Who is Adrian Ravier, the new presidential spokesman of Milei

The recent appointment of Adrián Ravier as Argentina’s new presidential spokesperson has reignited discussions about his long-standing relationship with President Javier Milei. The decision by the government to name Ravier as one of its new faces in official communication has brought back into focus a history of public disputes between the two men. For years, they engaged in intense economic debates on social media, exchanges that often included personal insults from the current president.

Ravier was born in the province of Buenos Aires in 1978 and is now 47 years old. Although he identifies politically with La Pampa, he has lived there for the past 16 years. An economist by training, Ravier developed an academic career linked to the so-called Austrian School of Economics, the same ideological current that Milei often advocates. Their first public clashes date back to 2018 when Ravier questioned some of Milei's economic positions and received a response filled with aggressiveness.

During these exchanges, Milei wrote on social media, “You didn’t even understand that note, Adrián.” In other messages, he went further, calling him a “total idiot,” “chanta,” “terrible economist,” and “stupid.” These posts remained visible on social networks and reflected the tone of a dispute that lasted several years. In March 2020, for example, Milei publicly criticized him again, accusing him of systematically making mistakes in his economic analyses. From the other side, Ravier also launched criticisms against the libertarian economist and recalled meetings that Milei had held with officials from the government of Mauricio Macri.

Before approaching La Libertad Avanza, Ravier maintained positions close to the Macri administration. Although he never held positions in the Cambiemos administration, he defended several of its economic policies and was identified as an economist aligned with that space. This past was used by Milei during the public discussions they had between 2018 and 2020. The situation changed starting in 2021, when Milei was elected a national deputy. Since then, Ravier began collaborating with the libertarian leader, and their differences faded away.

Ravier is one of the Argentine economists most associated with the Austrian tradition. He was a student of Spanish economist Jesús Huerta de Soto, one of the most important intellectual references for Milei. The doctrinal closeness between them eventually prevailed over personal differences and facilitated his incorporation into the libertarian space. He also occupied relevant positions within organizations linked to liberal thought and was director of the Faro Foundation, a think tank that gained influence within the political ecosystem surrounding the ruling party.

The public presentation of Ravier was accompanied by an image that caught attention even within political circles. In a photograph disseminated by the Government, an office was observed almost empty, without personal objects, papers, books, or visible work elements. The image was interpreted by some observers as a signal of transition or internal restructuring within the official structure. The scene gained more relevance because it coincided with reports about internal tensions in the Government and disputes over areas of influence.

Within the Casa Rosada, some sectors attribute Ravier’s rise to the influence of Santiago Caputo, one of Milei’s main political strategists. The relationship arises, among others, from the fact that both share a strong ideological affinity and have collaborated on various occasions. However, the exact nature of their collaboration remains unclear, and it is not yet known how significant Caputo’s role was in Ravier’s appointment.

The opposition, particularly the Peronist faction, quickly reacted to Ravier’s appointment by recalling Milei’s previous criticisms of him. Teresa García, a deputy from Unión por la Patria (Ux), cited an old post from 2018 where Milei described Ravier as a combination of little academic rigor and emotional contamination in his critiques. In that tweet, the current president expressed pity for Ravier, saying, “It’s very sad.”

In another exchange from May 1, 2018, Milei was discussing with economist Diego Giacomini via X and referred to Ravier ironically as “inconsistent and excellent” for his “phenomenal contradictions in a subject he claims to be an expert in.” He added, “Poor little Adriancito... He must be a victim of a hacker trying to discredit him.”

In another heated interaction from that time, the President accused his designated spokesperson of “making mistakes typical of an amateur that are embarrassing.” Milei also claimed that Ravier lacked the “mental speed to be part of a TV debate,” adding that he was slow and poorly educated, noting that watching his videos showed he took too long to provide basic arguments, which indicated a lack of knowledge in microeconomics and mathematics.

Two years later, in 2020, the dialectical duel continued and involved other officials from the current administration such as Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzenegger, who had been president of the Central Bank under the Cambiemos government. Ravier posted on March 7, 2020, stating, “Milei says I was an office worker for Macri. I never set foot in his offices. I supported him from outside when I understood his proposal was better than the alternative. Milei did sit down with Sturzenegger, responsible for the technical failure. He also sat down with the people of Alberto. Always ignored.”

That same year, Milei commented on the new spokesperson, saying, “I always maintained that Ravier was a total idiot. Additionally, he is a chanta who talks about Keynes without reading him (I still keep his tweets that prove it) and a poor economist who messed everything up. Regardless of being an official of Macri. Now the idiot has surpassed himself again.”

Ravier is a deputy and economist. After the conflicts, he co-wrote with Milei the book The Battle for Macroeconomics: The Debate Between Keynes, Friedman, Lucas, and Hayek. The new spokesperson was elected as a deputy for La Pampa and holds office until 2029. His place should be taken by Martín Matzkin, also from La Pampa. Ravier is a member of the Mont Pelerin Society, created by economist Friedrich Hayek to spread liberal principles.

Last April, Milei and Ravier shared a “masterclass” on John Keynes at the Palacio Libertad, former CCK. During this lecture, which also featured economist Juan Carlos De Pablo, Milei criticized Europe for its handling of immigration and said that continent is “on the brink of extermination.” He added, “Look at the mess Europe has today. It had a broken pension system while proposing the green agenda, assassinating...”