More than a week after Spain claimed its second World Cup title on a late Ferran Torres goal, Argentina’s president is still relitigating the tournament, this time pointing fingers at foreign governments he claims orchestrated a campaign against his country.
Javier Milei has spent recent days alleging that criticism of Argentina’s team, accusations of racism among its fanbase, and conspiracy theories claiming FIFA secretly favored Lionel Messi’s squad were all part of a coordinated anti-Argentina effort, according to a news story by The Guardian.
In a radio interview Sunday, the self-described libertarian escalated the claim further, alleging the campaign had been financed by the U.S. Democratic Party along with the governments of Brazil and Mexico, describing it as the work of progressive figures unwilling to let ideas of freedom succeed. He singled out Brazil’s leftist government under President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as having allegedly provided the largest share of funding.
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Analysts in Argentina have suggested Milei is leaning on the narrative to distract from his declining approval ratings, with some arguing the real anti-Argentina campaign is the austerity program he himself has pursued. Still, the idea has resonated beyond his political base.
Pablo Torres, a 52-year-old Buenos Aires bookseller who says he has never supported Milei, described feeling genuine outrage over what he called a wave of online criticism directed at the country, noting that some of the racism accusations came from nations with their own histories of colonialism and enslavement.
He pushed back on what he saw as an erasure of Argentina’s Black population and broader national identity, insisting the country welcomes people from everywhere.
The controversy stems partly from real incidents during the tournament involving racist conduct from some Argentine fans, which drew significant attention. Ahead of the final, American actor Samuel L. Jackson posted a message on Instagram urging Black viewers not to support Argentina, citing the country’s history of racism.
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The comment drew a mixed response even from human rights organizations; Amnesty International Argentina acknowledged racism exists in the country while criticizing what it called an oversimplified stereotype. Milei, for his part, attributed the criticism to domestic political opponents who he said had embraced a broader “woke” movement now targeting Argentina, before shifting blame toward Brazil, notably while standing on Brazilian soil.
That moment came Saturday, when Milei appeared at the campaign launch event for far-right Senator Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former president Jair Bolsonaro and Lula’s leading challenger in October’s presidential election. During his remarks, in addition to calling Lula a thief and a criminal, comments that drew a sharp rebuke from the Brazilian government, Milei claimed that data showed Brazil as the primary source of the recent wave of attacks against Argentina.
He repeated and expanded the claim Sunday, adding Mexico and the U.S. Democratic Party to the list.
Digital anthropologist Mercedes Máspero, who analyzed more than two million related social media posts, said she found some recognizable patterns suggestive of coordination, including repeated phrases translated across multiple languages, but cautioned that calling it a genuinely coordinated campaign was difficult given how widely the underlying narrative had already spread organically.
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Natalia Aruguete, a researcher with Argentina’s National Scientific and Technical Research Council who studies social media and political messaging, said she found no evidence of a large-scale coordinated operation, though she acknowledged a hostile and widespread international conversation centered on Argentina did exist.
She noted Brazil did feature prominently in discussions specifically about racism, but said Milei’s claim of orchestrated Brazilian involvement lacked any public evidence to support it.
Some critics have drawn a historical parallel to Argentina’s military dictatorship between 1976 and 1983, whose human rights abuses Milei has repeatedly minimized. During the 1978 World Cup, hosted by Argentina, the ruling junta similarly framed international criticism of its rights record as part of an anti-Argentina campaign.
Aruguete argued that Milei has taken what was a varied and organic online conversation and reshaped it into a political conflict that fits his broader narrative of a culture war against the left, at a moment when his administration faces mounting internal pressure. While inflation appears to be under control, rising unemployment and ongoing corruption scandals have pushed his approval ratings to their lowest point since he took office.
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She said the narrative casting Argentines as victims of an orchestrated campaign by foreign left-wing governments allows Milei to redirect attention away from his own governance problems and toward an external adversary instead.
