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Argentina no longer has a Ministry of Culture after its new President Javier Milei abolished the government office one day into his four year tenure
Tom Anstey | Planet Attractions | 18 Dec 2023
Javier Milei is said to be implementing ‘shock therapy’ in order to get Argentina’s economy back on track
Argentina’s new President, Javier Milei, has dissolved the country’s Ministry of Culture one day into his presidency.
Inaugurated on December 10, Milei has promised to make major cuts on government spending. Following his victory against the country’s former economic minister Sergio Massa, Milei has made a number of changes to affirm his promise to take austerity measures.
“We don’t have margin for sterile discussions,” said Milei, speaking during his inaugural address.
“Our country demands action, and immediate action. The political class left the country at the brink of its biggest crisis in history. We don’t desire the hard decisions that will need to be made in coming weeks, but lamentably they didn’t leave us any option.”
Following his appointment, a number of governmental departments have been downsized or paired as new entities. For the Ministry of Culture, it is now absorbed into the new Ministry of Human Capital, which also merges Education, Health, Labor and Social Development. The ministry will now be headed up by former broadcast journalist Sandra Pettovello.
In a statement on the Ministry of Culture’s website, the now former government arm said: “We are updating the contents of the site within the framework of the implementation of the Decree 8/2023.”
The Ministry of Culture isn’t the only cut made, with Milei making subsidy cuts for both gas and electricity, as well as cancelling a number of public projects, measures he says are necessary to bring Argentina’s struggling economy under control. Milei is also halving the current value of the Argentine peso against the dollar in an effort to deter hyperinflation.
Milei is a former television commentator and libertarian economist, who has promoted opinions on far-right leaning issues including abortion, immigration and climate change.
Following his appointment, he was congratulated by former US President, Donald Trump, as well as former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, who also abolished his country’s culture ministry when he took up office. Milei has appointed Victoria Villarruel as his vice president. In September, she called for the dismantling of the ESMA Museum and Site of Memory - a recently christened Unesco World Heritage Site dedicated to the prisoners of Argentina’s former military dictatorship.
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