Argentina announces decision to leave WHO due to economic devastation caused by COVID lockdown restrictions

February 5, 2025 TruthUSA

President Javier Milei asserted that COVID-19 lockdowns promoted by the agency could potentially be deemed as a ‘crime against humanity.’

The Argentine government has declared its decision to exit the World Health Organization (WHO) in response to the devastating economic repercussions of COVID-19 lockdowns.

In a statement posted on X on Feb. 5, the Argentine President’s Office disclosed that the COVID-19 lockdowns were identified as one of the most catastrophic economic disasters in global history, citing the significant and enduring impact on world economies as the primary rationale for withdrawal.

“The WHO was established in 1948 to coordinate global health emergency responses, but it failed its most significant test: it advocated for indefinite quarantines without scientific support during the COVID-19 pandemic,” stated Argentinian President Javier Milei.

“These quarantines precipitated one of the largest economic disasters in global history.

Milei highlighted that under the 1998 Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, such lockdown measures could potentially be deemed as ‘a crime against humanity.’

In Argentina, Milei criticized the WHO for enabling a government that “kept children out of school, left hundreds of thousands of workers without income, caused businesses and SMEs to go bankrupt, and, despite all of this, led to the loss of 130,000 lives.”

“It is imperative that the international community reevaluate the role of supranational organizations—funded by all—that fail to achieve the purposes for which they were established, engage in political gamesmanship, and try to dictate to member states,” he stated.

Anarcho-Capitalist

“President Milei instructed Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein to withdraw Argentina’s participation in the World Health Organization,” declared presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni during a press briefing.

Milei, a self-proclaimed anarcho-capitalist, assumed office as Argentina’s president in 2023 after defeating Sergio Massa, the former economy minister for Alberto Fernández’s socialist administration.

In a U.N. speech last year, Milei criticized the 2030 Agenda’s Sustainable Development Goals, a global initiative focused on sustainable economic growth and environmental preservation.

He argued that while the goals were “well-intentioned,” they ultimately functioned as “a supranational government program with a socialist inclination.”

“If the 2030 agenda failed, as even its proponents acknowledge, we must question whether it was not a poorly conceived initiative from the beginning,” he remarked.

Trump

Last week, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that the United States, its largest donor, would withdraw from the WHO.

He criticized the global health agency for mishandling the COVID-19 pandemic and other international health crises.

Negotiations regarding the pandemic agreement and International Health Regulations will be paused during the withdrawal process.

Trump alleged that the WHO failed to act independently from the “inappropriate political influence of WHO member states” and demanded “unfairly burdensome payments” from the United States in comparison to other major countries like China.

“World Health swindled us, everyone cheats the United States. That will no longer be tolerated,” Trump declared.

WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic responded, “We hope that the United States will reconsider, and we sincerely hope that there will be productive dialogue for the benefit of all, for Americans and people worldwide.”

The United States is presently the primary WHO contributor, providing around $1.28 billion in funding during 2022–2023, as reported on the organization’s website. This amounts to nearly half of the WHO’s combined external evaluation missions for the previous fiscal year.

WHO’s Response to China’s COVID Coverup

This marks Trump’s second attempt at withdrawing from the WHO. The initial process began in 2020 due to frustration over the WHO’s handling of China’s concealment of details concerning the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In December 2024, the House Oversight and Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic released a report criticizing the WHO’s response to the pandemic, deeming it “a complete failure.”

According to the report, the WHO is accused of yielding to pressure from the Chinese Communist Party and prioritizing “China’s political interests over its global obligations.”

As part of this alleged failure, the WHO reportedly disregarded alerts from Taiwan on Dec. 31, 2019, regarding “atypical pneumonia cases” in Wuhan, and neglected to investigate the matter as requested by Taiwan.

“The initial mishandling of the COVID-19 pandemic not only potentially facilitated the further spread of the virus, but it also eroded trust in the international public health agency,” the report stated.

A WHO spokesperson responded to The Epoch Times, saying, “Thank you for your inquiry. We are looking into it.”

Reuters, Savannah Hulsey Pointer, The Associated Press, and Aldgra Fredly contributed to this article.

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