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Meet María Corina Machado, the woman who scares Venezuela's dictator
Born and trained as an engineer, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado has become a powerful symbol of resistance. Once a fringe opposition politician who shocked the nation by interrupting Hugo Chavez, she now leads the charge against the dictatorial regime of his successor, Nicolás Maduro. Although she has gone into hiding, she has not kept quiet. Through remote interviews and media outreach, she's rallied support for the opposition and praised right-leaning Latin American leaders like Argentina’s Javier Milei and El Salvador’s Nayib Bukele. She defended the Trump administration’s recent move to cancel oil and gas licenses that had allowed energy companies to operate in Venezuela.
GZERO World with Ian Bremmer, the award-winning weekly global affairs series, airs nationwide on US public television stations (check local listings).
New digital episodes of GZERO World are released every Monday on YouTube. Don't miss an episode: subscribe to GZERO's YouTube channel and turn on notifications (🔔).GZERO World with Ian Bremmer airs on US public television weekly - check local listings.
People sit in a restaurant as Argentina's President Javier Milei is seen on television during an interview, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on Feb. 17, 2025.
Could a crypto scam sink Milei?
Milei promoted a new cryptocurrency called $LIBRA on X last Friday, writing in a now-deleted post that the coin was aimed at “encouraging economic growth by funding small businesses and startups.” Milei also shared a link to something called the Viva La Libertad project, which says it launched the coin “in honor of Javier Milei’s libertarian ideas” and “to strengthen the Argentine economy from the ground up by supporting entrepreneurship and innovation.”
During the brief time Milei’s post was up – just a few hours – the coin’s price soared from nothing to about $5 before plummeting to less than a dollar. People who purchased the token at its highest price were left with a near-worthless coin, while some, including the token’s developers, made off with millions. Though Milei’s office denies any involvement in the coin’s creation or launch, a federal court in Argentina has started an investigation into the scandal, and opposition lawmakers are calling for his impeachment.
While Milei remains popular, he has struggled to pass legislation around his slash-and-burn economic agenda, and this scandal could widen the gulf between the president’s supporters and the opposition. Argentina is in the midst of a massive inflation crisis, which Milei’s shock therapy tactics aim to fix. Being embroiled in a scandal like this is the last thing Milei wants as the country heads into midterm elections this October.Argentina's President Javier Milei gestures during the Atreju political meeting organized by the young militants of Italian right-wing party Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia) at Circo Massimo in Rome.
Big milestone for Argentina’s radical president: Economy escapes recession
A year ago, Argentina’s eccentric, wolverine-haired, “anarcho-libertarian” president Javier MIlei took office with a chainsaw and a plan: to tackle the country’s triple-digit inflation and chronic debt problems, he would hack government spending to pieces — and it seems to be working.
Latin America’s third largest economy has emerged from recession for the first time since the third quarter of 2023, with GDP growing nearly 4% since then. Month-on-month inflation has plunged from 25% last December to just 2.4% a month ago.
How’d he do it? Since coming to office, Milei has scrapped more than half of the government ministries, slashed spending on public salaries, devalued the currency, and put pension growth in a chokehold.
The subsequent return to growth is a vindication for Milei, whose state-chopping has won him plaudits from financial markets and the International Monetary Fund. It’s also earned glowing admiration from Donald Trump who envisions a similar gutting of the US Federal government (though his protectionist impulses contrast with Milei’s purer market fundamentalism).
Milei’s approach has been painful for many. The percentage of Argentines living in poverty has surged by 13 percentage points to 53% since he took office. Milei’s bet is that this is merely short term pain. He could yet be right: experts see the economy expanding by 5% next year after contracting 3% in 2024. With mid-term elections approaching in 2025, we’ll soon learn how most ordinary Argentines feel about Milei’s methodical massacres.Demonstrators gesture during a march against the government of Argentina’s President Javier Milei on St. Cajetan’s Day, the patron saint of the unemployed, in Buenos Aires, Argentina August 7, 2024.
Inflation inferno: Argentine unions turn up the heat
Argentine university workers plan a 72-hour strike to demand higher wages starting on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. The government is offering an increase of 3% for August and 2% for September, which the unions have deemed unacceptable. Data for the first half of 2024 shows Argentinawith the highest cumulative inflation worldwide at 80% and a peak year-on-year inflation of 271.5%.
