Javier Milei gave a speech at the Rosario Chamber of Commerce in a discourse that quickly escalated into confrontation. After an initial error in which he thanked a Buenos Aires institution, the President directed attacks against political leaders, analysts and the press, accusing them of orchestrating a campaign to halt the country's development.
The main focus was the debate over rising default rates and country risk. Milei defended his economic figures, saying they did not justify "any of the barbarities and atrocities they are saying", and called journalists "intellectually very precarious beings". The President characterised what he saw as an electoral strategy by his opponents to maintain the status quo.
To support his administration, Milei cited economic activity indicators, highlighting a jump of 0.8% and asserting that the economy has accumulated 27 months of uninterrupted growth, which he described as the best record of the last fifteen years. He emphasised that his critics ignored the data and insisted on debunking catastrophic predictions that emerged during the presidential campaign.
The tone became more aggressive when he addressed the previous administration. Milei directly blamed Alberto Fernández for health policies during the pandemic, arguing that state monopoly over COVID-19 testing and price controls on face masks functioned as a shadowy "kiosk". He blamed the previous government for approximately 100,000 deaths from the pandemic, asserting that a "mediocre" administration would have resulted in around 30,000 deaths.
In closing, Milei criticised journalists who accused him of disconnection from reality and reaffirmed his commitment to the adjustment plan announced during the campaign. "The market ran me off and I beat it", the President concluded.
