AfD networking in Argentina

At the end of March, AfD politicians Markus Buchheit and Alexander Wolf traveled to Argentina. There, shortly after large demonstrations commemorating the 30,000 “disappeared” on the 50th anniversary of the coup, they met with representatives of the Milei government as well as with students. Markus Buchheit, a member of the European Parliament and the ESN group, stated that he had already discussed the “recent successes” of the Milei government with the Argentine ambassador to the EU, Fernando A. Iglesias, prior to the trip. Alexander Wolf, a member of the German Bundestag, posted that Buchheit had “invited him on the trip,” which Buchheit described as a trip by the ESN group.

Meeting with Finance Secretary Felipe Núñez, currently investigated the judiciary

In Argentina, they met with Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno and with Felipe Núñez, director of the state-owned Bank for Foreign Trade and Investment (BICE), which reports to the Ministry of Economy’s Finance Department and describes himself as “Chief Financial Analyst” to Minister Luis Caputo. “Great meeting with Felipe Núñez,” Buchheit posted after the meeting. “While many in Europe push for more regulation and bureaucracy, President @JMilei is proving there’s another way: freedom works,” he continued, ending with Milei’s battle cry “¡Viva la libertad! Long live freedom!” However, the Argentine judiciary is currently conducting a criminal investigation into Nuñez specifically regarding the unlawful acceptance of loans. He and several other government employees received loans (in Nuñez’s case, around 230,000 euros) from the state-owned Banco de la Nación, and authorities are examining whether and what advantages they received as a result of their government positions.

In addition, Buchheit and Wolf met with other far-right politicians and students at the Catholic University of Argentina (UCA), where they discussed the rise of Milei and the AfD and the end of the “cordon sanitaire.”

Buchheit and Wolf’s trip to Argentina was organized by members of the La Libertad Avanza party, such as Martin Menem and Damián Arabia, and by the FREE Foundation. This foundation, which is close to Spain’s VOX party, is active in Argentina and Uruguay. Former Uruguayan lawmaker Pablo Viana, who has headed the FREE Foundation since 2013, expressed his honor at Buchheit and Wolf’s visit and declared his “enormous faith” in AfD co-chair Alice Weidel.

Far-right networking between Europe and Latin America

Before his trip to Argentina, Buchheit had also congratulated José Antonio Kast on his inauguration as Chilean president and described him—a supporter of former dictator Pinochet—as a “defender of freedom” and a strong “supporter of life and traditional values.” In the European Parliament, in addition to his membership on the Committees on International Trade and on Industry, Research, and Energy, Buchheit is also part of the delegation to the EU-Chile Joint Parliamentary Committee (D-CL) and the delegation to the Euro-Latin American Parliamentary Assembly (DLAT). He thus holds several key parliamentary positions, enabling him to effectively implement his political support for the far-right bloc that has emerged in South America with Milei and Kast.

Redaction: Ulli Jentsch