The private sector is also feeling the heat, as unions for the country’s soybean workers demand that processing companies approve wage hikes above the country’s inflation rate. Argentina produces a third of the world’s soybean meal and exports much of it to China, which provides a crucial source of Buenos Aires’ foreign reserves. Last Tuesday, Argentine workers began a strike against their employers that shut down processing plants and caused loading delaysfor 36 ships.
These strikes are at the heart of the political debate over President Javier Milei’s promises to improve Argentina’s flailing economy — with some tough love if necessary. Labor unions have conducted two general strikes, including one in May that saw 400 flights canceled and transport lines shut down as trash collectors, teachers, and health workers walked off the job, andbanks, businesses, and state agencies closed for the day.
In an exclusive GZERO interview with Eurasia Group President Ian Bremmer last week, Milei acknowledged that “Life is going to be harder for the average Argentinian citizen” but defended his radical approach to saving Argentina’s struggling economy. We’ll be watching whether this latest round of strikes changes his tune.Two types of cicadas that resurface every 13 and 17 years, respectively, are making their rare appearance this spring.
HARD NUMBERS: Cicadas plan historic reunion, China uncorks stimulus binge, Collusion claim rocks shale, Argentina gets more IMF money, Melinda Gates walks out the door
221: Can you hear it? If you’re in the US Midwest you sure can. After 221 years, two local broods of cicadas – red-eyed, beetle-like insects that grow underground for years before emerging for a single summer of cacophonous buzzing and mating – will emerge at the same time. Brood XIII, based in Illinois, comes up every 17 years, while Brood XIX does so every 13 years. For context, the last time they were out at the same time, Illinois wasn’t even a state yet.
140 billion: As its GDP growth picks up again, the Chinese government is looking for some further stimulus, and what better way to invigorate the economic senses than $140 billion in long-dated sovereign bonds? Beijing will start selling the paper this week, putting the funds towards “modernization.” China is looking to wean itself off of an economic model that relies heavily on property investment.
10: At least 10 new class action lawsuits allege that US shale oil producers colluded to keep crude prices up, driving up gasoline prices too. The shale oil industry, which uses advanced technologies to pull petroleum hard-to-develop shale rock formations, has boomed in the past decade, catapulting the US into the global top spot in oil production.
800 million: The IMF is set to disburse another $800 million in support for Argentina after determining that new President Javier Milei’s radical austerity reforms have helped to stabilize the economy. The eccentric Milei, a self-described “anarcho-capitalist,” has slashed spending since he was elected on promises to fix a moribund economy mired in triple-digit inflation. For a deeper look at how and why Milei is succeeding, see this Quick Take by Ian Bremmer.
12.5 billion: Philanthropist Melinda Gates, formerly married to Microsoft founder Bill, is stepping down from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, one of the largest donor organizations in the world. As part of her agreement, she will keep $12.5 billion to direct towards her own work supporting women, minority groups, and families. To date, the foundation has given out more than $75 billion in grants to development and healthcare projects. Melinda and Bill divorced in 2021.
How Javier Milei is turning Argentina's economy around
Ian Bremmer's Quick Take: Hi, everybody. Ian Bremmer here and a Quick Take to kick off your week. And today, I want to take us to Argentina, where newly elected President Javier Milei deserves a round of applause, at least for where we see the country so far in his administration.
We've had a first budget surplus that Argentina has enjoyed in over a decade. And monthly inflation, which has been significant highs and impossible for the people, is actually slowing down. Now, that's a really big deal. After several administrations in Argentina doing their damnedest to destroy the economy, Milei is turning the place around. He's succeeding. And by the way, this was not what I expected when the elections were happening. When he was first elected, I wrote, “expect more economic collapse imminently. ” And clearly that didn't happen. And that's a great thing. for the Argentinean people. I'm happy to be wrong about this. And by the way, I'll be very happy if I could be wrong about Ukraine getting partition, that seems like a tougher one. But nonetheless, what happened and why has he been more successful than I expected? It's worth thinking about.
Well, first of all, what the challenges were. Milei’s party has a thin minority in Congress, so he's had to use presidential decrees to push most of his ambitious economic reforms. He's the weakest president in institutional terms that Argentina has had in modern times. So he's swimming against a really strong current. And the Peronists who control a lot of power in Congress and among mayors and governors and the trade unions. I mean, these are people that would love to see Milei fail. So, first of all, my expectation was that no matter how smart well-thought through his economic policies were likely to be, the desire of the kleptocracy that's been in place for such a long time in having this guy fail and come back to power themselves, would be so strong that he wouldn't have any chance to get anything through.
