Having steadied the Argentine economy, the president is aiming for more.

In November, a group of libertarians launched The Forces of Heaven, which they defined as "the armed wing" of La Libertad Avanza, Milei’s political party. Clarifying that their "weapons" would be social media, the event took on a tone that oscillated between delusional and frankly fascist described by its organizers as having “Roman inspiration for being the cradle of civilization.”

The main speakers at this meeting were Agustín Laje and Daniel Parisi, two libertarian celebrities. Laje, often compared to Ben Shapiro, is considered one of Milei's ideological heirs. He has written numerous books criticizing leftist ideas, and in 2024, Forbes ranked him as the most influential independent voice in Latin America. He is also the executive director of the Faro Foundation, a think tank aimed at training political and business leaders aligned with the ideology of the new right. Parisi, better known on social media as El Gordo Dan [Fat Dan], is a prominent influencer in this political space, to the point that Milei himself appeared on his streaming show La Misa [The Mass]. The central theme of the event was “the cultural battle.”

With the economy under control, there are signs that the so-called cultural battle will become the main focus in 2025. At the Davos Forum, Milei delivered an impassioned speech against what he called "woke ideology," which, according to him, is the cancer that must be eradicated from our societies. There’s nothing new here, which its organizers—neither the president’s outbursts nor the ruling class’s tendency to be economically liberal while culturally and politically conservative, much less the organicist metaphor. Even Argentina’s last military dictatorship spoke of “eradicating the cancer,” which in the 1970s wasn’t woke ideology but its spiritual predecessor, “communist subversion.”

Until recently, conservative provocations regarding human rights were largely rhetorical. Few concrete political actions had been taken to implement these ideas. For example, the INADI (Argentina’s National Institute Against Discrimination, Xenophobia, and Racism) was shut down in August 2024, but the promised trials of former left-wing militants, announced by Vice President Villaruel, never materialized.

However, 2025 seems poised to turn words into action. On January 2, the first working day of the year, it was announced that staff at the Haroldo Conti Cultural Center, located on the site of the former Navy School of Mechanics, would be placed on "standby" and that the center would undergo "restructuring." The news went largely unnoticed by most national newspapers (except Página 12, whose editorial stance is openly opposed to Milei). A festival was held to support the workers, but the relentless media agenda has left the public largely unaware of the case’s developments. The workers continue their fight, organizing activities to raise funds.

In Argentine common sense, human rights are synonymous with the crimes committed during the last military dictatorship. We know this isn’t the case, as memory, truth, and justice policies are just one aspect of the broader scope of human rights. The government’s next focus appears to be on comprehensive sexual education, a controversial issue in Argentine society.

In October 2006, Law 26,150 established the Comprehensive Sexual Education program (or ESI, as it’s known in Argentina), mandating its implementation at all educational levels in public and private institutions nationwide. The law was groundbreaking in recognizing children and adolescents as rights holders in accordance with national legislation. Unsurprisingly, the most religious provinces opposed it. Nearly twenty years later, its actual implementation in classrooms remains uncertain, with no large-scale studies to assess its outcomes. However, there are notable cases demonstrating its effectiveness in reporting sexual abuse.

Unfortunately, the notion of "my children are mine, and I decide what they are taught" persists, ignoring children and teenagers’ status as rights holders and their right to receive information about sexuality. This includes not only preventing sexually transmitted diseases and unwanted pregnancies but also offering a deeper perspective on gender and identity through a multidisciplinary approach. Opponents of ESI often project their fears and fantasies onto the program, spreading falsehoods such as claims that teachers show pornography to minors or that it’s part of a broader “gender ideology brainwashing strategy.”

With this in the public eye, ESI faced its first battle in the Milei era in November 2024. The Natalio Morelli Foundation, practically unknown until then, filed a complaint against the Minister of Education of Buenos Aires Province following objections from a group of parents about the use of certain books with “explicit content” in high schools. These books, written by renowned Argentine authors like Dolores Reyes, Selva Almada, and Gabriela Cabezón Cámara, have achieved international acclaim. It’s as if teenagers wouldn’t read such books on their own. In defense of his minister, Governor Axel Kicillof posted a photo on social media drinking mate and reading the contested books. Critics worry about exposing young people to discussions about sex “too early,” as if mentioning sex would magically activate their desires—while ignoring the alarmingly high rates of inter-family violence and abuse.

Following this incident, the Buenos Aires City Government (the largest, most important, and most progressive city in the country) decided to take down all online materials related to ESI to begin a “review process.” However, there’s no information about who will oversee this process or when it will be completed, despite classes being less than a month away at the time of writing. Meanwhile, the vice mayor, Clara Muzzio, posts on X about her concerns regarding declining birth rates and the rise of pets in households.

On January 27, Milei led the International Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Shoah Museum in Buenos Aires. At the same time, a video went viral showing young supporters of La Libertad Avanza touring northern Greater Buenos Aires in a green Falcon (a car emblematic of the dictatorship, used for kidnappings) to erase murals of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo. This isn’t a paradox—it’s the result of years of explaining recent history dogmatically, without allowing debate or questioning. But the president and his inner circle must remember that winning the battle doesn’t mean winning the war.