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🇦🇷 Argentina /Elections & Politics

Milei at the opposite pole from liberalism

From Clarín · () Spanish

Translated from Spanish and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

Opinion Sources not specified Context piece
  • The article portrays a growing religious and nationalist current among politicians allied with Javier Milei, including Nayib Bukele, Santiago Abascal and others in Latin America and Europe.
  • It argues that these leaders frame politics as a spiritual struggle between good and evil, rather than as a rational contract among autonomous citizens.
  • The writer presents Milei as the most radical figure in this group and questions how compromise and criticism can survive when leaders claim divine guidance.

Javier Milei’s political allies are invoking God with increasing confidence, and the article argues that Milei stands at the most radical end of that movement. Around him, politics becomes less a rational contract than a religious crusade, with leaders claiming divine authority and presenting themselves as agents of salvation.

The article opens with Colombia’s Abelardo de la Espriella, who says he is “touched by the Holy Spirit” and was sent by God to save Colombia. His “cultural battle” is not enough, the writer says: politics becomes a “spiritual war.” After winning elections, he consecrated the country to Christ, gathered ministers for prayer on their knees before him, and announced a cultural counterrevolution. God, he declared, would “return to schools” and stand at the center of every decision. When reminded that Colombia is a secular country, he answered: “Long live Christ the King!”

Touched by the Holy Spirit.

· Abelardo de la EspriellaThe Colombian politician’s claim of divine selection is used to illustrate the article’s argument about religious politics.

Nayib Bukele, the article says, has established a precedent in which a small country can project great prestige. When he took power, he declared that “no one will stand between God and his people,” except, in practice, himself. God legitimizes his authority, the writer argues, while opponents become “satanic.” To overcome rebellious lawmakers, Bukele said, “I asked God directly.” In this worldview, pluralism becomes heresy and secularism a farce.

Long live Christ the King!

· Abelardo de la EspriellaHe responded to an objection that Colombia is a secular country.

Santiago Abascal does not claim personal conversations with God, but the article describes his politics as an updated form of national Catholicism. Anti-Semitism has become anti-Islamism, anti-liberalism has become post-liberalism, and Christian civilization defines the horizon. His West is a Christian West, the writer says, and those who see it as plural are treated as un-Western. Abascal promises to “rebuild everything.”

The article places other figures along the same spectrum. Daniel Noboa is described as a pragmatist who is becoming more comfortable with the idea of divine investiture. Rodrigo Paz Pereira is called a moderate, yet the writer says he has restored the formula “God, country and family” in La Paz. José Antonio Kast is presented as less mystical, but his repeated appeals to “truth” raise a question about whether opposing views can remain compatible with freedom.

No one will stand between God and his people.

· Nayib BukeleThe article cites Bukele’s statement about the relationship between divine authority and political power.

The writer calls this the spirit of the age and a backlash against the Bolivarian disaster, with the pendulum swinging from one political use of God to another. Milei, alongside Donald Trump and the Bolsonaro family, invokes God above all else and claims a purifying mission. The article asks how criticism and compromise can survive when leaders say they are guided by the “forces of heaven,” embody “light against darkness” and treat faith as a substitute for constitutionalism, tolerance and rational debate.

I asked God directly.

· Nayib BukeleHe used the phrase while describing how he dealt with rebellious lawmakers.
About this summary

Originally published by Clarín in Spanish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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