In other words, they wouldn't be willing to compromise. Now they have shown themselves willing to compromise. And some of this is if you leave Cristina Kirchner out, who's really kind of volatile and horrible, polemic as a governor and corrupt as someone running the country, a lot of the peronists are really happy to see essential things happen in the economy that they don't have to take responsibility for. In other words, it's on Milei. It's not on them. And so there's a willingness to provide some compromise, even though that's going to mean smaller budgets, more austerity, that they're not going to get as much. They're willing to give him a little more rope than I expected before he became president. That's interesting. That's absolutely worth paying attention to. The difference between the Kirchner's and her inner circle and the Peronists that have been running the country to ruin for a long time.
Second point though, is that Milei himself has been much more of a thoughtful leader in terms of economic policy and his willingness to back down from eccentric and overdone claims than I had expected when he first became president. Now look, unlike Argentina's last several administrations where they were pretty well known to anyone that covered the country and I've traveled there and got to know the cabinets and met with the presidents and all of that. In this case, you had a complete outsider. I had no idea who was around Milei and a lot of what was being said about him was a little bit out there, like for not just the fact that he wanted to go after the leftist libtards, but I mean, the fact that he had cloned dogs and that, you know, claimed to actually, talk with one of them that died from beyond the grave. And, I mean, a lot of the comments that he made were beyond eccentric.
Having said that, there was also a lot of media coverage of Milei that really didn't like him because he was a right-wing libertarian, and also because he aligned himself with Trump and said nice things with the former president. And then of course, goes and does immediate interview with Tucker Carlson, who was a spreader of disinformation and a bomb thrower, not exactly someone you can trust, but that, of course, meant that ideologically, a lot of people that were covering him were not covering him honestly. They were knee jerk reacting to, this guy is going to be an idiot. And frankly, you know, absent an understanding of the people around him, I was more willing to go along with that.
Well, it became fairly clear once he was in as president that his initial appointments were better than that. I sat down with his foreign minister to dinner back in January and was pretty impressed with her both individually, as a very competent, engaging and smart person on policy, but also in the way that she described, which struck me as very honest, her relationship and conversations with the president.
I heard from many people from different countries, developed countries around the IMF that his appointment of the former president Macri's economic advisor to the IMF board was extremely well received. This was someone that was really well respected across the markets and meant that the IMF negotiations were likely to go quite well, and that the meetings that Milei had with Georgieva, the managing director of the IMF, were very strong.
They were very engaged and he was willing to listen on issues of what the Argentinian government needed to do economically, which has led to a very constructive bilateral relationship between them, utterly essential given what Argentina's economic situation looks like right now. So all of that has been very positive. Now, having said that, there's no question that this cost of writing the Argentinian economy, has meant a fall in real incomes, leading to a slowdown in consumption and economic growth and a downturn in living standards and an increase in poverty.
That is happening. It's going to get worse. And government approval for now, given everything I've been saying, is actually surprisingly sticky and strong, especially if we look at Argentina standards historically. Will he be able to continue this? There's no question, it is a very high bar, and that high bar is not only because that Peronist opposition is still there, and they don't want him to be seen as a historic success, but also because economically, this would be hard for just about anybody.
But there's no question that for his first several months in government, this guy deserves respect for what he's been able to actually accomplish. And a final point is, you know, I don't think we should have such a problem with being wrong. And you only have a real problem with being wrong if you are so ideologically attached to what you were saying to begin with. And if it's just a question of analysis and you made a mistake in your analysis, you go back, you get the analysis right and you change your mind, and that's fine. Also, sometimes the world changes and so you change your mind.
But, you know, if the fact is that the analysis is wrong and it's not like I have a problem with Milei doing well, I would love him to do well. I would love the Argentinean people to succeed, and to get out of the corruption and the devastatingly poor economic policies that they've experienced for decades now. This is a country, anyone that spends time there knows incredible education, very, very beautiful and fertile land and a place that you just want to spend time. And they have been run into the ground by poor governments, a series of poor governments. And if Milei is the guy that turns that around, he has nothing but support from me.
That's all for me. And I'll talk to you all real soon.
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Mark Carney sees more problems than solutions emerge from Davos
Davos is a good place to recognize problems but not such a good place to solve them, according to Lord Mark Malloch Brown, a British politician and diplomat who was in the Swiss Alps this month. “A new generation of modest, listening and empathetic leaders is needed – the antithesis of Davos Man,” he tweeted.
