Martina Jaureguy 
President-elect Javier Milei is traveling to the United States, where he will meet officials from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the White House and the Treasury. He will also visit the grave of a Jewish rabbi who is believed to grant miracles.
Milei confirmed the trip on Sunday night by posting a picture on the social network X, where he is seen with soon-to-be Chief of Staff Nicolás Posse and Luis “Toto” Caputo, who has been widely touted, but not formally confirmed, as Milei’s economy minister. “On our way to the United States,” said Milei, specifically mentioning Caputo in the post.
Milei will travel to Washington DC to meet government and IMF officials, although his team has not confirmed what topics are on the agenda.
Sources from La Libertad Avanza told news agency Télam the trip involved “protocol meetings to explain the economic plan [of] fiscal tightening, monetary reform, state reform and deregulation” of the economy. They added that they are not going to discuss a new loan.
Milei had a virtual meeting with IMF’s head Kristalina Georgieva on Saturday. In a post on X, he said they had “an excellent conversation” in which they talked about “the great economic challenge our country is facing,” and that Georgieva expressed the lender’s desire to cooperate with Argentina’s new government.
Before heading to Washington, Milei will stop in Queens, New York, where he will visit the Ohel, a Jewish monumental tomb where the Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson is buried. There, Milei will “thank Hashem for the position He has put [Milei] in,” his press team told Télam. Hashem is a title used in Judaism to refer to God.
Milei, who began his conversion to Judaism several years ago, also visited the grave in August, before the primaries.
Along with Posse and Caputo, Milei’s delegation will include Gerardo Werthein, Argentina’s prospective Ambassador to the US; current U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Marc Stanley; and Karina Milei, Milei’s right hand and sister.
Special sessions in Congress
Milei also said Sunday that he would hold extraordinary sessions in Congress during the summer recess. He told LN+ television channel that La Libertad Avanza would file a bill package containing numerous state reforms on December 11, the day after he takes office.
“We won’t wait until March for the ordinary sessions, we need to solve our problems as soon as possible.”
Caputo was finance minister and Central Bank chief during former President Mauricio Macri’s government. He only lasted three months in the latter position, resigning amid a bank run. He is seen as one of the main drivers of Argentina’s 2018 IMF deal and one of Macri’s most trusted men.
Caputo held a meeting with representatives of Argentina’s major banks on Friday in which he played down the possibility of dollarizing the economy.
On Sunday, Milei said Caputo has the necessary “expert financial capabilities” to “disarm the Leliqs ball and stop hyperinflation” from happening. Milei has said over the past week that Leliqs, a debt instrument issued by the Central Bank, are a critical obstacle to removing currency controls.
“There is no finance expert in Argentina better than Luis ‘Toto’ Caputo,” Milei told LN+ TV station.
