The attendance of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the presidential inauguration Sunday of Argentina’s fascistic new president, Javier Milei, in Buenos Aires highlighted the reactionary political significance of the event and the far-right character of the governments they lead.

The embrace by Zelensky—the main representative of the US-NATO proxy forces in Ukraine—of the rabid anti-worker agitator and apologist for the fascist-military dictatorship that ruled Argentina during the 1970s, exposes yet again the nature of the US-led war on Russia. It is being carried out in alliance with the most fascistic political forces in the world and has nothing to do with the defense of “democracy” or “sovereignty” anywhere. 

Despite Milei’s announcement of a “new era in Argentina of peace and prosperity” during his inauguration speech, the visit was the most significant sign yet that he serves as a puppet of US imperialism and that the subservient regional bourgeoisies are dragging Latin America into the maelstrom of a third world war. 

Such a meeting would not have taken place without consulting Washington and the CIA handlers of Zelensky, who will follow his trip to Buenos Aires with a meeting with Biden on Tuesday. 

“This is a new beginning for Argentina,” tweeted Zelensky in Buenos Aires, during his first official trip to Latin America. He later declared, “We can count on Milei to support Ukraine.” 

The pair gave each other two long hugs on Sunday, as they spoke without microphones. Zelensky had previously thanked Milei for offering to host a supposed “peace conference” in Latin America, which would be used by US imperialism to strong-arm the regional governments to align themselves fully with the US-NATO axis against Russia, Iran and China, as well as to silence criticism of the US-Zionist genocide in Gaza.

The Pentagon has sought to pressure the region to ship weapons to Ukraine, so far unsuccessfully, and has a longstanding agenda of removing its rivals as competitors in selling and providing weapons to Latin American governments in order to gain political leverage. This push has been aimed particularly at Brazil, which has the largest defense budget and industry.

The event became a rally of the who’s who of right-wing extremists around the world. This included Brazilian ex-president Jair Bolsonaro, Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, Spanish Vox party leader Santiago Abascal, and the Chilean Pinochetista José Antonio Kast. 

“The Right is rising not only in Europe but all around the world!” tweeted Orbán from Buenos Aires. For his part, Bolsonaro, who led a conspiracy to bring about a coup on January 8, told reporters that Milei’s victory “means a lot for the world, which is very divided between the left and the right. We are the rivals; we are enemies.”

According to the Washington Post, Donald Trump—the leader of the January 6, 2021, coup attempt in Washington—told advisers that he wanted to attend the inauguration, but there were “logistical hurdles.” At a rally in Iowa on Saturday, the previous Saturday, he said: “You saw what happened: He ran as Trump. It was Trump. ‘Make Argentina Great Again.’” Several Republican House members attended the inauguration led by Maria Elvira Salazar (Republican of Florida) 

For its part, the Biden administration has gone out of its way to show its political deference to Milei’s fascistic politics and excitement for his unapologetic alignment with US imperialism. 

During his first trip after the election, Milei met at the White House with national security adviser Jake Sullivan and other senior US officials, as well as with former president Bill Clinton. One Biden administration official told the Washington Post anonymously that the US “has resources available to help” Milei and insisted “Trump loves Russia and Putin. This guy does not like Russia or Putin.” 

Then on Sunday, the Biden administration sent a delegation led by Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy.

Similarly, Damian Merlo, a US Republican lobbyist who also advises the fascistic president in El Salvador, Nayib Bukele, said, “For Latin Americanists in the Republican Party, it’s great to see a president that says he wants nothing to do with China …” 

Despite their tactical differences centered around foreign policy, both political factions of US imperialism are again planning to install fascist regimes across Latin America, as in the Cold War, to crush the revolutionary struggles of workers and align the region against its geopolitical rivals. The Milei-Zelensky embrace sets the stage for Argentina to become a major hub for this conspiracy.

But there are even greater implications. The US ruling elite’s affinity with Milei has been expressed most avidly by billionaire Elon Musk, who spoke with Milei by phone and shared a video where the Argentine says equality should never come before freedom.

The imperialist ruling elites are hoping to set a new precedent for workers globally—especially within the United States itself—by supporting the radical “shock therapy” against social spending, real wages and jobs planned by Milei, whose new motto has become “there is no money.”

Despite claims that Milei has tempered his plans, analysts cited in the corporate media stress that the intensity of the political and economic crisis in Argentina heralds a historic clash with the working class with possibly revolutionary implications. 

Benjamin Gedan, Argentina director for the Wilson Center, declared that “the warning lights are all flashing red” in Argentina, while Alberto Ramos, chief Latin America economist at Goldman Sachs, said, “You are dealing with nitroglycerine. It can ignite overnight. Once you start the economic adjustment, you can lose control.” 

On Saturday, the French “president of the rich” Emmanuel Macron posed for a photo holding a soccer jersey with Milei’s signature and motto: “Long Live Liberty Damn it!”

It must be stressed as well that several fascistic guests on Sunday have longstanding ties with neo-Nazi and openly antisemitic networks, and Milei and his party Freedom Advances are no exception. 

As reported in the Israeli press, Milei appointed Rodolfo Barra as head of the National Top Legal Office. Barra was forced to resign as minister of justice in 1996 for his past in the neo-Nazi Tacuara organization, which burned synagogues and was involved in the killing of a Jewish Communist Party member. Earlier this year, Lilia Lemoine, a legislator for Milei’s party, praised the neo-Nazi Carlos Pampillón as a “patriot” before apologizing for her statement.

Incoming Vice President Victoria Villarruel made a career as a defender of the officials who perpetrated countless crimes during the fascist-military dictatorship (1976-1983), including making repeated visits to dictator Rafael Videla in jail. Among the tens of thousands of tortured and killed, thousands were Jewish, with survivors reporting that the torture and detention chambers had pictures of Hitler on the walls. 

Such instances and others in the political orbit of Milei did not stop the fascistic Netanyahu government in Israel from sending foreign minister Eli Cohen to Milei’s inauguration or thanking him for promising to move the Argentine Embassy to Jerusalem and inviting him to visit.

As explained by the World Socialist Web Site, Milei sees the US-Israeli slaughter of Gazans as “an inspiration and sign of future support for unleashing genocidal violence against the impoverished working class at home.”

Finally, the presence of pseudo-left president Gabriel Boric of Chile was significant, joining the openly right-wing Luis Lacalle Pou of Uruguay, Daniel Noboa of Ecuador and Santiago Peña of Paraguay. All of them held discussions with Zelensky during the event. 

The Brazilian president, Lula da Silva, decided not to attend after Milei called him a “communist thief” during the campaign. The day before the inauguration, Lula had rejected Zelensky’s request for a meeting during a refueling stop by the Ukrainian president’s plane at a military air base in Brasilia. Nonetheless, he still sent his foreign minister Mauro Vieira to Buenos Aires.

The presence of Vieira and Boric—not to speak of the expressed willingness of Peronist leaders in Congress and the union bureaucracy in Argentina to work with Milei—demonstrates that no section of the Latin American ruling class fights for democracy or independence from US imperialism.

The working class is objectively the only social force which can put an end to imperialism, war and fascism, but it needs to complete an uncompromising break with all pro-capitalist and nationalist parties and union bureaucracies. This is the perspective fought for by the International Committee of the Fourth International.