In brief
Argentina's President Javier Milei has declared his intention to withdraw from the World Health Organization, echoing strategies reminiscent of former President Trump, signaling a shift in international relations.
Milei made the announcement on Wednesday, characterizing the WHO as an organization responsible for implementing what he called “draconian lockdowns” during the COVID-19 pandemic. "We will never forget that they were the architects of the draconian lockdowns," Milei stated via a post on X, condemning the organization’s pandemic policies that he claims were "one of the most egregious crimes against humanity in history." He further asserted, “That’s why we have decided to withdraw from such a nefarious organization,” referring to the WHO as the “enforcement arm of the largest social control experiment in history.”This decision comes as a deliberate alignment with former President Trump’s approach; Trump initiated the path to withdraw the U.S. from the WHO shortly after his inauguration, criticizing the agency’s pandemic response and membership costs. Milei, reflecting a long-standing critique of the organization, had previously published a book in 2020 denouncing COVID-19 mitigation strategies but only decided to take definitive action post-Trump’s withdrawal.Should both the U.S. and Argentina fulfill their withdrawal plans, they would join Liechtenstein as the only member states of the United Nations that are not a part of the WHO, thus continuing Milei’s trend of distancing Argentina from longstanding international partnerships in favor of a more adversarial stance. This shake-up highlights a broader shift in global politics under leaders who prioritize nationalist agendas over multilateral cooperation.
