Argentina's President Javier Milei arrives to speak before President-elect Donald Trump during an America First Policy Institute gala at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Thursday, Nov. 14, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — The usual suspects abstained from voting on a seemingly uncontroversial United Nations resolution that denounced violence against women and girls on Thursday — Iran, Russia, North Korea.

But the country casting the sole vote against the nonbinding resolution, drafted by France and the Netherlands, took the world by surprise. It was Argentina, long considered one of Latin America’s most socially progressive countries.

Unleashing an avalanche of criticism across the political spectrum on Friday, the ‘no’ vote by Buenos Aires marked the latest in a series of dramatic foreign policy shifts under President Javier Milei, the most right-wing leader in Argentina's 41 years of democracy.

It comes just days after Milei, an outspoken climate change skeptic, abruptly called Argentina's negotiators home from the U.N. climate summit in Baku, Azerbaijan, stirring concerns that the radical libertarian might seek to emulate U.S. President Donald Trump in withdrawing Argentina entirely from the 2015 Paris climate agreement.

Not only has Milei transformed Argentine foreign policy in line with the United States and Israel, his government has also taken fringe positions on the global stage that fly in the face of the liberal, rules-based international order.

Argentina's vote at the U.N. Thursday recalled a similar clash last month when all Group of 20 nations, including Saudi Arabia, agreed to adopt language about gender equality in a joint statement — except Argentina.

“Argentina votes alone, against the rest of humanity,” the conservative party of former President Mauricio Macri, an ally of Milei’s government, wrote on social media platform X Friday.

Nearly a year into his presidency, the former Argentine TV pundit remains erratic and idiosyncratic in the global spotlight, in striking similarity to Trump. Milei became the first foreign leader since the U.S. election to meet Trump, albeit informally, late Thursday during an annual gala for the right-wing America First Policy Institute at the president-elect's private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

The Argentine presidency Friday proudly released a stream of photos from the opulent event featuring Milei in a sharp suit beaming alongside Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, with whom Milei has also publicly cultivated a bromance over their shared contempt for “wokeness," gender issues and socialism.

In November 2023, an angry Argentine electorate fed up with sky-high inflation, debt defaults and bank runs handed the outsider a sweeping mandate to carry out an overhaul of Argentina's crisis-stricken economy.

But along with Milei's libertarian crusade has come a series of cultural battles — both at home, where the president eliminated Argentina's women’s and environment ministries and scrapped the national anti-discrimination institute, as well as abroad, where Milei has sought to fashion himself as a far-right icon.

“By fighting imaginary cultural battles we end up isolated from the world,” said Senator Martín Lousteau, president of the centrist Unión Cívica Radical party.

Lousteau denounced Argentina’s U.N. vote opposing an end to gender violence as a “disgrace.” Top official Guillermo Francos defended the decision, saying “neither commitments nor treaties will solve the issue of gender violence."

Tensions over Milei's culture war has escalated this month. When Argentina voted at the U.N. in favor of ending the American economic embargo against Cuba on Oct. 30, Milei fired then-Foreign Minister Diana Mondino and swiftly replaced her with wealthy businessman Gerardo Werthein, who had been Buenos Aires’ ambassador to the U.S.

This weekend, Milei and Werthein plan to meet Trump again at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.

The dismissal of Mondino — a polished political performer who mended relations with allies strained by Milei’s frequent profanity-laden attacks — sent shockwaves through Argentina's diplomatic ranks.

Milei vowed to purge his foreign ministry of so-called “traitors to the country” who have strayed from his radical stance, which includes rejecting the “Pact for the Future” adopted by the U.N. in September that promotes climate action, female empowerment and the regulation of artificial intelligence.

Local media has reported the forced resignations of at least seven veteran diplomats in recent weeks who were seen as resistant to the government’s reversal of its support for the collective philosophy of the U.N. Milei accuses such multilateral forums of restricting members’ freedom.

Argentina's left-leaning Peronist movement — which has dominated the country's politics for decades — was up in arms Friday, with lawmakers aghast at what they saw as the unraveling of hard-won social gains like Argentina's breakthrough legalization of abortion in 2020 and recent efforts to curb fossil fuels.

Milei has called abortion “murder” and climate change a “socialist lie.”

“For you, freedom is violence,” Mayra Mendoza, a prominent Peronist politician, said Friday.

News from © The Associated Press, 2024