The World Economic Forum has steered so far to the north of public opinion that it is now being used as a punchline – the New York Times noted that “the Davos Consensus” is now a counter-indicator of what is likely to happen. “Trump is already the president at Davos — which is a good thing because the Davos consensus is usually wrong,” said Alex Soros, son of George and chair of the Open Society Foundation, on a panel at this year’s forum.
Yet, there is a reason why 3,000 of the world’s most powerful people make the mid-winter trek to Switzerland every year and line up in the cold to pass through security outside the Grandhotel Belvédere: It’s valuable to understand what the global elite is thinking and to recognize the many problems the world is facing.
GZERO Media caught up with Mark Carney, former governor of the Bank of England and Bank of Canada, who now serves as chair of Brookfield Asset Management and Bloomberg Inc. (as well as acting as a UN special envoy on climate change), to hear what he picked up in Davos.
Economic optimism
On the global economy, the general feeling was of a resilient US economy contrasting with a stagnant Europe, particularly as Germany goes through a historical industrial restructuring moving away from a model built on cheap gas from Russia and exports to China.
The general outlook for China was bearish, with the downside of its ongoing real estate adjustment outweighing the boost from China’s growing competitiveness in electric vehicles and clean energy and its efforts to rebuild exports at a time when supply chains are being “de-risked.”
Premier Li Qiang told Davos that China’s economy is open for business, but Reuters reported that investors who attended a closed-door lunch with him remained skeptical about China’s charm offensive.
This points to more stimulus, Carney said. Indeed, Bloomberg reported last week that the Chinese government is considering a rescue package for slumping stock markets (the CSI 300 was down 11.4% last year, its third year of negative growth, while Hong Kong’s Hang Sen was down 14% in 2023).
On monetary policy, Carney said the expectation among many attendees was that interest rates have peaked but that there was only limited appreciation that the pace of reductions may be slower than the market has been pricing. During Davos, market expectations were that the Fed would begin cutting in March and then cut again another four or five times this year. But Carney believes the Fed will probably wait until June to begin cutting, followed by another one or two cuts this year. “However, if that’s because the US economy is stronger than expected, it would be net positive,” he said.
Global crises
Geopolitics weighed heavily in the Swiss Alps. While US-China relations appear to have stabilized in the short term, the Middle East conflict was widening alarmingly. Reuters reported that there were no practical advances on a Palestinian state, or even a cease-fire, at Davos.
The head of the Palestinian Investment Fund estimated that $15 billion would be needed just to rebuild houses in Gaza. Arab states said they would not fund reconstruction until there was a lasting peace, by which they meant a Palestinian state.
Yemeni and Iranian officials told Davos audiences the attacks in the Red Sea would not stop until Israel ended the war in Gaza. The CEO of oil giant Saudi Aramco warned that the world might see a shortage of oil tankers if the attacks continue, forcing shippers to choose longer alternative routes.
Bankers warned that increased shipping costs and the possibility of an oil price rise could prove inflationary. And attendees took note of the comments of Saudi Arabia’s Prince Turki al Faisal that “the present leadership of Hamas, the PLO, and of Israel should be excluded from any participation in any future political role.”
Good AI vs. Bad AI
AI was everywhere, with businesses focused on how to implement it, first in basic administration and more profoundly in re-engineering the production, sales, and marketing. The core question of whether workers will benefit — and when — was more hotly debated. Some, including the IMF, saw widespread disruption to jobs (up to 40% according to the Fund). The techno-optimists pointed to the ability of AI to re-skill workers rapidly and past experiences with major technological changes that belied the ‘lump of labor fallacy.”
Carney felt that AI would begin to have major impacts on productivity and growth by the end of the decade and that, history teaches, it would take a comprehensive response of business, government, and academia to ensure that workers share in the benefits.
Climate change
Coming less than two months after what was regarded as a business-heavy, successful COP28 in Dubai and with AI dominating much of the discussion, the climate change debate was relatively muted. But Carney said it would be a mistake to consider that the transition has been relegated down the agenda.
He said that it is now so core to the fundamental business model of most companies that it has become embedded as a driver of competitiveness.
Carney noted that five years ago, $500 billion was invested in the transition; last year, that number was $1.8 trillion, nearly double what was invested in oil and gas. The challenge is that this number needs to more than double again to about $4 trillion by the end of the decade.
