Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, was attacked by demonstrators while campaigning near Buenos Aires on Wednesday, as protests over a corruption scandal engulfed his government.
The far-right leader was unhurt after his motorcade came under a hail of stones, bottles and plants in the city of Lomas de Zamora, 20km south of the capital. His security detail swiftly removed him from the scene, presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni confirmed on social media.
Milei, who was standing in the back of a pickup truck greeting supporters, was accompanied by his sister, Karina Milei, and senior officials. Their vehicle quickly departed after the attack, which sparked scuffles between the president’s supporters and opponents in the crowd.
The unrest came amid growing controversy over alleged corruption at Argentina’s public disability agency. Leaked audio recordings by the agency’s former head, Diego Spagnuolo, claimed that Karina Milei, who serves as the president’s closest adviser, siphoned funds intended for people with disabilities.
The recordings have dominated Argentina’s media for days and placed the president’s sister at the centre of a scandal ahead of October’s midterm elections, the first major test of Milei’s support since taking office last December.
Before the incident in Lomas de Zamora, the president publicly addressed the accusations for the first time. “Everything [Spagnuolo] says is a lie,” Milei told reporters. “We are going to bring him to justice and prove he lied.”
Protesters in the city, a traditional opposition stronghold, said Milei’s presence was provocative. “Milei came to provoke. And well, he had to leave, as was fitting,” said Ramón, a retiree who declined to give his surname. Others rallied in support of the president, with communications specialist Ariel Ferrari declaring: “I came to defend the ideas of Javier Milei … to free Latin America and the entire world from socialist, Marxist ideas which never worked.”
The attack highlighted the political risks for the 54-year-old libertarian, who swept to power promising to overhaul Argentina’s crisis-hit economy. His austerity measures, which have slashed public spending, including on disability services, have so far helped bring down inflation and deliver a rare budget surplus.
Whether those gains will be enough to shield him from the fallout of the corruption scandal remains uncertain as the midterm campaign gathers pace.
