President Javier Milei’s trips abroad to give lectures and receive awards continue to make people talk. Now, while libertarians in the Czech Republic insist on ignoring the distinction given to them by another branch of the same institution, in Prague, the Las Vegas Freedom Festannounced that the Argentine President plans to participate at their festival this year, where he will be the guest star.
This participation had not been officially reported in Argentina, but in the bright city of casinos and hotels in the United States, They were expecting Milei between Wednesday, July 10 and Saturday, July 13 to speak before a ““Annual festival where free minds gather to celebrate freedom.” under the slogans of a “non-partisan” group and “not officially affiliated with any organization or group of experts,” according to its official website.
The organization released a public notice of Milei’s participation that includes a biography and a photo of the Argentine president for his presentation. However, elsewhere, it is reported that the exhibition was rescheduled for later due to commitments from the Argentine president.
“A couple of weeks ago we received news that Milei’s schedule was changing and we have been working as hard as we can to make all possible adjustments so that he fulfills his commitment to appear in front of our audience“, they indicated to Clarion from the organization of the event and added that They expected it as soon as possible.
The Presidency indicates that the head of state decided not to travel to Las Vegas on the originally scheduled date because “he has other priorities”, since at the end of July he will return to Europe to meet with Emmanuel Macron, so his presentation was postponed. As the president himself announced in a television interview, Milei will give present at the opening of the Paris Olympic Games on July 26 and there he will hold a bilateral meeting with the French president. Initially, it had been planned to take place during the trip he made to Italy to participate in the G7 recently, but there was only a cordial greeting between them and the meeting was rescheduled.
In his seven months of government, Milei made four visits to the United States; two to Italy, Switzerland and Spain; one to the Vatican, another to Israel, to Germany and the Czech Republic. And, despite the tension with Lula da Silva, the president confirmed that he will participate on June 8 in the Mercosur summit in Paraguay, which would be his first trip to a country in the region, and also a partner of the bloc. Southern Cone.
On July 9, as he himself said he intends, Milei will be in Tucumán to celebrate Independence Day and seal the delayed May Pact with the governors.
While, The controversy over the award given to Milei in Prague persists. Initially it was Jiri Schwarz, founder of the Liberal Institute and currently rector of the Anglo-American University in Prague, who informed that Milei was going to receive the annual award given by the institution.
But on Monday, when everyone had already seen the President safely receiving his award and giving his speech at the Zofin Palace, Martin Pánek appeared, who claims to be director of the institute, making these statements cited only by EFE. “The Liberal Institute of Prague, a laboratory of ideas, has denied that it is going to present an award this Monday to the president of Argentina, the libertarian Javier Milei, and has assured that This is a hoax spread by former leaders who have had no ties to that institution for years.”.
The organizer of the Prague Liberal Institute award ceremony, Lourdes Daza, shot Pánek. “The former director of the Liberal Institute, and he is gay and did not want to give the award to Milei even though the Academic Council decided that he did and is the only one who decides that a prize can be awarded.”
But after the publication of an article by this newspaper, Pánek sent a lengthy email pointing out that it was Daza who “did not tell the correct facts.” And he reiterated: “Our institute is the only institute in the Czech Republic with the name “Liberální institut”, he pointed out and sent the link to it.
“Our Academic Council agrees with me that the award for President Milei is premature. Our Research Director, Chief Economist and other analysts also agree,” he reiterated, considering that Milei should not be rewarded as the group led by Schwarz did.
Pánek insisted that the three men who gave Milei the prize (Jiří Schwarz, Josef Šíma and Petr Koblovský) “worked a lot for the Institute,” adding: “But that was 10–30 years ago. None of them have been active in the last ten years. And now they found a pirate institute and lie to the public and the President of Argentina. It is a shame!
Then Pánek became upset by Daza’s statements and asked: “Forgive me, but what does “the former director of the Liberal Institute, and he is gay” mean? I hope this was a miscommunication or some kind of jargon I’m not understanding… Please clarify for me. I have been learning Spanish for a couple of years but I am far from fluent.”
