Within his first 24 hours as president of Argentina, far-right leader Javier Milei signed his first Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU), dramatically reconfiguring the country’s federal government. Shortly after his swearing-in this past Sunday, December 10, the libertarian president signed a measurereducing the cabinet’s 18 departments to nine in an unsparing move to minimize public spending. The new decree will eradicate several federal agencies, including the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry for Women, Gender, and Diversity, while simultaneously establishing Milei’s vaguely named “Ministry of Human Capital.” 

The action took place in the White Room of the Casa Rosada during a private ceremony that was closed off to the press, according to La Nota. 

A self-described “anarcho-capitalist” often seen wielding a chainsaw symbolizing his desire to shred what he terms the current political “caste,”Milei has drawn international condemnation for his extreme proposed economic measures and for his denial of the deaths of more than 30,000 people during Argentina’s bloody dictatorship of 1976 to 1983. Milei has also threatened to repeal the nation’s hard-fought law guaranteeing legal and safe abortions and peddled election fraud conspiracy theories popular among the far right. He defeated Argentina’s center-left former economy minister Sergio Massa in a runoff election, his victory fueled by anger and resentment in a country where 40% of the population lives in poverty and inflation topped 140% this year.

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