The eccentric president of Argentina, Javier Milei, is crazy about his dogs. He's so crazy that he's had the names and faces of his five massive English Mastiffs engraved into his office.
And here it gets even weirder. One of them, Conan - named after Conan the Barbarian - appears to have been dead since 2017.
This would not be a concern if, according to Milei biographer, he did not consult his dogs - living or dead - on important decisions with the help of a medium specializing in "interspecies communication".
The medium, Celia Melamed, told TN television that she helped Miley "overcome her dog's grief."
Politician Rafael Bielsa, who has worked with Milei in the past, explained that the president had spoken to him about receiving "divine" messages from Conan.
Milei refuses to answer questions about his "four-legged children," four of whom are named after neoliberal economists.
But pressed to answer growing questions about Milei's mental health, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni lashed out at reporters. According to him, it is "disrespectful for the president to describe himself as someone who talks about things that don't exist."
It wasn't fair to "mess with his family".
"I don't see what difference it makes whether it's four or five dogs or 43 rabbits," the spokesman said.
Former president Alberto Fernandez also joined the fray, teasing Milei on social media: "My dog doesn't advise me and he's alive."
Protesters also picked up on the joke, with one walking an invisible "dog" on a leash with an empty collar named "Conan". /BGNES
