President Javier Milei has lost the 121st official of his 13-month-old administration after Argentina’s top environmental official resigned her post.
With forest fires ravaging various corners of the country and President Milei analysing a controversial withdrawal from the Paris climate accords, Environment Undersecretary Ana Lamas presented her resignation Tuesday to her long-time friend and ally, Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos, with the news breaking two days later.
"It’s for personal questions of exhaustion, but I have no problems with Guillermo Francos," the official told the La Nación newspaper, ruling out any political conflict with her friend and her boss, veteran operator and Tourism, Environment & Sports Secretary Daniel Scioli.
Lamas' replacement will be Fernando Jorge Brom, government sources confirmed Thursday.
Brom, who is already working in the Cabinet Office, held a meeting this afternoon with Scioli prior to his formal start.
Lamas becomes the third departure from government ranks this week and the 121st in total under the Milei administration.
She had been in charge of the environment brief since the start of the presidency in December, 2023, but has recently faced negative headlines over the use of public funds. Lamas was essentially criticised for having priorities other than directing her budget towards resolving the forest fires raging in southern Argentina in the past few weeks.
Last week, Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni confirmed Milei is exploring the possibility of leaving the Paris Accords, one of the most important multilateral agreements against climate change.
Late last year, Lamas was the protagonist of an unpleasant situation when — on express presidential orders via Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein — she was instructed to withdraw Argentina’s delegation from the COP29 Conference on Climate Change in Baku, Azerbaijan.
“We’re withdrawing on the instructions of the Foreign Ministry,” Lamas confirmed at that time.
The government has since distanced itself from the Pact for the Future and the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. At that time, Lamas had assured that Milei “believes climate change not to be produced 100 percent by human activity.”
An environmental lawyer, Lamas entered the Environment Undersecretaríat at the behest of Francos, whom she has know for a long time. The official previously recalled her link with him as such: “We were together in the City Legislature. He was a councillor for the Partido Federal and I was the legislative secretary of the UCEDE [centre-right] caucus.”
Lamas has vowed to continue working until her resignation is formally accepted.
“I want to at least sort out the salaries and the import and export permits which need to pass through the Environment Department. We cannot hold up companies because that was one of the objectives we set ourselves when we started out," she detailed.
Sources close to the department indicated that the resignation of Lamas could be accompanied by the departure of all top directors within the environmental portfolio.
In recent months the Environment Undersecretariat has undergone a period of uncertainty with vacancies in various areas which have only begun to be officially published this month.
This leadership vacuum could complícate the preparation of crucial reports, such as those to which Argentina is committed under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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