Letter from Buenos Aires - no 8.

Last week Javier Milei Friday met up for a sixth time with Giorgia Meloni, President of Italy. Their meeting saw both Milei and his sister Karina being awarded Italian nationality. This rapid grant drew criticisms from Angelo Bonelli, leader of Italy’s Green and Left Alliance who commented that regular applications took years. It will certainly afford Milei the opportunity to continue his Italian connection when he leaves office.

Milei also took the opportunity in Italy to make some choice remarks about the UN, which he described as “a group of authoritarian bureaucrats far removed from humanity”... “87 people (who) have claimed the right to choose what to do with the fate of the planet.”

During his absence, VP Villarruel stood in for the President. However, inappropriately she also chaired a Senate session at which Senator Edgardo Kueider was expelled following his arrest in Paraguay (reported in letter 7). As she was acting Head of the Executive Branch she should have not have sat in the Senate. Milei is not intent on rescuing Kueider, but the episode has given him another opportunity to undermine his VP.

On Friday Milei launched his Nuclear Plan with the Argentine Nuclear Council, saying “Nuclear energy will have its triumphant return.”

He went on to point out that Argentina has top nuclear scientists, available resources of unused territory and energy reserves. His proposal is to build a small modular reactor (SMR) at the Atucha Nuclear Power Plant using Argentine technology, and in a second stage to develop uranium reserves for a further expansion of the nuclear project.

This project makes a lot of sense for Argentina, and Milei’s approach constitutes a welcome breakaway from Chinese technology and dependence.