FILE PHOTO: Argentina's President Javier Milei greets from a car after a meeting with his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron at the Casa Rosada presidential palace, in Buenos Aires, Argentina November 17, 2024. REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas/File Photo
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - A group of supporters of Argentine President Javier Milei announced the creation of what they termed an armed wing of his libertarian party, touting the group as loyal foot soldiers determined to defend the far-right politician's agenda.
The so-called "Heavenly Forces," or "Las fuerzas del cielo" in Spanish, were launched late Saturday by well-known Milei backer and right-wing influencer Daniel Parisini, who described the group as Milei's "praetorian guard," in a nod to the elite unit that once protected Roman emperors.
In the United States, armed militia-style groups supporting U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, who Milei strongly backs, have become politically active in recent years.
Even though Parisini, a libertarian activist better known as "Gordo Dan" online, described the group as armed, neither he nor other prominent backers showed off any firearms at an event in the capital Buenos Aires or in a video announcing the group's formation.
Parisini, who helped lead online organizing ahead of Milei's election victory last year, said the new group would compete for elected posts within Milei's La Libertad Avanza political party ahead of legislative elections set for next year.
"The Heavenly Forces group, which we're forming here today, is the armed wing of La Libertad Avanza. It's President Javier Milei's praetorian guard," said Parisini in a video posted online. "We're his most loyal soldiers."
Milei, formerly a well-known television pundit and one-term congressman with an acid tongue, rode a wave of popular anger at a prolonged economic crisis to win the presidency in a shock upset late last year.
Amid insults aimed at socialists, communists and other perceived foes, even including fellow Argentine Pope Francis, Milei pledged to slash government spending and tame triple-digit inflation, which has cooled dramatically during his first year in office.
(Reporting by Nicolas Misculin; Writing by David Alire Garcia, Editing by William Maclean)
