This is the first time the forum will take place in Miami. Previous events were held in Uruguay, home of ABF founder and businessman Ignacio González Castro. It is also the first time that the majority of high-profile political leaders appearing are distinctly right-wing or conservative. In previous occasions, speakers had been mostly from the region and from varied ideological backgrounds.