Dozens of protesters converged on Peter Thiel’s mansion in Buenos Aires this week after a congressional session raised questions about the billionaire’s presence in the country. In white masks, they held signs saying “Peter Thief” and “No to the Peter Thiel law” in front of the wrought-iron gates of the $12m (£8.9m) residence, which Thiel bought in April as he moved his family to Argentina. There is broad unease at the tech magnate’s presence in the country.
His move has been characterised as part of a plan to hedge against world war three: Argentina, agriculturally rich and deep in the southern hemisphere, might just be the ideal place for a tech billionaire to wait out the apocalypse. But recent developments in the country suggest Thiel could have more pragmatic considerations. Last week, Argentina’s chamber of deputies held a six-hour debate on a set of sweeping regulatory changes put forward by Javier Milei’s rightwing government shortly after Thiel moved to Buenos Aires.
They invited Thiel, Milei and an official linked to Argentina’s intelligence services to answer questions. Marino said the new laws amounted to a “technofascist legislative package” aimed at entrenching the power of US tech billionaires in the country. Thiel has not publicly advocated for them, but Marino and others have said that their timing was suggestive.
The meeting in the chamber of deputies came after Argentinian deputies from several parties made public requests to the government for information about Thiel, his meetings and his businesses. One of the laws, the “super RIGI”, would put in place an investment regime offering foreign companies a minimal tax rate and a 30-year guarantee against regulatory change. It specifically names AI datacentres among investments it hopes to attract.
Another, which failed, aimed to eliminate most of the restrictions around foreigners buying land in Argentina. A final decree would require some civilian government departments to share vast amounts of personal data on Argentinian citizens with the state intelligence services. There is no evidence that Thiel has advocated for these laws directly.
But in the months after he moved to Buenos Aires, he held closed-door meetings with Milei and key presidential advisers. It is uncommon for a foreign investor to have this degree of access. In the regulatory package, Marino and others see the footprint of Thiel’s larger techno-libertarian interests.
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