BUENOS AIRES – The usual suspects abstained from voting on a seemingly uncontroversial one UN resolution who condemned violence against women and girls on Thursday – Iran, Russia, North Korea.

But the country that voted against the non-binding resolution, drafted by France and the Netherlands, surprised the world. It was Argentina, long considered one of Latin America’s most socially progressive countries.

Buenos Aires unleashed an avalanche of criticism across the political spectrum, marking the latest in a string of Buenos Aires. dramatic foreign policy changes under President Javier Milei, the most right-wing leader in Argentina’s 41 years of democracy.

It comes just days after Milei, an outspoken climate skeptic, suddenly called Argentina’s negotiators home from the UN climate summit in BakuAzerbaijan, raising concerns that the radical economist may seek to emulate the past US President Donald Trump by withdrawing Argentina entirely from 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

Milei has not only changed Argentine foreign policy in line with the United States and Israelhis government has also taken fringe positions on the global stage that run counter to the liberal, rules-based international order.

“It’s a major break with standard Argentine foreign policy, which has long been focused on making Argentina an integral part of the global South,” said Richard Sanders, a global fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars and former State Department official in area. “It’s definitely a significant change in how Argentina relates internationally.”

Argentina’s vote at the UN on Thursday recalled a similar clash last month when Argentina became the sole member of all Group of 20 nations to sign a statement that adopts language about gender equality.

“Argentina is voting alone, against the rest of humanity,” the conservative party wrote to former president Mauricio Macri, an ally of Milei’s government, on social media platform X Friday.

Another centrist party, the Unión Cívica Radical, joined the chorus of local condemnation.

“By fighting imaginary cultural battles, we stop being isolated from the world,” says Senator Martín Lousteau, president of the Center Party.

Lousteau condemned Argentina’s UN vote opposing an end to gender-based violence as a “disgrace”. Top official Guillermo Francos defended the decision, saying that “neither commitments nor treaties will solve the issue of gender-based violence.”

Almost a year into his presidency, the former Argentine TV pundit remains erratic and headstrong in the global spotlight, strikingly similar to Trump. Milei became the first foreign leader since the US election to meet Trumpalbeit informally, late Thursday at the president-elect’s private Mar-a-Lago club in Florida.

In a congratulatory call with Trump earlier this week, Miei’s spokesperson reported that Trump told the Argentine leader: “You are my favorite president.” Trump has not confirmed the claim.

The Argentine presidency on Friday proudly released a stream of photos from Mar-a-Lago with Milei in a sharp suit beaming alongside Trump and tech billionaire Elon Musk, whom Milei has also publicly dated. cultivated a bromance over their shared disdain for “wokeness”, gender issues and socialism.

In November 2023, an angry Argentine voters tired of skyrocketing inflation, defaults and bank runs, gave the outsider a sweeping mandate to carry out an overhaul of Argentina’s troubled economy.

But along with Milei’s libertarian crusade has come a series of cultural battles – both at home, where the president knocked out Argentina’s ladies and environment ministries and scrapped the national anti-discrimination institute, as well as abroad, where Milei has tried to fashion herself as a far-right icon, raising the hackles of key allies such as Braziland Spain.

“Milei came into the presidency on the basis of her clearly stated libertarian views, it was all about the economy,” Sanders said. “But these other views are not something he kept hidden.”

Tensions over Milei’s culture wars escalated this month. When Argentina voted at the UN to end the US economic embargo against Cuba on October 30, Milei voted fired then foreign minister Diana Mondino over what he called her “unforgivable mistake” and quickly replaced her with Gerardo Werthein, a wealthy businessman who had been Buenos Aires’ ambassador to the United States

This weekend, Milei and Werthein plan to meet with Trump again at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida.

Experts say Milei hopes to make money from his friendship with Trump to help crisis-stricken Argentina secure a much-needed infusion of cash from International Monetary Fundto which Argentina owes over 44 billion dollars. The USA is the fund’s largest shareholder.

In recent weeks, Mileis’ shock dismissal of Argentina’s top diplomat – a polished political artist who often worked to mend diplomatic relations strained by Milei’s profanity-laced spats with traditional allies—has sent shivers through Argentina’s diplomatic ranks.

Milei has vowed to purge his foreign ministry of so-called “traitors” who have deviated from his stance, which includes reject the “Future Pact” was adopted by the United Nations in September promoting climate action, women’s empowerment and regulation of artificial intelligence.

Local media have reported the forced resignation of at least seven diplomats in recent weeks perceived to be critical of the president’s Trump-like attacks on the UN’s collective philosophy. Milei accuses such multilateral forums of limiting the freedom of members.

Argentina’s left-wing Peronist movement – which has dominated the country’s politics for decades – was seething Friday, with lawmakers dismayed by what they saw as the unraveling of hard-won social gains that Argentina’s Breakthrough to Legalize Abortion in 2020 and recent efforts to curb fossil fuels.

“For you, freedom is violence,” Mayra Mendoza, a prominent Peronist politician, told Milei on Friday.

The libertarian has called abortion “murder,” climate change a “socialist lie,” and the United Nations a “multi-tentacled leviathan.”