Amid growing international pressure for the opposition to win the recent presidential election, Argentine President Javier Milley has emerged as a strong ally of Venezuela’s anti-government protest movement.
World leaders, including the United States, have cast doubt on President Nicolas Maduro’s claim that he won the election, and protesters have clashed with police in the streets in the conflict-hit South American country.
“He was very collaborative and was kind of a voice in South America working with the left against the healing efforts and encouraging other democracies to recognize Edmundo as president,” OSINT analyst Daniel Acosta Rivas told Fox News Digital.
Rivas said there was vocal support for Millay “in Venezuela and especially among those living abroad.”
Milley was one of the first world leaders to speak out after the Maduro-controlled National Electoral Council awarded the incumbent president victory with a reported 51% of the vote to the opposition’s 44%. Pre-election polls – illegal in the country – showed opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez receiving twice as many votes as Maduro.
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The United States ultimately certified Gonzalez as the winner, claiming to have reviewed the tally, but Milley immediately denounced the election results as “fraudulent and perpetrated by the dictator Nicolas Maduro.”
“He may believe that the battle has been won,” Milley said, “but the most important thing is that the lions of Venezuela have woken up and, sooner or later, socialism will come to an end.”
Argentine President Javier Milley speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) annual meeting in National Harbor, Maryland on February 24, 2024. (Reuters/Elisabeth Franz)
Milley stressed that Argentina “will not accept new injustices” and called on the Venezuelan military “to defend democracy and the will of the people this time.” He pointed to “data” that showed a “landslide victory for the opposition.”
Protesters took to the streets and were met with a violent police crackdown as Maduro tried to claim victory, drawing international condemnation. Milley continued to call out protesters and support their fight against Maduro.
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Maduro lashed out at Millay earlier this week, repeatedly criticizing the Argentine president, referring to his “monstrous face” and calling him an “ugly man and a fool.”
He also called Millay a “Nazi and a fascist” and asked how anyone could take such a man seriously. Buenos Aires HeraldHe also called Millais a “cowardly worm” and a “traitor to his country.”
Demonstrators clash with police near armored vehicles during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, the day after Venezuela’s presidential election, in Caracas, July 29, 2024. Demonstrations erupted in parts of Caracas on Monday to protest Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s claimed re-election victory, which has been contested by the opposition and questioned internationally, AFP reporters observed. (Federico Parra/AFP via Getty Images)
“These people have said no to barbaric capitalism and fascism,” Maduro said at a rally outside his party’s headquarters. “From Caracas, Venezuela has said no to the Nazi-fascist Milley. We are a nation of warriors.”
But Maduro’s response appears to have only emboldened the protesters and strengthened Millay’s popularity among the opposition. Rivas noted that Maduro’s continued comments about Millay, Elon Musk and others who have stepped up their criticism in the wake of the election results have attempted to divert attention from the election, but that these efforts have only highlighted Maduro and his politics in a region where there is growing dissatisfaction with business as usual.
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“He’s been a promoter of right-wing or classical liberal movements throughout Latin America,” Rivas said. “You can see that people are impressed with his message and his leadership. Before he ran for office he was virtually unknown outside of liberal circles and was dismissed by other members of Argentina’s opposition during the Fernández-Kirchner administration. And look at him now.”
Venezuelan activists living in exile have spoken passionately about Mirey and his potential impact on the country as protesters continue to call for an end to the Maduro-Chavez regime and a new way of life, perhaps one more in line with Mirey’s policies. Mirey, an economist, has tamed Argentina’s runaway inflation, balanced the budget and reduced the size of the government since taking office earlier this year.
Opponents of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government protest in Caracas on July 29, 2024, the day after Venezuela’s presidential election. Demonstrations broke out in parts of Caracas on Monday in protest of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s claimed re-election victory, which has been contested by the opposition and questioned internationally, an AFP reporter observed. (Raul Arboleda/AFP via Getty Images)
“Young people tend to embrace socialist ideas, but their biggest enemies are the people who have lived under this political system,” Esteban Hernandez, a Venezuelan journalist living in exile in Miami, told Fox News Digital.
“Young people in Venezuela, unlike in other countries, do not support these ideas,” he said. “In fact, we have seen in countries like the United States and Argentina that people who are opposed to socialism are trying to get elected.”
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“For example, during Argentina’s last elections, many Venezuelans warned locals not to vote for Sérgio Massa, while others volunteered to help Javier Milley win,” Hernández added.
“Javier Milley is the greatest right-wing leader of our generation. He has always been the best defender of individualism, capitalism and freedom, while defeating socialists and leftists with philosophical and moral arguments,” Franklin Camargo, an exiled Venezuelan activist, told Fox News Digital.
