Stories that caught our eye: October 31 to November 7

CABINET SHUFFLES

The post-electoral Cabinet overhaul continued before, during and after last weekend with a resigning Cabinet chief Guillermo Francos replaced by presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni while Buenos Aires Province election victor Diego Santilli succeeded Lisandro Catalán as Interior minister. Ex-president Mauricio Macri dining with President Javier Milei on the evening after the Francos exit voiced misgivings about Adorni’s lack of experience, arguing that YPF CEO Horacio Marín would have been a better choice, but was more supportive of Santilli’s appointment. On Monday, Deputy Health Minister Cecilia Loccisano, linked to star spin doctor Santiago Caputo, submitted her resignation with her replacement announced as chemical engineer and former PRO activist Guido Giana, apparently the preference of Health Minister Mario Lugones and also close to Caputo. On the same day Economy Minister Luis Caputo revealed via social media that Alejandro Lew (with YPF and Central Bank experience) would be his new Finance secretary replacing Pablo Quirno, recently upgraded to head the Foreign Ministry. José Luis Daza had originally been announced as Quirno’s replacement but he could be moving across the Andes to become Chile’s next Economy minister as soon as next weekend when that country votes. 

LAMELAS UP AND RUNNING

President Javier Milei last Tuesday received the credentials of the new United States Ambassador Peter Lamelas on the eve of flying to Miami to participate in the American Business Forum. Lamelas was not alone among his peers since British Ambassador David Cairns and the new envoys of the European Union, Austria, Belgium and Switzerland underwent the same formality in the presence of the new Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno but he was treated to a private meeting with Milei afterwards in the President’s office. The Cuban-born healthcare businessman arrived in this country just before last weekend and presented his credentials to Quirno on Monday. Milei later met up with authorities of the Billy Graham Evangelist Association – the second evangelical visit this week.

CONGRESS SHUFFLES

The future Congress renewed last month will be starting work soon enough with extraordinary sessions set to run from December 10 to 31, the government confirmed on Wednesday, stating the 2026 Budget and labour law and tax reforms as the priorities. Just before last weekend, the PRO centre-right caucus suffered a major haemorrhage when seven deputies responding to outgoing Security Minister and senator-elect Patricia Bullrich rather than ex-president Mauricio Macri bolted the party to join La Libertad Avanza (LLA) formally. The septet included deputies Damián Arabia, Sabrina Ajmechet, Laura Rodríguez Machado, Silvana Giudici and Patricia Vázquez, as well as deputies-elect María Luisa González Estevarena and Carlos Almena. But LLA failed to gain an eighth pick-up when the final official count in this City confirmed Ciudadanos Unidos candidate Martín Lousteau, the current UCR Radical party chairman, as its 13th deputy. The libertarians had harboured high hopes of denying Lousteau his seat on the basis of calculating a higher quotient for their candidate in seven of the 15 City communes but Lousteau ended up with 1,294 more votes for a total of 99,034 or 8,688 votes ahead of the competing LLA quotient.

KEY WIN CLOSER THAN EVER

The final official count in Buenos Aires Province concluded last Tuesday closed the gap between Peronism and La Libertad Avanza (LLA) but President Javier Milei’s party remained ahead by just 29,354 votes. The latter added 44,861 votes to close on 3,649,988 but Fuerza Patria added more to reach 3,620,634, an increase of 62,107 votes. The Congress seat distribution remained unchanged with 17 for the winners and 16 for the Peronists with the remaining two seats accruing to the leftist FIT (Frente Izquierda y de los Trabajadores). A total of 9,127,527 votes were counted of which 8,811,851 were valid. Three other lists headed by dissident Peronists netted between 79,125 and 117,149 votes with any one of these more than sufficient to enable Fuerza Patria to win the province. Although these results were announced as final, they were still open to protest at a hearing held last Thursday.

