This is What Happens When Your President Tries to “Make Argentina Great Again”
As Trump 2.0 rises, Patagonia burns while the president denies climate change and dismantles protections
It’s 7 a.m. on Monday morning, but the day isn’t breaking — it’s burning. The sky has abandoned its usual summer blue for an apocalyptic hue, a suffocating mix of gray, sepia, and hellish red. It’s the color of Patagonia on fire and the color of a world struggling to breathe.
An improbable southern wind bringing the fire plume from Epuyen, which has already consumed over 7000 acres and hundreds of homes in the way? No, this isn’t a distant spectacle; it’s unfolding, again, in my very backyard. The horizon reflects an inferno raging perilously close to home.
One that has been burning for almost a month now.
Wildfires have already consumed over 20,000 acres in a not surprisingly very dry and hot summer season. On the bright side, if there are any, the largest fires are fortunately in remote areas. But those sanctuaries have become an endless blaze.
This time, the fire started with a lightning strike. But that’s a half-truth. Fires like these are rarely acts of nature anymore. Years of unchecked human impact — deforestation, fossil fuel addiction, and gutted environmental protections — stacked the pyre. After back-to-back hottest years on record — breaching the ominous 1.5°C threshold — lightning merely sparked the inevitable.
Dry, tinder-like vegetation, weakened by heat and near-zero rainfall, became instant fuel. Basic physics.
But the pattern isn’t physics; it’s human.
From national parks to city fringes, our footprint leaves a trail of embers. Each summer, like clockwork — or even scarier as seen in Los Angeles, during the supposed wet season — brings a grim ritual: some fires we contain, others consume everything — ancient forests, wildlife habitats, entire communities.
And just this past week, as I stood on the beach, I could see the back of the city, where there is a mountain resembling the Palisades in Los Angeles, and couldn’t help but think: What if that forest starts burning? What if it spreads? Here in Patagonia, we have only four helicopters and about 100 firefighters. If the world’s wealthiest nation, with all its cutting-edge resources, couldn’t contain its fires, how could we?
We couldn’t. We could only run for our lives.
And this very Monday, I woke to see that vision becoming reality. The sight from hell is closer than ever.
And the fire isn’t just in the forests — it’s in the policies. While Patagonia burns, President Javier Milei pours gasoline on the flames. A steadfast climate change denier, Milei has gutted protections, slashed budgets, and pushed for extraction at any cost under the blessing to “Make Argentina Great Again.”
Because MAGA isn’t just a slogan; it’s an accelerant. And from Los Angeles to Patagonia — and everything in between — the flames are spreading.
Chainsaw in Command
Armed with promises to take a “chainsaw” to government spending, President Javier Milei charged into office vowing to slash Argentina’s deficit, which had soared to a staggering 211% during 2023. But his cuts have gone far beyond economics. One year into his term, Milei’s libertarian crusade has gutted the nation’s lifelines under the mantra “There is no money,” leaving scientists, ecosystems, and communities to fend for themselves.
For science, it’s not just the funding that’s gone — it’s the respect. Research projects have ground to a halt, not merely because of financial starvation but because scientists themselves have become targets.
At a September 2024 forum, Milei mocked their reliance on public funding, sneering, “I invite them to go out into the market. Investigate, publish, and see if people are interested, instead of hiding like scoundrels behind the coercive force of the state.”
But the attack isn’t just rhetorical.
For the new administration, climate change is a “socialist lie” to be understood as a natural, cyclical phenomenon with little to do with industrialization or human activity. The government is now evaluating research projects through an ideological lens, hunting for signs of “communism” or other so-called deviations. Projects that fail to align with the administration’s agenda are axed. And so, in the corridors of the former environment ministry — now downgraded to an under-secretariat — climate change has become taboo. For real. Since July 2024, the National Institute of Agricultural Technology (INTA) workers have been instructed not to talk about “climate change,” “sustainability,” “agroecology,” “gender,” “biodiversity,” or “carbon footprint.”
The echoes of Trump’s MAGA movement reverberate loudly here, shaping a dangerous playbook that is far more than ideological — it is existential. Because the consequences aren’t confined to academia.
In the wake of Trump’s first day back in office and his immediate withdrawal from the Paris Agreement — that could take up to a year, but the US, the world’s largest historic emitter, will eventually join Iran, Libya, and Yemen as the only countries outside the accord — it came as no surprise that, with a president trying to emulate the MAGA movement in these southern latitudes, Argentina withdrew its negotiators from COP29, where the world’s leaders gathered to address greenhouse gas emissions and fund global climate solutions.
This is no accident — it’s a calculated decision to dismantle safeguards at a time when we need them most. Milei’s “chainsaw” has left us exposed, more vulnerable to wildfire devastation than ever. Meanwhile, the country hemorrhages talent, where scientists, caught in an absurd, ideological war, can only flee abroad, taking with them the solutions we so desperately need. And what’s left is a poorer, uneducated, and utterly unprepared nation.
