More than a week has passed since Ferran Torres scored the extra-time goal that gave Spain its second World Cup, but \u2013 at least for Argentina\u2019s president \u2013 the tournament is not over.<\/p>\n
Javier Milei has claimed that a coordinated \u201canti-Argentina campaign\u201d was behind criticism of the country\u2019s team, accusations of racism<\/a> among its fans and conspiracy theories alleging that Lionel Messi\u2019s side was secretly being favoured by Fifa.<\/p>\n Now, the far-right president has taken the narrative a step further, alleging that the supposed campaign was financed by the US Democratic party and the governments of Brazil<\/a> and Mexico.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the work of progressive minds who do not want the ideas of freedom to succeed,\u201d claimed the self-styled libertarian in an interview<\/a> with a local radio station on Sunday.<\/p>\n Argentina fans burn a Spain shirt after their team lost in the World Cup final. Photograph: Matias Baglietto\/Reuters<\/p>\n He went on to claim that the \u201cgovernment of Brazil\u201d, led by the leftwing president, Luiz In\u00e1cio Lula da Silva, had allegedly provided the largest share of the funding.<\/p>\n Analysts in Argentina said Milei had embraced the narrative as a distraction<\/a> from his plummeting popularity<\/a>, while others argued that the \u201creal anti-Argentina campaign\u201d was the one the president was waging<\/a> \u201cwith his chainsaw<\/a>\u201d austerity plan.<\/p>\n Yet the narrative has gained traction, even reaching people who do not support Milei. Pablo Torres, a 52-year-old bookseller from Buenos Aires who \u201cnever voted for him and never would\u201d, said there had been a social media \u201cbombardment\u201d against the country that left him feeling \u201coutrage\u201d and \u201cdisgust\u201d.<\/p>\n He said some of the accusations of racism had come from \u201cgreat colonial powers that enslaved people, trafficked enslaved people and decimated populations\u201d, adding: \u201cThey denied the existence of the black population<\/a> in Argentina, and ignored our idiosyncrasies and our history \u2026 We are a welcoming home for all nations.\u201d<\/p>\n The Argentina team, including Lionel Messi (right), had to make do with silver runners-up medals after the final. Photograph: Christopher Neundorf\/EPA<\/p>\n During the tournament, incidents<\/a> involving racist behaviour by some Argentine supporters drew widespread attention. Hours before the final, the US actor Samuel L Jackson posted an Instagram story that said: \u201cDear black people, please do not cheer or root for Argentina to win the Fifa World Cup. Argentina has historically been one of, if not the most, racist countries in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n The post prompted reactions even from human rights organisations such as Amnesty International Argentina, which acknowledged racism in the country but criticised<\/a> \u201creducing the country to a stereotype\u201d.<\/p>\n Milei, meanwhile, posted that the criticism could be attributed to Argentina\u2019s opposition, which had \u201cvalidated the woke movement that is now accusing us of being racist\u201d. Over the weekend, he also decided to blame Brazil \u2013 while on Brazilian soil.<\/p>\n On Saturday, the Argentinian president attended<\/a> the launch of the presidential campaign of the far-right senator Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, the son of the former president Jair Bolsonaro and Lula\u2019s main challenger in October\u2019s presidential election.<\/p>\n Fl\u00e1vio Bolsonaro, right, joins Javier Milei on stage at a Liberal party convention in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil on Saturday. Photograph: Ettore Chiereguini\/AP<\/p>\n In his speech, as well as calling Lula a \u201cthief\u201d and a \u201cprisoner\u201d<\/a> \u2013 prompting a strong reaction<\/a> from the Brazilian government \u2013 Milei said: \u201cIf you examine the data from the recent anti-Argentina campaign, the place from which the most attacks came was Brazil.\u201d He reinforced the claim on Sunday, this time adding Mexico and the US Democratic party.<\/p>\n The digital anthropologist Mercedes M\u00e1spero analysed more than 2m posts on social media and wrote<\/a> that she had found \u201csome undeniable patterns\u201d of orchestration such as the repeated use of variations of \u201cdisgusting human beings\u201d in different languages. Even so, it was \u201ca tough call\u201d to describe it as a coordinated campaign \u201cbecause the narrative is incredibly widespread\u201d, she wrote.<\/p>\n Natalia Aruguete, a researcher at Argentina\u2019s National Scientific and Technical Research Council who specialises in social media and political agendas, said she had seen \u201cno evidence of a large-scale coordinated operation\u201d, despite the existence of \u201ca hostile, widespread and transnational conversation centred on Argentina\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cBrazil had a significant presence [in those messages],\u201d she added, \u201cparticularly in the conversation about racism, but \u2026 Milei\u2019s accusation of alleged Brazilian involvement was not backed up by any public evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n Some critics said<\/a> that the last time the idea of such a campaign was propagated by the state was during the brutal 1976\u201383 dictatorship<\/a>, whose crimes Milei has repeatedly downplayed<\/a>. During the 1978 World Cup, hosted by Argentina, the military junta claimed that criticism of the regime\u2019s human rights violations was part of an \u201canti-Argentina campaign\u201d.<\/p>\n Aruguete said Milei had turned a \u201cdiverse online conversation\u201d into a political conflict that fits his narrative of a \u201cculture war\u201d against the left, at a time when his administration is facing \u201cinternal deterioration\u201d: inflation appears to be under control, but rising unemployment and corruption scandals<\/a> have driven the president\u2019s popularity to its lowest point<\/a> since taking office.<\/p>\n The narrative that suggests Argentinians are all victims of a supposedly orchestrated campaign by leftwing foreign governments \u201callows Milei to shift the focus of the debate away from his own governance issues and on to an external adversary\u201d, said Aruguete.<\/p>\n