Javier Milei’s top spokesperson says an Argentine political consultant detained in Bolivia and remanded in custody as part of an attempted murder probe has no relationship with the President – despite him having visited Government House a dozen times in 2024 and advised him during the 2023 election campaign.
Presidential Spokesperson Adrián Ravier said at a press conference in the Casa Rosada Tuesday that political adviser Fernando Cerimedo is not linked to President Milei, despite their well-known past links.
“Javier Milei has had no relationship with Cerimedo since 2023. There were some entries [in the Casa Rosada], which did not include meeting the President but beyond that, the government has had no relationship with Cerimedo for the past two years,” assured Ravier in response to questioning.
The spokesman was consulted about Milei’s relationship with Cerimedo, who is under arrest in Bolivia and accused of the attempted murder of his former partner Nadia Beller, who has survived the shooting and publicly accused him of responsibility.
In his exchange with the press, Milei’s spokesman admitted that “Cerimedo played a role in the campaign prior to 2023.”
Ravier added: “In the first half of 2024 he held meetings which ended with his exit from the government and that role and not much more remains to be said.”
More generally, Ravier said that Argentina’s government is “surprised” by the news arriving from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where Cerimedo is under arrest for the shooting of his pregnant former partner.
12 times
Cerimedo visited Balcarce 50 at least 12 times during 2024, journalist Jonathan Viale reported on Monday on his programme on Radio Rivadavia.
"Watch out because Milei says that he has had nothing to do with Cerimedo since 2023, yet there were visits by Cerimedo to the Casa Rosada during 2024," he maintained. "At least 12 times there during 2024."
The first visit of the political advisor to the Rosada was December 18, 2023, a week after Milei took office, said Viale. There were several entries in 2024: January 15, February 6 and 27, March 21, April 8, 9 and 10, May 9 and 20 and June 12, 19 and 26, he added.
Two of these visits were to Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei, the President’s sister, according to records.
Apart from these visits, Cerimedo’s then-wife Natalia Basil was appointed to ANDIS (Agencia Nacional de Discapacidad) national disability agency in 2024.
Nadia Beller, the ex-partner of the political consultant and victim of the attack by hitmen, stated that she had taped conversations in which Cerimedo and Basil affirm that they leaked the voice messages to expose the corruption within the organisation.
Quizzed about his links to Cerimedo in a recent radio interview, Milei answered: "Do you know how many people enter and exit politics all of the time? Again, he is somebody who has no link with us of any kind, the links stopped in 2023.
“Again, we do not rule out [Marcela] Pagano, [Franco] Bindi, Evo Morales, the Latin American left and Lula [Brazilian President Luiz Inácio da Silva] being behind all this," said Milei, listing his supposed enemies.
Media exit
Meanwhile, journalist Javier Negre has affirmed that Cerimedo completely parted company with right-wing website La Derecha Diario the week before he was arrested in Bolivia.
Negre, owner of the fiercely pro-Milei portal, divulged the information during a radio interview, explaining that Cerimedo had contacted him personally to tell him that he had accepted an offer to buy his shares which he had put up for sale a few months ago.
“Since last week Fernando reached a private agreement to totally break off his links with La Derecha Diario and my person,” affirmed Negre, who detailed that the conversations concerning the consultant’s exit had begun early this year.
According to his explanation, the decision was linked to Cerimedo’s scant participation in the day-to-day running of the portal. “I asked him please to leave because he had no direct role in management,” claimed Negre.
The polemicist indicated that an agreement had already been verbally reached and was finally formalised in writing on August 21, with Cerimedo’s arrest delaying the final stages.
This version of events coincides with the public statements of Beller, who came out in defence of Negre, rejecting that the Spanish journalist should be linked to this case.
“I knew that Fernando had sold his shares as part of a process of fine-tuning his companies in order to move ahead with his divorce process,” maintained the woman in her social networks.
– TIMES/NA/PERFIL
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