But, hey, an ignorant country is a country that is easy to manipulate, no matter if it’s turning on fire.
The Future Flames
The forests of Patagonia don’t die quietly. They crackle, roar, and spit smoke into the sky as wildfires rage harder, faster, and more frequently than ever before.
According to Thomas Kitzberger, a CONICET specialist on fire probability and ecosystem vulnerability, Patagonia’s northwest has been drying out for more than 50 years. The culprit? A shifting climate that’s turned rain into a rare blessing, thanks to changes in the Antarctic Oscillation and intensified cycles of El Niño and its bone-dry partner, La Niña. With global temperatures already 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels, Kitzberger warns that wildfire cycles in the region could double — or even triple — before this century is over.
Even after above-average precipitation in winter and spring, three consecutive years of drought compounded by record-breaking summer heat have left the landscape parched. What should be lush and green is now kindling, waiting for the next spark.
And what is Javier Milei’s government doing about it? Stripping protections away, piece by piece, while promoting the very extraction activities that fan the flames.
Since taking office, Milei has slashed the environmental budget to the bone. The Ministry of Environment has been downgraded to an under-secretariat, while Budget 2025 — oh, that really sounds a lot like MAGA’s Project 2025, what’s a surprise! — just delivered a cruel blow: a mere 0.0077% of national funds allocated to native forest protection, laughably short of the legally required 0.3%. According to Greenpeace, the program designed to protect forests, Fobosque, is essentially defunct, and the National Program for the Protection of Native Forests is running on scraps.
Instead, Milei’s government prioritizes extraction.
With policies like the Incentive Regime for Large Investments (Rigi), the administration is pushing for rapid exploitation of Argentina’s natural resources. The shale gas fields of Vaca Muerta, the lithium mines critical for EV batteries, and offshore oil exploration — are all prioritized over the protection of ecosystems that sustain life under the guise of economic salvation.
But salvation for whom? For the international investors enticed by tax breaks and weakened regulations? Or for the working-class Argentines who see no relief as poverty deepens? The harsh truth is there’s no real public debate on climate policy. Sure, the devastating wildfires steal some headlines, but after the many decades of economic upheavals in the country, the environment is as little an issue as I have seen in my 33 years of life. A recent poll found just 4% of Argentines consider the climate crisis their primary concern, while unemployment and poverty dominated at 49% and 45%, respectively.
What chance does the environment stand when the fire is in people’s stomachs, not their forests — and the president chooses to ignore the most evident cries for help? This isn’t just neglect; it’s strategic indifference. By betting on short-term profits from extraction while sidelining the climate crisis, Milei squanders the chance to reshape Argentina’s economy into one that works for people and the planet.
And yet, paradoxically, Milei’s pragmatism could be the one thing keeping him in check. While his rhetoric smacks of MAGA-style disruption, if Argentina exits the Paris Agreement, private companies tied to environmental commitments may hesitate to invest. International financiers are already cautious, waiting to see if Milei’s government lifts currency restrictions before committing to large-scale projects like RIGI.
2025 will be a defining year.
Will Argentina’s leadership continue stoking the flames? Or will pragmatism — however cynical — force a reckoning with the fires consuming this country’s future?
This Only Feels Like The Beginning
The hellish smoke outside my window in Patagonia isn’t just a disaster — it’s a reminder. A reminder that, whether sparked by a lightning strike, a careless hand, or policies that prioritize extraction over protection, we’re living in a world reshaped by predatory capitalism and environmental indifference, where natural cycles are hijacked by greed and neglect — and where wildfires will always find fuel to burn.
From conditions for a January firestorm in Los Angeles that never existed before to Patagonia’s burning forests, these aren’t anomalies — they’re the new reality of the multi-year mega-droughts we’ve unleashed. And while the evidence is searingly clear — right here, in my backyard, burning into ash — leaders continue to look away.
And this only feels like the beginning.
The climate models have already outlined what’s next: more frequent fires, more devastating droughts, more extreme storms. This is how tipping points happen — not all at once, but piece by piece, until the entire system collapses. And while the flames may seem distant to some, they’re moving closer to everyone’s doorstep.
The cracks in our planet’s resilience are widening. I can see it from my window, and I won’t look away.
So be loud.
I can’t even begin to imagine how you’re feeling. This looks and sounds like a nightmare. Unfortunately, I have Latin American family members who, scared by what’s happened in Venezuela, see anything progressive as a threat. I beg them to stop looking at this as a black-or-white situation and to think ahead of what policies based on short-term gains for a few can do in the long term for the whole population and ecosystems. We can’t survive on a planet depleted of resources. The time to act is now
It must be remembered that a large portion of China’s GHG output is from making stuff for the USA. It would be interesting to tease out that number. The US might still be on top, effectively. One reason for exporting manufacturing from the US to China and others was obviating US environmental regulations.