He said that the transitions toward clean energy and AI actually work in tandem since, while AI is relatively capital-light, it requires a lot of data and computing power, which in turn requires clean energy. And AI solutions will help with optimizing grids, heating and cooling systems, and even supply chains.
It was noticeable that the backlash against Environmental, Social, and Corporate Governance, or ESG, meant it was rarely mentioned in Davos. Attendees like Canadian Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland were more focused on the new buzzwords – “supply chain resilience” – trying to convince investors that Canada has the critical minerals and clean energy they need, as businesses try to diversify sources away from China.
Sustainability is now about “resiliency building” that contributes to profitability, not just altruism.
Milei’s message
Javier Milei, the new Argentinian president, burst onto the main stage at Davos like an arsonist with a blowtorch, lambasting the proponents of state intervention and concluding with the rallying cry: “Long live freedom, damn it.” He said the Western world is facing a significant threat because its leaders have been co-opted by a worldview that leads to socialism and economic deprivation.
“We are here to tell you that collectivist experiments are never solutions to the problems that affect citizens. Trust me, no one is better than Argentina to provide testimony on this,” Milei said.
At the time of Milei’s inauguration, annual inflation stood at 143%, the currency had plunged, and four out of 10 Argentines were living in poverty. He has promised radical reforms, including deregulation and devaluation of the currency, and there was no evidence that he was prepared to dilute his agenda in his speech.
He was scathing about “neo-Marxists” who have “co-opted the common sense of the Western world” when it comes to the climate change agenda and said he considered all talk of “market failure” to be an oxymoron.
Carney has considerable experience in navigating market failures, having been in the Cash Room meeting in the US Treasury as Bank of Canada governor during the financial crisis, alongside other G7 finance ministers and central bankers, when the decision was reached to backstop the banking system with liquidity to prevent a repeat of the Great Depression.
“All ideologies are prone to extremism, and capitalism loses its sense of moderation when the belief in the power of the market enters the realm of faith,” he wrote in his book, “Values.” “There are no libertarians in a financial crisis.”
But he said he found Milei’s speech to be entertainingly provocative. “It was good theatre and raised some important issues,” he said, particularly his praise for entrepreneurs and his assertion that state control does not depend solely on owning the means of production but can include regulation. Carney noted, however, that Milei appeared oblivious that he was speaking to some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs (such as Bill Gates), few of whose actions echo the “Atlas Shrugged” school of poverty elimination.
Carney concluded that, “where you stand depends on where you sit,” and that Milei’s vehemence was undoubtedly influenced by a long history of high levels of state intervention and indebtedness in Argentina.
After his speech, Milei sat down with International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva to discuss Argentina’s debt problems. He remained defiant: “Free enterprise capitalism is the only tool we have to end hunger and poverty,” he said.
Milei will have to face down entrenched opposition from those who rely upon rents from the state apparatus if he is to rid his country of the unwanted tag of the “Argentina paradox,” the world’s most glaring example of a developed economy that went backward.
Residents of Avellaneda protest against the DNU (Decree of Necessity and Urgency) and the Omnibus Law promoted by the government of Javier Milei.
The masses test Milei with major protest
Starting mid-day Wednesday, Argentina’s most powerful unions will stop work to demonstrate against the financial overhauls proposed by new President Javier Milei, as his omnibus spending bill works its way through Congress. An impressive turnout is expected for the march to the national Congress in Buenos Aires, with smaller solidarity protests across the country. Workers everywhere – from banks to domestic airlines to those informally employed – say they will join the strike.
Union leaders recognize the need for economic reform (with 211% inflation rates and 40% of Argentines living in poverty, who wouldn’t?) but object to the working class being tasked with carrying so much of the burden. Milei has already used his executive powers to slash subsidies for transport and energy, among other areas, but his administration says increases to childcare and food aid benefits are meant to prevent catastrophe for impoverished citizens. The radical cuts proposed in the omnibus bill are all but certain to be moderated in Congress, where Milei’s party holds only a small minority of seats — but no one expects a painless experience.
Is Milei’s honeymoon period ending? It’s one thing to wave a chainsaw around and yell about the “communist shits” in power, but it’s quite another to reverse Argentina’s century-long economic decline. A strong turnout against the cuts could put pressure on lawmakers to ease up, but don’t expect a collapse of the overhaul effort even in the case of a massive showing. The economic situation demands change – even unpopular change – and Milei’s rivals from former President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s party are only too happy to let Milei’s approval rating take a beating before they make their move.