Argentine President Javier Milei welcomed pressure from the United States and President Donald Trump to “free the people of Venezuela.” When speaking at the plenary session of the 67th Summit of the South American bloc, in Foz do Iguaçu (PR), he said that Venezuela continues “suffering from a devastating political, humanitarian and social crisis”.
“The atrocious and inhumane dictatorship of narco-terrorist Nicolás Maduro casts a dark shadow over our region,” he said. “This danger and this shame cannot continue to exist on our continent, or it will end up dragging everyone down with it.” And he added: “We reiterate our call for the will of the Venezuelan people to be respected.”
The Argentine also saluted the “international recognition of the courage of María Corina Machado”, who won the 2025 Nobel Peace Prize. The award was given last week to the opponent’s daughter, Ana Corina Sosa Machado, who read a speech written by her mother, defending democracy and equating Chavismo with “State terrorism”.
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Regional criticism
This week, Milei caused controversy when she published an illustration on social media in which she compared Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana to a large favela and the other South American countries as futuristic areas.
In today’s speech, the Argentine said that experience showed that his country has already decided to break with the “bankrupt model” of protectionism, bureaucracy and complacency. He maintained that Argentina has become a country that produces, markets and competes internationally without depending “on the whim of States or absurd regulations”. “If we really want prosperity, we accept the courage to leave failed recipes behind,” he continued.
Regarding José Antonio Kast’s victory in Chile, Milei said that it expresses “a clear social demand for more competitive, open and flexible economies”. “The political change in Latin America must be interpreted as a clear signal to Mercosur.” He said that countries that do not follow this new reality will continue in an inertia that the world has already left behind.
Milei concluded: “The question we see ourselves being asked today is simple: do we want a Mercosur that is an engine of growth or a brake on the future? Argentina has already answered that question. Let us release the productive forces that have been contained for decades.”
The video with the speech was published recently by the Argentine government, with delay. The Brazilian government broadcast live only the speeches of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, president for the time of Mercosur until December, and of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mauro Vieira. It was up to the other countries to keep the records of their respective presidents. Only Paraguay, which assumes the bloc’s Presidency in January for six months, broadcast in real time.
