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Wilson Center

Argentina is the second-largest economy in South America, one of the world’s major food exporters, and a rapidly expanding producer of energy and minerals. Yet as it prepares to elect a new president, the country is struggling to address a formidable set of challenges, including triple-digit inflation, a slumping economy, high debt, and a shortage of hard currency made more severe by a historic drought.

These conditions have led to frustration with the ruling Peronist coalition, now known as the Unión por la Patria, and provided an opening for the center-right opposition coalition, Juntos por el Cambio, to return to power. But strong anti-incumbent sentiment has also benefited the libertarian candidate Javier Milei. Milei, a lawmaker who rails against traditional political parties he derides as the “political caste,” promises radical solutions such as dollarization, sharp cuts to public spending, and privatizations. Though he is not the frontrunner, his unexpectedly competitive campaign has already influenced his competitors.

To learn more about Milei’s economic platform and his prospects in the October election, please join the Wilson Center’s Latin America Program, in partnership with McLarty Associates, for a virtual dialogue with Diana Mondino, congressional candidate, senior economic adviser to Milei, and director of institutional relations at the Universidad del CEMA in Buenos Aires, on Wednesday, July 26, 2023, from 12:30pm to 1:30pm ET. This is the first event in the Latin America Program’s “Argentina Elige” series. Future conversations will feature senior economic advisers to the other leading candidates, Sergio Massa, Patricia Bullrich, and Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.