Complaints as Milei’s top comms advisor confronts lawmaker aggressively

Opposition leaders in Argentina have called for an investigation into the behaviour of President Javier Milei’s top communications advisor after he allegedly threatened a lawmaker in the halls of Congress.

Santiago Caputo, Milei’s political spin doctor who often remains in the shadows, was accused of threatening Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) deputy Facundo Manes in the aftermath of President Milei’s address marking the opening of Congress sessions.

Video footage of the incident circulated freely on social networks on Saturday night, though the verbal exchange between the duo could not be heard. In the video, a clearly unhappy and angered Caputo is seen prodding Manes on the chest in an aggressive manner.

“I am not the first to be kicked around. Nor will I be the last,” Manes declared in a long statement published on social media accounts on Sunday.

He suggested that the aggression he suffered the preceding night was not an isolated incident, but more part of a strategy to intimidate the opposition.

“This is a government methodology designed to intimidate and get us to erase us from our institutional duty,” said the Buenos Aires Province deputy.

Manes insisted on the need to defend the Constitution, equality before the law and the rule of law. He warned about the government's course: “Let's stop the anti-republican drive of Milei and Caputo before it's too late.”

Clash in Congress

The antecedents of the incident began at around 10pm, during the final stretch of Milei’s state-of-the-nation flagship speech to Congress. 

Initiating the row, Manes – a neuroscientist turned lawmaker – accused the head of state of violating the National Constitution with his bid to impose two Supreme Court justices by decree. 

This prompted the President to yell in response: “Read it properly, Manes. It will do you good. Supposedly, you understand how the brain works, yet you’ve learnt nothing. Read it properly.”

“Perhaps your version is artificial intelligence-generated, and it switches from libertarian to Kirchnerite just like you did, Manes,” the head of state continued, mocking Manes’ political trajectory as shouting matches erupted across the congressional chamber.

Amid the chaos, Manes turned his head and held up the Constitution towards Caputo, who was yelling to the chamber in a state of shock and fury from his seat in the first-floor gallery.

Threat allegations

What happened next remains unclear, but Caputo clearly wasn’t ready to let it go.

As the speech finished and lawmakers filed out, reports emerged that Caputo had aggressively confronted Manes in a corridor of the lower house, in full view of journalists and several other witnesses.

According to the lawmaker’s account of events, Caputo threatened him, saying: “Now you’re going to listen to me — I’ll turn the entire state [apparatus] against you.” 

Seconds later, the lawmaker was prodded twice in the chest, before someone – believed to be Fran Fijap, an influencer close to the government – snatches away the mobile phone capturing the altercation, halting the recording.

It’s the second uncomfortable incident for Caputo, who is seen one of the masterminds behind the La Libertad Avanza party’s success in digital campaigning, in a matter of two weeks. 

Caputo came in for heavy criticism recently when leaked footage was published by the TN news channel on YouTube of an unedited interview Milei granted to journalist Jonatan Viale. 

In it, the adviser can be seen interjecting at one point to prevent Milei giving an unsuitable answer. Viale adheres to the request to scrap the question and grants a do-over.

Manes closed his social media post on Sunday with a dig at Caputo, citing an account on the X social network that is attributed by many in the media to the presidential advisor personally,

“Let’s keep all this ridiculous of 'Milei emperador' for memes and not convert them into reality,” said Manes, referring to the account.

‘Sect’

The Democracia para Siempre bloc, to which Manes belongs, denounced the attack, calling for an investigation into Caputo’s behaviour.

Opposition deputy Eduardo Toniolli, of the Peronist coalition Unión por la Patria, also criticised the actions of Milei’s allies and supporters, accusing the libertarian “gang” of acting like “a sect.”

“This gang has the workings of a sect that attacks whoever the leader, Santiago Caputo, wants. Physically, verbally and through [social] networks,” he said in a radio interview on Sunday morning. “But the ultimate responsibility lies with the President of the Nation.”

Toniolli revealed that Peronist lawmakers had helped Manes leave the Congress building in safety after the incident with Caputo and that libertarian voters had been waiting for the UCR lawmaker to insult him.

“We acted as a cushion, but they continued with the same insults, to illustrate what the climate was like. There were 10 or 15 people who kept insulting him,” said the Peronist lawmaker.

He called for a proper and full investigation into Caputo’s conduct. “What Santiago Caputo did yesterday was a threat. Justice will have to act.”

In a radio interview, constitutional lawyer Eduardo Barcesat accused Caputo of “bullying” Manes in an “act of institutional violence.”

Calling for a “corrective measure in the face of this outrage,” Barcesat said nothing would be done as Manes is an opposition deputy. 

“What would have happened if someone had taken the same attitude with the President? Measures would have been taken, but as he was an opposition deputy, the aggression was applauded by the acolytes, lackeys, who have belittled the hierarchy of the legislative power.”

– TIMES/NA/PERFIL