Feb. 5 (UPI) — Argentina will follow the United States by pulling out of the World Health Organization.
A government spokesman said Wednesday that Argentine President Javier Milei directed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to initiate steps “to withdraw Argentina’s participation” in WHO.
He claimed it was over “deep differences regarding health management especially during the [COVID-19] pandemic.”
Reports say Milei is expected to sign an executive order for the withdrawal in the coming days.
“We Argentinians will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,” presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference.
Milei, a far-right libertarian often compared to U.S. President Donald Trump, is a known friend and ally of his American counterpart.
Trump originally cut ties with the U.N.-backed WHO in May 2020 while the United States was in the throes of COVID-19, which killed an estimated 7 million people globally.
WHO works in more than 150 locations around the world and has directed international responses to health emergencies from Ebola to yellow fever and cholera.
“Today, evidence suggests that the WHO’s prescriptions don’t work because they are the result of political influence rather than being based on science,” a statement by Milei’s office in Bueno Aires read.
Trump, meanwhile, cited a perceived “mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic that arose out of Wuhan, China and other global health crises, its failure to adopt urgently needed reforms and its inability to demonstrate independence from the inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” for why he once more pulled the United States out.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote in an email to staff members how the United States leaving “has made our financial situation more acute.” He said he regrets Trump’s decision, adding the the United States gained from its membership.
Milei was the first world leader to meet with Trump at his Florida estate after November’s election, and he attended the Jan. 20 inauguration in Washington — the same day Trump announced the United States will withdraw from WHO.
According to Adorni, WHO membership costs Argentina about $10 million annually. He claimed that leaving it behind will provide the South American country a greater flexibility to better serve its own interests.
WHO was created in 1948 by the global community “to coordinate the response to global health emergencies, but it failed during the biggest challenge,” the statement read in part. “It advocated eternal lockdowns without scientific backing during its battle against the COVID-19 pandemic.”
Meanwhile, Milei’s spokesman did not rule out Argentina possibly exiting other treaties or international agreements, such as the Paris climate accord.
“The president is very determined when it comes to making Argentina freer,” Adorni added Wednesday. “So any link that Argentina has with bodies that go against its freedoms, we’re going to do our utmost to prevent them from interfering in the lives of Argentines.”
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