Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Argentine President Javier Milei was evacuated from an election campaign event on Wednesday after stones were thrown at his motorcade amid public anger over allegations of corruption in his administration.
Video footage showed the libertarian leader ducking to avoid an object thrown at him as he stood on a pick-up truck moving through a crowd in the Lomas de Zamora municipality, south of Buenos Aires. The president was rushed away in a black van. Police detained two suspects, security minister Patricia Bullrich said.
Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni blamed the attack on militants from the Peronist opposition loyal to former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. “The stones are nothing more than the clearest sign of the end of Kirchnerism,” he said, adding there were no injuries.
Shortly before the attack, Milei had for the first time spoken publicly about corruption allegations that have rocked his administration and roiled financial markets. They involve a scheme in which drug distributor Suizo Argentina allegedly paid kickbacks to government officials.
The purported fraud emerged last week when local media published audio recordings in which a voice, alleged to be Diego Spagnuolo — the former head of Argentina’s disability agency and Milei’s former lawyer — was heard discussing bribery within the agency.
“Everything he says is a lie. We’re going to take him to court and prove that he lied,” Milei said of Spagnuolo just before the attack on Wednesday.
The recordings explicitly linked Karina Milei, the president’s sister and closest adviser, and other senior officials to the alleged kickbacks, which Spagnuolo claimed amount to $500,000 to $800,000 a month. Spagnuolo was fired from the disability agency after the recordings were published.
Prosecutors are probing the recordings. No charges have been filed so far.
The government insists the recordings have been edited and that their authenticity is unproven. All parties deny wrongdoing, including Suizo Argentina, which issued a statement that Milei amplified on social media.
Wednesday’s attack came less than two weeks before Milei faces a key electoral test in Buenos Aires province on September 7, widely regarded as a bellwether for national midterm elections in October.
Argentina’s financial markets have reeled this week from the corruption allegations. Short-dated dollar bonds hit their lowest levels this year, Argentine’s Merval index of stocks has fallen 8.6 per cent since Friday measured in dollars and the South American nation’s country risk has risen over 100 basis points this week.
Investors were concerned over the government’s flat-footed response to the allegations, with the normally loquacious Milei silent at the end of last week. Some noted Spagnuolo’s apparent closeness to the government’s inner circle, with local media reporting that he visited the presidential residence dozens of times between January 2024 and March 2025.
A poll by local pollster Trespuntozero showed Milei’s approval rating has fallen below 40 per cent for the first time since he took office. Another poll by Management & Fit showed that most Argentines were aware of the scandal and more than half said they believed the allegations
“There is a loss of confidence in the national government,” said Mariel Fornoni, director at Management & Fit. “This is significant because it is an administration heavily tied to expectations — people are not doing well, but they trust that the [fiscal] adjustment is something positive, and that’s what has kept Javier Milei’s approval ratings high so far.”
Argentina’s economy, after showing signs of recovery earlier this year, has stalled in recent months. Inflation has slowed dramatically — from double-digit monthly readings to a monthly rate below 2 per cent — but concerns are mounting over weaker than expected growth.
The government has increased interest rates sharply in recent weeks to ease pressure on the currency.
“The concern among investors is that the recent developments on the economic, financial and political spheres could eventually weaken governability and also hurt the performance of President Milei’s candidates in the Sept 7 and October 26 elections,” said Alberto Ramos, head of Latin America economics at Goldman Sachs.
The corruption allegations swirl as Milei faces a string of setbacks in Congress. Last week, opposition lawmakers overturned his veto of a bill boosting financial aid for the disabled. Senators also approved two separate measures that threaten his austerity drive: an emergency healthcare bill and another increasing funding for public universities.
