BUENOS AIRES (AP) — The Argentine president, Javier Milei, canceled the presentation of his latest book on economics at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair, alleging that there is an alleged plan to sabotage it, which he attributed to cultural sectors linked to the center-left.
“We are not going to present it at the Book Fair,” the far-right president said Wednesday in a radio interview. “There is a level of hostility towards me and our people that makes us suspect that there is an attempt to sabotage the presentation, to do it in the Kirchnerist style, in a violent way,” he said, referring to the political sector led by former president and former vice president Cristina Fernández. .
Milei planned to present the book “Capitalism, socialism and the neoclassical trap. From theory to political action” on May 12 within the framework of the Buenos Aires International Book Fair that takes place on the premises of the Rural Society.
“We have to take certain precautions, we cannot expose ourselves to being blocked. They are all taking actions typical of when someone wants to sabotage an activity,” Milei denounced without giving more details.
Before the suspension, the presentation of Milei’s book had caused a controversy with the organizers of the Book Fair, given that the president did not want to use one of the usual halls of the fair but rather the outdoor exhibition hall of the Rural Society. something unprecedented.
This decision was considered rude by the president of Fundación El Libro, Alejandro Vaccaro, during the opening ceremony of the 48th edition of the literary event that took place last Thursday.
“Your participation in the fair implies a series of extraordinary expenses that the Book Foundation cannot afford. Mr. President, I tell you with a hand on my heart: ‘there is no money,'” said Vaccaro in reference to the ultra-liberal economist’s favorite phrase.
He added that “everything related to their security will be at their sole expense or, what will be worse, it will be an extra expense for the National Treasury.”
In the same radio interview, Milei described Vaccaro’s speech as “violent”, whom he called a “Kirchnerist” and accused him of “encouraging behavior inappropriate to culture.”
Large sectors of culture are up in arms against Milei for the austerity policies it implemented with the aim of reducing the fiscal deficit.
The government moved forward with the closure of the National Fund for the Arts and the National Theater Institute, reducing amounts allocated to the National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts (INCAA) and the National Institute of Music, among others, under the excuse that “ there is no money” and that all sectors must adjust.
The president also criticized several popular artists through social networks and accused them of using public funds to enrich themselves.
Milei did not report where or when he will present his new book, in which he addresses the main axes of his economic thought and renews criticism against what he defines as “impoverishing socialism.”
