Former Agri Terra 'associate' becomes Argentina's President

    ASUNCION, PARAGUAY, December 01, 2023 /24-7PressRelease/ -- The economist, who belongs to the liberal-conservative camp, only entered politics around two years ago, became a member of parliament at his first attempt and has now been elected as the new president of the South American country.

In 2021, he was still a member of the television show Libres para Elegir by German-Paraguayan entrepreneur Carsten Pfau and, in this context, was an associate of the Agri Terra Group, which owns the show. Many episodes can still be found on Milei's YouTube channel.

"Javier was always very impressive in our shows, a captivating speaker with razor-sharp rhetoric and convincing argumentation," Carsten Pfau remembers the time with the Argentinian. "We are still in contact, we exchanged messages on election day and of course I am delighted that he made it," Pfau continues.

Argentina's new president used to belong to a rock band and was a soccer goalkeeper, he refuses to comb his hair and vehemently defends libertarian values. He advocates a minarchist state (i.e. a state reduced to the bare minimum) and, as a member of parliament, gave away his salary because he believes that politicians should not be paid by the people. Every month he gave away his parliamentary salary, which alone brought him more publicity than any advertising campaign. He emerged as the clear winner from every election campaign debate.

The initially ridiculed outsider achieved a record result in the run-off, the second round of the Argentinian presidential elections. In some parts of Argentina, up to 80% of eligible voters voted for the exotic candidate. The economically hard-hit country in the south of the American continent is facing major challenges. In the 1920s, the gaucho nation was still considered the richest country in the world, with its capital Buenos Aires often regarded as the Paris of South America. Today, more than half of Argentinians live below the poverty line. According to Javier Milei, this has been caused by government mismanagement and completely wrong policies, which the economist wants to change soon.

"Javier is extremely intelligent, highly gifted in mathematics, his mind is razor-sharp" is how Carsten Pfau describes the newly elected statesman. "If anyone can solve the big tasks in Argentina, it's him," Pfau is certain. The German entrepreneur believed in the success of his former TV colleague from the very beginning. "When he told us that he wanted to run for parliament, I told him straight away that he would one day become president. I meant that very seriously even then. But I never thought it would come true so quickly," says Pfau, recalling: "We went to dinner with Javier in a restaurant in Paraguay and it was incredible how much encouragement he received, spontaneous applause, cheers. You could tell how popular he was even back then, and he wasn't even a member of parliament yet. We then always had dinner at my house to give Javier at least some privacy".

Eneas Biglione, Chairman of the Argentine Thomas Jefferson Institute and fiery campaigner on Team Milei, is certain that the Libres para Elegir program played a fundamental role in the economist's rapid success. "Many Argentinians live in Paraguay, and many Paraguayans have emigrated to Argentina and are now entitled to vote there. They watch the show and were therefore able to get to grips with Milei's ideas and proposals quite early on. That helped him a lot. The voters abroad voted overwhelmingly for him, and the Paraguayan television program also prepared the ground for the subsequent campaign in Argentina," says Biglione

"Let's see who we invite next and make president," jokes Carsten Pfau, referring to the fact that Santiago Peña, who was only elected President of Paraguay by an overwhelming majority in April this year, was once a guest on Pfau's talk show. But the investor then also strikes a serious note. "If Javier Milei fails, it will be difficult for libertarian and conservative politicians to come to power in Argentina in the future, the left wing would then take over again. The completely misguided tax and subsidy policy of the Peronists, i.e. the Argentinian left, is what got the country into this mess in the first place, and it will take time to get out of it. Argentines tend to be very impatient and want to see results quickly. We can only wish Javier the best of luck and every success in this Herculean task. A strong and healthy Argentina would be quite good for the region", Pfau concludes.

About Agri Terra

The Agri Terra owners, German brothers Carsten and Michael Pfau, invest and conduct business in Paraguay since 1995. Successful real estate investors, the brothers shifted their focus towards agriculture over the years. Starting out with the purchase of farmland and small cattle investments, the brothers now manage under the Agri Terra umbrella large agro-projects all over Paraguay. The company is among the largest 1% of cattle owners (out of 142,000 total), and it operates the country's third largest orange plantation. Substantial investments in greenhouses (vegetable production for supermarkets) as well as other citrus plantations complete the portfolio. In addition, the group develops residential country clubs and invests in the field of landbanking.

Agri Terra only offers projects to investors if the company invests ist own funds into the project as well. Most of the times, Agri Terra is the single largest investor in a project.

Key executives in the company count with decades of experience in their respective fields of expertise. A combination of experience, expertise and dedication provides a solid base for the company's investments.

Headquartered in Munich, the Agri Terra Group is also registered in Austria, Panama, Paraguay and Hong Kong. In addition, the company counts with representatives for the US and Canada, Switzerland and Romania.

# # #