President Javier Milei will fly to the United States this weekend to attend US president-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration in Washington, joining an international guestlist that includes far-right leaders, tech moguls and social media powerhouses.
Trump, 78, will be sworn-in for his second term Monday at a ceremony on Capitol Hill. The inauguration, which will stretch over four days thanks to a long list of diverse protocol activities and celebrations, among them a religious service, will be the Republican leader’s first change to outline his programme for government as president.
Along with Milei and his faithful travelling entourage – made up of Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, Economy Minister Luis Caputo and Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein – at least one other Argentine will be present for the festivities: San Juan Province Governor Marcelo Orrego.
According to reports in local media, Orrego was invited by the US Congress and the invitation is a result of his province’s development of its energy sector.
Orrego recently announced the first major project brought to San Juan by Milei’s RIGI large investment incentive scheme – a US$1-billion gold mine in Gualcamayo.
Milei’s nominee for US ambassador, entrepreneur Alec Oxenford, is also expected to be in attendance.
Milei is also scheduled to meet Sunday in Washington with the managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Kristalina Georgievad.
The meeting will take place within the framework of negotiations opened by Argentina with the IMF in search of a new financial aid programme.
After the inauguration, Milei will travel to Switzerland to attend the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Ceremony
Trump will take office in an inauguration beginning with a White House reception hosted by outgoing President Joe Biden. Both will then move to Capitol Hill for Trump to swear in and deliver his inaugural address, steps symbolising the peaceful transfer of power.
During the ceremony Trump will take his oath facing the Supreme Court Chief Justice, as marked by tradition, using a Bible.
Trump and his vice-president J.D. Vance will take office under the slogan “Our lasting democracy: a constitutional promise,” underlying the fundamental values of democratic continuity.
The inauguration will continue with a review of troops, an inaugural parade and three inaugural balls where Trump will give different speeches on his victory. The ceremony will also include musical and cultural presentations.
The inaugural ceremony will attract thousands of persons to Washington DC, offering the citizenry the opportunity to witness the solemn swearing-in. However, owing to the limited availability of seats at the VIP events, some have taken the unusual step of offering donations of up to US$1 million without expecting any compensation in exchange.
Seats at the inaugural address and admission to the various balls or other events tend to be hard-fought with some huge cheques donated. Apart from these sums for VIP seats, Trump has already collected the record figure of over US$170 million, thanks to the contributions of tech giants like Amazon and Meta and other major donors.
Also in attendance
It is not customary for foreign leaders to attend US inauguration ceremonies but Trump has broken with tradition by inviting some foreign leaders to Monday's event.
Among them are China's President Xi Jinping, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, El Salvador President Nayib Bukele, Ecuadorean President Daniel Noboa and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban although not all are expected to attend.
A number of prominent figures from the global far right have also said they are attending the inauguration, including Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Eric Zemmour, head of France's Reconquest party.
Tino Chrupalla, the co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD), also confirmed Thursday that he would attend.
Key Trump ally and the world's richest man Elon Musk has been vocal in his support of the AfD ahead of February's snap general election, prompting accusations of meddling from other German political parties.
Shou Chew, the head of social media giant TikTok, will join several other high-profile tech moguls reported to be attending the January 20 ceremony, including Musk, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg.
Musk shares Trump's hard-right politics and put millions of dollars into supporting his presidential campaign.
Trump has tapped Musk to co-lead an advisory commission aiming to slash federal spending and bureaucracy, which while dubbed the Department of Government Efficiency, or "DOGE," will not be an official US agency.
Bezos and Zuckerberg have less close ties with Trump but both have made moves since the election viewed as seeking to curry favour with the president-elect, including meeting with him at his Mar-a-Lago resort.
Bolsonaro denied
Brazil's top court on Thursday refused to return the passport of right-wing former president Jair Bolsonaro so that he could attend Trump's inauguration.
The court said Bolsonaro still posed a flight risk, almost a year since his passport was seized as part of an investigation into his alleged orchestration of a coup attempt to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.
"The scenario which justified the imposition of the ban on leaving the country, with the surrender of passports, continues to indicate the possibility of an attempted evasion by the accused," judge Alexandre de Moraes wrote.
In an interview with The New York Times, published shortly before the court's decision, Bolsonaro was effervescent about the possibility of attending the inauguration.
"I'm feeling like a kid again with Trump's invitation. I'm fired up. I'm not even taking Viagra anymore," Bolsonaro joked, calling Trump "the most important guy in the world."
He later said that his lawyers were likely to appeal the decision not to return his passport.
"This passport issue is still in play, I have a team of lawyers who asked me not to go into the specifics of the case because an appeal is still possible," he said on the YouTube channel of the conservative Revista Oeste website.
Bolsonaro said his wife would attend the inauguration, where she would get "special treatment" because of his long friendship with Trump.
"Everything he suffered there, I've been suffering here," he said.
– TIMES/AFP/NA
