Javier Milei delivered a speech at the Forum of Industrial Entrepreneurs of Paraguay

President Javier Milei once again made it clear that his government is driven not by narratives but by facts. During his visit to Paraguay, as part of the 18th edition of the Industrial Entrepreneurs Forum, the head of state dismantled one by one the false accusations that, according to him, the opposition and corporate sectors have been spreading since the 2023 electoral campaign.

"They said I was going to shut down the universities and that never happened," he stated in a part of his speech, just hours before the mobilization called by student groups in protest against the veto of the university funding law. "Not only were they not shut down, but we also have our accounts up to date and some universities don't want to be audited," he emphasized. He added: "We have been in power for more than 20 months and we haven't shut them down."

Milei denounced that progressivism "works on fear" and recalled other media operations: "They kept saying we were going to favor the sale of organs. There is no organ market. They said we were going to allow children to carry weapons and that doesn't happen either. In fact, under Minister Patricia Bullrich's administration, we have the lowest crime indicators in Argentine history."

The presidential agenda in Asunción began with a bilateral meeting with President Santiago Peña at the Palacio de López, accompanied by the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei. According to sources close to the matter, it was a "meeting with an open agenda" in which bilateral and regional issues were discussed. Afterwards, the Argentine head of state went to the business forum, where he spoke at length about the economy, politics, and culture before more than 1,500 young people.

From an ideological standpoint, Milei lashed out against socialism. "The equality they talk about is always downward. One of the things that characterizes socialists is that they violate budgetary constraints," he stated. He also targeted "social justice": "There is nothing more abhorrent. Social justice is theft plus inequality before the law."

In an academic passage, he quoted Friedrich Hayek to illustrate the role of the State as a "badly designed insurance" and recalled the pandemic: "We paid a huge premium and if we had done things like a mediocre country, we would have had thirty thousand deaths. However, we had one hundred thirty thousand. The system, when put to the test, didn't work. That is the lie of the State."

The President insisted that the private sector offers more efficient solutions than the state apparatus. "Everything the State promises can be done better by the market," he pointed out. In line with his 2026 Budget proposal, he announced an innovative plan for national highways: "Of the 40,000 kilometers (24,855 miles), 10,000 (6,214 miles) that are profitable will be put out to tender for the private sector to operate. For those that are not, a budget will be allocated to the bidder who provides the best solution."

In contrast to previous administrations, Milei fired back: "It's much easier to say we're going to build a lot of highways like was done in another government. As a consequence, there is a person with an ankle monitor because he stole the highway money."

Milei's visit to Paraguay comes after his participation in the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), consolidating his international leadership within the liberal-conservative movement. Once again, the Argentine President reaffirmed that his project is based on concrete facts: fiscal balance, crime reduction, and a leaner, more efficient State.