Analysis: Milei's political rise is inextricably tied to his deep affection for his late dog, an English mastiff named Conan
Shockwaves rippled among Argentina’s political commentariat in August of this year when the country’s far-right libertarian party candidate, Javier Milei, an economist, emerged as the frontrunner in the 2023 presidential election primary. Milei had risen to fame on the TV talk-show circuit, where he gained notoriety as a critic of government policy and a self-professed tantric sex expert. His far-right rhetoric has stirred up memories of the dark years of the 1976 - 1983 military dictatorship, whose vast human rights abuses Milei has sought to downplay.
Milei's policy proposals include economic deregulation, a relaxing of gun laws, the replacing of Argentine peso with the US dollar as the national currency, the legalisation of organ sale, and the re-criminalisation of abortion. In Argentina and further afield, his combination of inflammatory, populist rhetoric and unkempt hair have prompted comparisons with the demagoguery of Donald Trump, Boris Johnson, and Jair Bolsonaro.
Attention-grabbing though Milei’s personal style is, perhaps the most curious aspect of his candidacy concerns his unique esoteric practices. Indeed, these practices appear to have been instrumental in his decision to run for president. They may also reveal something about tendencies that have been bubbling close to the surface of Argentinian culture and society of late.
As is recounted in journalist Juan Luis González's recent unauthorised biography El loco ("The Madman"), Milei’s political rise is inextricably tied to his deep affection for his late dog, an English mastiff named Conan (named after Conan the Barbarian), who was diagnosed with a rare degenerative disease in 2017. Distraught at the prospect of Conan’s death, Milei contracted the help of Celia Liliana Melamed, a specialist in "interspecies communication" and "animal telepathy." With her help, Milei was able to communicate with Conan during the final months of his life.
From Channel 4, Far-right populist Javier Milei takes shock lead in Argentina primary election
Following Conan’s eventual demise, Milei reportedly paid $50,000 dollars to PerPETuate, a US company that describes itself as the "world’s first pet genetic preservation company." PerPETuate supplied Milei with a family of Conan clones, which Milei refers to as "mis hijos de cuatro patas" [my four-legged sons]. The cloned dogs are named Milton, Murray, Robert, and Lucas, after Milei’s favourite economists: Milton Friedman, Murray Rothbard, and Robert Lucas.
But Milei also claims to be still in contact with the late, original Conan. As González’s book recounts, his sister Karina – who is also Milei’s closest friend and ally – subsequently trained as a medium in order to enable the dog to communicate with her brother from beyond the grave. Based on his research, which included wide-ranging interviews with those close to the presidential hopeful, González claims that Milei’s decision-making process is heavily influenced by his consultations with Conan who, Milei believes, is in direct contact with what he calls "el número uno" (the number one).
In sum, it appears that God told Conan that his former master should enter politics, and that he was destined to become the next president of Argentina. Perhaps unsurprisingly, Milei has now set his sights to fulfilling the canine prophecy.
From Reuters, Who is Argentina's presidential frontrunner, Javier Milei?
Historically, Argentina has had its fair share of individuals holding esoteric beliefs in or close to the corridors of power. Most notoriously, Isabel Perón (who assumed the presidency following the death of her husband Juan Domingo Perón in 1974) was known to be deeply influenced by her personal assistant and friend, José López Rega, nicknamed "el Brujo" (the Sorcerer) on account of his faith in astrology. (López Rega was equally well known for his involvement in the recruitment of the right-wing paramilitary death-squads that were a forerunner of what was to come in 1976). Subsequent presidents Carlos Menem, Fernando de la Rúa, Eduardo Duhalde, and Néstor Kirchner are all known to have sought the advice of clairvoyants at one stage or another throughout their political careers.
Milei’s rise may also be a symptom of the wider mainstreaming of underground, esoteric practices in Argentina. Although a hefty majority of Argentines identify either as Christian (among them Jorge Mario Bergoglio, aka Pope Francis, whom Milei brands as a "filthy leftist") or as practicing no religion, the practice of curanderismo (folk medicine), brujería (witchcraft), and other folk religions has traditionally been widespread. During the most recent men’s football World Cup in which Argentina was victorious, a nationwide association of witches or brujas engaged in an attempt to sway the tournament in Argentina’s favour through a variety of esoteric practices, gaining the approval of the current president Alberto Fernández.
As for Milei’s chances of fulfilling Conan’s prophecy in the upcoming election, some analysts claim that there is a ceiling to his potential support from the electorate, among whom there are serious reservations about his policies. Of course, the same was said about Trump in the months and weeks leading up to the Republican primaries and eventual U.S. presidential election in 2016. There is a contrary viewpoint among some that Milei represents a shot in the dark for an increasingly desperate populace with nothing left to lose. In Argentina, 40% of the population currently lives in poverty and triple-digit inflation has become the norm. However, for those who remember the country’s previous experiences with the far right in power, the prospect of a Milei presidency remains deeply sinister in more ways than one.
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
