Argentina says it will pull out of World Health Organization, mirroring Trump’s move last month

(CNN) — Argentina has announced it will pull out of the World Health Organization (WHO), mirroring a similar move by US President Donald Trump last month.

“President (Javier) Milei instructed (foreign minister) Gerardo Werthein to withdraw Argentina’s participation in the World Health Organization,” presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni said at a news conference on Wednesday.

“We Argentinians will not allow an international organization to intervene in our sovereignty, much less in our health,” he added.

Adorni said Argentina’s decision was based on “profound differences regarding… health management, especially during the pandemic that… led us to the longest lockdown in human history and a lack of independence in the face of the political influence of some states.”

A statement later released from Argentina’s presidential office accused WHO of causing economic damage during the Covid-19 pandemic by “(promoting) endless quarantines.”

“It is urgent to rethink from the international community why supranational organizations exist, funded by all, that do not meet the objectives for which they were created, engage in international politics, and seek to impose themselves above member countries,” the statement read.

Though WHO works in Argentina, Adorni said his country does not receive financing from WHO for health management. “Therefore, this measure… does not represent a loss of funds for the country nor does it affect the quality of services,” he said.

He claimed the withdrawal would provide “greater flexibility to implement policies” in Argentina’s interests and “greater availability of resources.”

“It reaffirms our path towards a country with sovereignty also in health matters,” he added.

CNN has reached out to WHO for comment.

WHO has previously defended its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, when Trump threatened to pull US funding from the body during his first term in office, Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded, “If you don’t want many more body bags, then you refrain from politicizing it.”

Last month, on the first day of his second term in office, Trump once again put WHO in his crosshairs, announcing he planned to withdraw the United States from the health body, drawing criticism from public health experts.

The US president, whom Milei considers an ideological ally, criticized the United Nations’ health agency in his executive order on January 20, citing its “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,” as reasons for the US withdrawal.

Tedros has said he regrets Trump’s decision to withdraw, emphasizing the US also gains from the agency to which it contributes.

WHO was founded in 1948 in an attempt to protect the world’s health. Its constitution, signed by all UN members at the time, warned that “unequal development” in the health systems of different countries was a “common danger.”

Today, the agency works in more than 150 locations around the world, leads efforts to expand universal health coverage and directs the international response to health emergencies, from yellow fever to cholera and Ebola.

Argentina’s decision is just the latest in a series of recent policy announcements across the region that have echoed Trump’s own rhetoric on border security, trade and migration control.

Milei’s Ministry of National Security has also said it will reinforce its border with Bolivia by erecting a 200-meter fence in Argentina’s Salta province – a measure to prevent drug trafficking, it said.

Earlier this week, Ecuador announced it would apply a 27% tariff on Mexican goods to “ensure fair treatment” of Ecuadorian producers, until a fair free trade deal is struck.

And El Salvador on Monday offered to imprison convicted criminals deported from the US – in what Salvadoran President Nayib Bukele framed as a potentially profitable deal struck for his country. “The fee would be relatively low for the US but significant for us, making our entire prison system sustainable,” he said in a post on X.

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CNN’s Christian Edwards and Betsy Klein contributed to this reporting.