“We remain united against imperialism and neoliberalism, fighting for a future where peoples are sovereign and free.”
By Marcos Lagier, Argentina Solidarity Campaign
The violence that Trump has inflicted on Latin America and its people is not something new or recent in our history-ICE is not an isolated case. To be able to understand how Abya Yala (a decolonised way of calling the American continent) is treated in the Trump era, I would like to start by saying that most of Abya Yala countries have suffered dictatorships after the Second World War, most of them either planned or supported by the U.S, as detailed in the Condor Plan.
There were 4 dictatorships in Argentina after WW II, the U.S. backed them all. It is not a coincidence that during the first of these, in 1956, Argentina first entered into debt with the IMF.
During the last cruel dictatorship (1976-1983), besides disappearing 30,000 people, the junta government illegitimately raised the debt from 7 to 47 billion. I need to remark that the IMF is complicit in the torture, disappearance and killing of these 30,000 people. The IMF and the U.S. have always had the aim of stopping Argentina and every country in Abya Yala from being sovereign. This has been the case with the U.S. and their policies of regime change all around the world, even before Trump.
Argentina is the country that has had the largest amount of deals with the IMF in the organisation’s history, and also the country that has the highest debt today. Every time Argentina has been in an economic crisis, the U.S. government and its extended arm, the IMF, have been involved — breathing down our necks, alongside complicit local right-wing governments.
Not long ago, in 2018, Argentina took out the largest loan in the IMF’s history for 57 billion dollars, negotiated by our former president Mauricio Macri. Macri was infamous for being in the Panama Papers thanks to his offshore accounts, and for being investigated in around 400 fraud cases, including money laundering, illegal espionage linked to the CIA, wrongdoing in privatisations, and many other cases related to corruption.
In recent years, another weapon has been added to dictatorship and debt: Lawfare.
This year, Argentina’s Supreme Court has put in prison and proscribed the former president and strongest opposition leader against the far right, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. This was done without following due process, and most of the judges involved were appointed illegitimately by none other than Macri. But Argentina is not alone. Across Latin America, lawfare has become the new weapon: soft dictatorships that prosecute leaders who stand up against neoliberalism and imperialism. Another example is Brazil, where Lula da Silva was imprisoned through a judicial operation later exposed as corrupt and politically motivated.
Control, interference, political and economic violence are also exerted through a culture war where violence is normalised and even repression is celebrated. This has been evident on the streets and circulated widely in social media. We are seeing levels of repression and hate speech that take us back to the darkest days in our history — not only from politicians, but once legitimised by them, from society in general.
The main targets of Milei’s hate are women, the social movements that protect our people, pediatric hospitals, universities, activists, and LGBTI communities.
In Argentina, every Wednesday, pensioners protest in our main squares to demand decent pensions and access to health care. Today, the minimum pension does not allow them to have two meals a day. On top of that, the Argentinian NHS, historically a source of pride for its free access, even for foreigners, has cut access to medicines for pensioners.
These pensioners — some over 90 years old — are met with police brutality, including tear gas and rubber bullets. The Coordinating Table of Retirees and Pensioners of the Argentine Republic said that in the first half of 2025 there were over 1,200 protesters injured by police brutality and over 130 arrested. In February, football fans joined pensioners in their demands, and police violence left an 87-year-old woman injured, one photojournalist shot in the face with a rubber bullet, and another person lost an eye.
Every day that Milei is in government, the discontent grows. The big cuts Milei implements in the name of austerity are not reflected in the 27 trips abroad he has done in 20 months, including a trip to the U.S. every 50 days, nor in the huge fiscal subsidies he keeps gifting to local and foreign billionaires. Milei’s austerity plan has even been celebrated by Elon Musk, who tried to carry out the same programme in the U.S. — where, due to its horrific effects and popular discontent, he was forced to quit.
Society’s most vulnerable always suffer the brunt of austerity. Indigenous people have illegally and unconstitutionally been ethnically cleansed and dispossessed of their lands under orders of Milei and his Minister of Security (the latter also served under Macri). Police and even army brutality are used to privatise lands — often national parks — or to exploit natural resources. Argentina, together with Bolivia and Chile, holds over 50% of the world’s lithium reserves.
The so-called “superavit” in the Argentine economy is fictitious, maintained only by giving away every right we have won and every resource we have: our water, our soil, our communities — all sacrificed for capital.
However, Milei is rapidly losing support due to various corruption scandals. The Libra memecoin scam caused thousands across the globe to lose millions. In a staged interview, Milei defended himself by saying: “I didn’t promote it, I just shared it.”
Leaked audios exposed his own lawyer admitting that Milei’s right hand in government — his sister — takes 3% bribes in contracts related to medicine for people with disabilities. All of this is happening while people need to take out loans just to buy groceries.
With mid-term elections looming in a couple of weeks, Milei travelled to the U.S. in desperation to meet with Trump and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to request a new loan. This is critical: we know how the U.S. treated Panama when they took out a loan, or what they expect back from Ukraine, blatantly evident in the way Trump humiliates Zelenskyy.
But Milei’s, Trump’s or Farage’s rise in popularity cannot be explained only by how well the far-right campaigns. We need to reflect on where we, as progressives, have failed. Too often, progressive governments try to appease right-wing supporters instead of holding firmly to their own values.
The history of our continent is one of resistance. Our people have always answered with dignity and organisation against austerity policies and the dismantling of rights, winning historic victories and expanding freedoms. Today, even in the face of hardship, countless people are giving everything, every day, to build the just and sovereign nation—and continent—we deserve.
This struggle transcends borders. In the 1990s, the symbol of resistance to neoliberalism in Argentina was the Keffiyeh, the Palestinian scarf. Today, across the world, we remain united against imperialism and neoliberalism, fighting for a future where peoples are sovereign and free. That is our path, and we will not stop until it becomes a reality.
I would like to end by expressing our solidarity with all of our siblings of Abya Yala, Sahel, Congo, Sudan, Palestine, and all of those global majorities who suffer at the hands of imperialism and colonisation.
Solidarity.
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