Argentina's Milei blasts UN over support for COVID lockdowns, appeasing 'bloody dictatorships'

UNITED NATIONS, New York - Argentinian President Javier Milei, in his first address before the United Nations General Assembly, blasted the organization, saying it "has transformed into a Leviathan with multiple tentacles that intends to decide not only what each nation-state should do but also how all the citizens of the world should live."

He added, "This is how we moved from an organization that pursued peace to an organization that imposes an ideological agenda on its members," according to a Reuters translation.

He then took aim at the world body's latest offering, calling its "Pact for the Future" "twisted," saying the policy was the "wrong course" to follow. 

"The adoption of this agenda is fully in line with these privileged interests, and, looks beyond the principles that were set out in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and it is therefore twisted the role of this organization and set it on the wrong course," Milei said during his impassioned speech.

Milei accused the U.N. of turning into "one of the main proponents of systemic violations of freedom," citing the organization’s support for the COVID pandemic lockdowns and allowing "bloody dictatorships" such as Venezuela to sit on the Human Rights Council "without reproach." 

"For this reason, I'd like to officially express our dissent on the pact for the future that was signed on Sunday, and I invite all nations of the free world to support us, not only in the U.N. in relation to this pact, but also in the establishment of a new agenda for this noble institution that is the agenda for freedom," Milei declared. 

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Argentinean President Javier Milei addresses the 79th United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York City on Sept. 24, 2024. (Reuters/Eduardo Munoz)

"As the ‘Pact for the Future’ purports to dictate, this long list of errors and contradictions has led to a loss of credibility for the United Nations before the citizens of the free world," Milei said. "I'd like to issue a warning here we are coming to the end of a cycle: Collectivism and moral posturing and the woke agenda is coming up against reality. There are no further credible solutions to the real problems of the world."

The "Pact for the Future" was the centerpiece of the Summit for the Future, which kicked off the high-level week for the U.N. General Assembly this week. The pact serves as the culmination of policies and mission statements issued by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres over the past few years.

The pact aims to expand the scope and focus of the U.N. and its members to handle "global shocks," such as "disruptions to global flows of goods, people or finance." 

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Milei compared these new policies, which he alleged amounted to overreach by the organizations, to the original mission and achievements of the U.N., going on to blast the celebration of countries who "punish their women just for showing their skin in this same house that have voted against the State of Israel, which is the only country in the Middle East to defend a liberal democracy." 

Israel’s returning Ambassador to the United Nations Danny Danon applauded Milei’s challenge to the General Assembly and Guterres’ pact, calling Milei "a true friend of the State of Israel."

"In this hall where they slandered Israel all day, you expressed courage and supported Israel!" 

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Milei insisted that if the current agenda should fail, the U.N. members must ask "whether or not this was an ill-conceived program from the outset." 

"We should accept this reality and change what we’re doing," he argued. "The same thing always happens with ideas that come from the Left … When individuals freely decide to act otherwise, they have no better solution than to restrict, repress or cut off their freedom." 

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"In Argentina, we’ve seen with our own eyes what they have done at the end of this path of envy and sad passion: Poverty, anarchy and a total lack of liberty," Milei said. "We still have time to choose another direction."

Milei ended with his often said slogan, ""Long live freedom, damn it! Thank you very much."

Reuters contributed to this report.