Maduro slams Milei, says 'neo-Nazi extreme right' won election in Argentina

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Monday described Argentina's president-elect Javier Milei as a "neo-Nazi" following the libertarian's victory in Sunday's presidential election run-off

"The neo-Nazi extreme right has won in Argentina ... We say to the Argentines: you chose, but we will not be silent, because the arrival of a right-wing extremist with a colonial project, absolutely colonial, kneeling to US imperialism, is a tremendous threat," Maduro said, deploying his usual anti-United States rhetoric.

"It is a right-wing that comes with a colonial project for Argentina, but that intends to lead a colonial project in all of Latin America and the Caribbean," the Venezuelan claimed said in his weekly programme on state television, stressing that it "intends to do away with the state."

Maduro –whose re-election in 2018 was questioned by the United States and international observers due to allegations of fraud by the main opposition political parties – accused Milei of wanting to continue "the project" of the dictatorships established in the 1970s in Argentina, Chile and Uruguay.

"He is trying to establish on the continent what was the ultra-neoliberal project, called liberal by them, which was imposed in the 1970s with the coups d'état of [Augusto] Pinochet in Chile, [Jorge] Videla in Argentina, with the coup d'état in Uruguay," said Maduro, who opponents has branded a "dictator."

"We respect the decision of the Argentine people and we simply call for reflection on the emergence of far-right groups that seek to impose themselves in order to re-colonise Latin America and impose extremist models. This has not happened in Venezuela, nor will it happen," Maduro concluded.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is investigating possible crimes against humanity in Venezuela in the policing of opposition demonstrations, as well as allegations of torture.

Former congresswoman María Corina Machado, who won Venezuela's opposition primaries but is disqualified from running in next year's presidential elections due to administrative measures questioned by Washington and the European Union, celebrated Milei's victory in contrast.

"Congratulations to all Argentines for an exemplary electoral process and to its president-elect, Javier Milei. The struggle for change and freedom is advancing in Latin America," Machado posted on Sunday on the social network X, the old Twitter.

– TIMES/AFP