Argentina's Javier Milei to attend new Bolivia president Rodigo Paz’s inauguration

Argentina’s President Javier Milei will attend the inauguration of Bolivia’s new leader Rodrigo Paz on Saturday, extending this week’s trip to the United States.

Milei, 55, will fly to the US on Wednesday to take part in an event in Miami also featuring US President Donald Trump, Argentina’s Presidency confirmed.

Paz, a 58-year-old centre-right economist, ended almost two decades of socialist rule in Bolivia by securing 54.96 percent of the vote in a run-off election held last month, on October 19. 

At the time, Milei celebrated the news, stating that “Bolivia will once again join the free world.”

Bolivia shifted left in the mid-2000s under then-president Evo Morales (2006–2019), a path confirmed by the socialist leader’s former ally Luis Arce (2020–2025). In 2008, Bolivia broke off formal diplomatic relations with Washington, which have not been recovered.

Milei, who has pledged to hold the United States as his foreign policy north star, had maintained a distant relationship with Bolivia since taking office in December 2023, despite the neighbouring countries sharing a 742-kilometre border.

This, however, is expected to change. The incoming Bolivian administration marks a clear shift, with Bolivia now expected to resume relations with Washington and several other nations.

Paz has announced a trip to Washington to re-establish diplomatic ties and return, as he put it, “with fresh dollars” to boost Bolivia’s international reserves. After Paz’s election was confirmed, the United States declared its willingness to support the country.

Milei will attend Paz’s inauguration after returning from the United States. He is due to deliver a speech in Miami on Thursday at the American Business Forum, an event that will also feature Trump, football star Lionel Messi and other prominent figures, the government said in a press briefing.

Officials did not specify whether a meeting between Trump and Milei was planned, but talks between the two leaders are not anticipated. They met at the White House only last month, when financial assistance for Argentina topped the agenda.

Trump and the US Treasury extended a US$20-billion currency swap to the Milei administration to calm currency turbulence ahead of Argentina’s midterm elections on October 26. 

Washington also pledged a further US$20 billion in public and private funds to further stabilise markets.

Paz heads to Washington

Paz has said his first measures for Bolivia will be tackling foreign currency shortages in the financial system and domestic fuel supply problems. Annual inflation in September exceeded 23 percent.

The outgoing Bolivian government has almost depleted its dollar reserves while maintaining a universal policy of fuel subsidies.

“The plan is to meet with all multilateral lending organisations and with the US administration,” said José Luis Lupo, one of Paz’s advisers, on Monday.

After winning the run–off, Paz confirmed that he would restore relations with the United States.

In 2008, then-president Morales expelled the US ambassador, accusing him of supporting a supposed right-wing plot to divide the country. Since then, relations between La Paz and Washington have been limited to chargés d’affaires.

During his trip to Washington, Paz plans meetings with officials from the US Departments of State, Treasury and Commerce.

His first international trip comes after he announced he would not invite the presidents of Venezuela, Cuba and Nicaragua to his inauguration, arguing that they do not represent “democratic governments.”

In response, those three nations – members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) – decided to suspend the participation of Paz’s incoming administration in the left-wing grouping.

Venezuela–Bolivia tensions

Paz responded by saying Venezuela’s Nicolás Maduro does not represent the values of “democracy and freedom.”

The Bolivian’s incoming government will be a radical departure from the left-wing rule that has dominated the nation’s politics. 

On Monday, Maduro had described Paz’s decision as an act of “betrayal”, saying the three nations had suffered a “blatant and unjustified aggression.”

Writing on X, Paz said he would build “a better country ... without hatred, division or persecution” and that it would be founded on “democracy and freedom.”

“Bolivia stands for those values. You, Mr Maduro, stand for the complete opposite,” he wrote.

In another post, Paz recalled that when he lived in exile in Venezuela in the 1970s, he was given refuge by its people, to whom he said he would be “eternally grateful.”

– TIMES/AFP