Argentina will be leaving the World Health Organization (WHO), president Milei has said, partly because he blames the organization for the Covid lockdowns.
Argentina will be leaving the World Health Organization (WHO). According to Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni, who made the announcement on Feb. 5, President Javier Milei has instructed his Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, Gerardo Werthein, to proceed with the withdrawal from membership.
The stated reasons are “profound differences” in policy, especially with respect to the Covid lockdowns, and threats to national sovereignty. The WHO, said Adorni, led Argentina under President Alberto Fernández (2019–23) into the “longest lockdowns in the history of humanity” and to a “lack of independence before the political influence of certain states.”
Milei has argued, in Argentina and before the UN, that the lockdowns amount to a crime against humanity by the terms of the Rome Statute.
Adorni went on to say that, Argentina receiving no funds from the WHO, there will be no change to medical services within the country.
Argentina’s exit follows closely on that of the US, which President Donald Trump ordered on Jan. 20, not long after his swearing-in.
Minister Werthein served as Argentina’s Ambassador to the US for a few months last year. He has also been a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) since 2011. He competed in equestrian show jumping for 18 years.