NEW CGT HELM

The CGT has voted in a new troika to head the trade union umbrella, consisting of Jorge Sola (insurance workers), Cristian Jerónimo (glass workers) and Octavio Arguello (teamsters) with the veteran Andrés Rodríguez (UPCN white-collar state workers) as assistant secretary. Trade union bosses Luis Barrionuevo (restaurant workers) and Roberto Fernández (UTA bus-drivers) among others walked out in dissatisfaction with the new leadership, arguing that there should be a single secretary-general. The 56 members of the new council come closer to gender parity than ever before with no less than 26 women. Names with decades in organised labour include Gerardo Martínez, Rodolfo Daer, Carlos Acuña, José Luis Lingeri, Julio Piumato, Víctor Santa María, Juan Carlos Schmid and Amadeo Genta.

CFK VERSUS THE REST

Ex-president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner chose Halloween to pen an open four-page letter to militants from her house arrest criticising Presidents Javier Milei and Donald Trump and also Buenos Aires Peronist Governor Axel Kicillof, blaming the latter for last month’s Fuerza Patria midterm defeat due to his decision to advance the provincial elections. The latter (a Peronist victory by a margin of almost 14 percentage points) gave the anti-Peronist vote a chance to regroup successfully, she argued. Every other Peronist governor holding local elections on the same day as the midterms in La Pampa, La Rioja, Catamarca, Tucumán and Formosa had won, she continued (omitting Tierra del Fuego from her list), insisting that she had warned Kicillof against the move from her position chairing the Partido Justicialista. But she also blamed Trump’s intervention for the defeat. With her trial in the “cuadernos” (“corruption notebooks”) case commencing last Thursday (which she dismissed on the day as “another judicial show”), Fernández de Kirchner also found time to blast the Judiciary for being soft with ex-president Mauricio Macri while merciless with her and other Peronists, as well as mishandling the case of her attempted assassination in 2022. Argentina is on probation, she concluded.

ROAD TENDERS

Economy Minister Luis Caputo has announced a tender for the resurfacing and maintenance of over 1,800 kilometres of national highways within a model of privatisation which the minister described as “transparent, competitive and without Treasury subsidies” with the aim of having “a more modern road infrastructure encouraging private investment and taking care of Argentine resources.” The highways in question running through the provinces of Buenos Aires and La Pampa are considered crucial for the transportation of beef and dairy produce.

IGLESIAS FOR BRUSSELS

The Javier Milei government wants to appoint outgoing (and outspoken) PRO deputy Fernando Iglesias as the next Argentine ambassador in Brussels. Approval by the European Commission and the European Council could take up to three months when it will still require ratification by the Senate Appointments Committee. His nomination has come under fire from critics pointing to a lack of diplomatic training. Iglesias was proposed on the basis of having pushed the EU-Mercosur free trade agreement as chairman of the Congress Foreign Relations Committee. The new Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno has highlighted this EU-Mercosur treaty as a priority. The post in Brussels has been vacant since mid-2024. Last month the European Union replaced Spain’s Amador Sánchez Rico with the Dane Erik Hoeg as their envoy here.

GAY PRIDE MARCH

Thousands joined the 34th edition of LGBTIQ+ Pride March last weekend to converge around Congress and protest the policies of the Javier Milei government, accusing it of persecution and calling for a “halt to the policy of hate and fascist violence.” The DNU emergency decree depriving trans persons of medicaments was especially criticised. As in previous years the procession was highly colourful with a strong musical accompaniment.

RIVER BETS ON YOUTH

Businessman Stéfano Di Carlo, 36, was elected the new president of River Plate football last weekend with a landslide 61.77 percent of the 25,500 votes. The youngest president in almost a century, Di Carlo wasted no time in taking over from banker Jorge Brito last Monday for the next four years, promptly renewing the contract of River coach Marcelo Gallardo for another year despite his recent run of poor results. He is the grandson of 1989-93 River president Osvaldo Di Carlo.