Milei delays Cabinet changes after electoral triumph

Re-energised by his electoral upset in the midterm elections, President Javier Milei has announced that he may delay the Cabinet changes until December and the change of Congress. The decision will offer him respite from the requests of several officials pressing him to bring order to government infighting.

“Congress will change on December 10 so I’ve got some time,” the President said in an interview Monday. 

According to reporting by the Noticias Argentinas news agency, up until the Friday before the election, several Cabinet members – among them Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos (in public) and Security Minister Patricia Bullrich (in private) – were seeking a clear definition and designation of roles from Milei.

Milei did not provide further details, implying he will only implement obligatory modifications. On Tuesday, he swore in his new Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno, after the advanced resignation of Gerardo Werthein. 

Come December, the President will have to make changes. Two officials will be taking up legislative posts. There is open talk of Security Secretary Alejandra Monteoliva succeeding Patricia Bullrich at the helm of the Security Ministry. Luis Petri will have to be replaced at the Defence Ministry, once a successor has been agreed with the official. 

Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni, at present, will also formally be leaving his post for the Buenos Aires City Legislature although his destiny, like that of top presidential advisor Santiago Caputo, seems uncertain. Nor is there any guarantee of continuity for the tandem of Francos and Interior Minister Lisandro Catalán, who will reportedly continue until December.

Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona, who has offered his resignation and bid farewell in the media, will also remain for now.

Milei has hinted that figures from other political forces will come into consideration.

“The Cabinet will be constructed in the light of the new Congress and the alliances which I have to seek in order to have my agenda approved. The important thing is to get the reforms through,” he said in the interview with the A24 news channel. 

Casa Rosada sources, quoted by Noticias Argentinas, said that “things have their logic and with the election results, everything is being reset.”

Iron Triangle tensions

After 9pm on election night, “tensions in the libertarian tribes intensified” as each party laid claim to the result, reported Noticias Argentinas.

Milei was careful to credit all of his team during celebrations at the ruling party’s headquarters in Buenos Aires, but much of the focus has fallen on his sister, Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, who was in charge of the national campaign.

It was Karina Milei who opted to preserve "purple purism" in the lists designed by the inland political strategist Eduardo ‘Lule’ Menem, who has been strongly criticised by the Fuerzas del Cielo organisation linked to Santiago Caputo.

Libertarian influencers online has sought to credit Caputo, the other member of Milei’s “iron triangle” along with Karina, with swinging the result in La Libertad Avanza’s favour. 

Hours before the results were released, Karina was ahead of the game, making a rare appearance before the television cameras as she was escorted and seconded by Congress Speaker Martín Menem, the party’s vice-president.

"We are very happy," she told the media, noting: "As the president and vice-president of the party, La Libertad Avanza was present in all 24 districts.”

A government spokesperson said credit should be shared around. "The victory belongs to the team working for the last two years to have a party and assemble the lists," a spokesperson for Karina Milei told Noticias Argentinas.

Still, on election night, in the corridors of the Hotel Libertador housing the La Libertad Avanza bunker, several were resentful of Santiago Caputo’s role.

"We won despite many people. They moved around numbers which had nothing to do with reality," said one source.

Milei will have to balance out the corners of what seems to be an inverted triangle, marking out the scope of each of its members and unifying the team once again if he wants to open dialogue with potential allies and deliver the reforms he has in mind.

– TIMES/NA