There was some weird behavior coming out of the Casa Rosada this week. While it shouldn’t be all that surprising given the current inhabitants of the official workplace of Argentina’s Executive power, several intertwined occurrences raise alarms as to the Milei administration’s capacity to effectively govern such a complex nation as Argentina, particularly in the middle of a deep economic and political crisis.
One of these events had to do with star political advisor Santiago Caputo, one of the few members of President Javier Milei’s inner circle, which means he is close with sister Karina, the presidential Chief-of-staff who her brother calls “El Jefe,” literally “the boss” in male terms in Spanish. Santiago, who is not on payroll but has amassed massive power including the restructuring of the rebranded SIDE spy agency, is allegedly the person behind a recently suspended account on social media platform X (formerly Twitter), @SnakeDocLives. The user went by the name “Red,” and its profile picture featured white gloves against a black background, holding a conductor’s baton. The imagery, obviously, suggests a sort of behind the scenes mastermind, its tweets indicating he is always one step ahead with a certain omniscient knowledge. Red’s tweets were controversial, espousing a sort of purist anarcho-capitalist Mileism while calling out the phonies, especially those close to this government. The last of a series of troubling tweets, which are read by politicians both within and outside this administration, journalists, and the “círculo rojo” or group of influential decision-makers as authored by Santiago Caputo, was a thinly veiled threat aimed at former Peronist Deputy Alejandro “Topo” Rodríguez, journalist Diego Sehinkman, the weapons and explosives regulator ANMAC, “those who drive hybrids,” and former Agriculture Minister Fernando Vilella, recently fired from this administration. The tweet “dedicated” a video of firearms and battle gear to the aforementioned group, a video that was quickly traced and found to be unoriginal, but meant to indicate those people could be targeted. It follows in the line of certain extreme digital communities where the suggestion of using extreme violence against certain groups to eradicate them is considered acceptable. Many mass shooters, who are generally young, white men, were found to have participated in these kinds of digital communities including Christchurch murderer Brenton Tarrant, Norway terrorist Anders Brevik, and Buffalo shooter Payton Gendron, among others.
Days before, Red had threatened a fellow-libertarian, X user Tano Giuliani who had come out in support of Vice President Victoria Villaruel, who has an ongoing feud with Karina Milei. Red suggested he could silence Giuliani, and days before had noted on a different tweet that he was armed with a “Glock 45/19x.” Around the same time, Santiago Caputo told his colleagues at the Casa Rosada that his wrists were hurting given he had spent a lot of time “practising” at the shooting range, according to La Nación newspaper.
The account was ultimately suspended, but the modus operandi of using it to communicate a certain hard line that the government and its allies must ascribe to has emerged. Back in March, the account @NicolaBrandeis, which went by the name “Enfant Terrible” and dubbed itself “the Political Commissar of the Government,” was attributed to Santiago Caputo by journalist Carlos Pagni, the same one who publicly uncovered the new account. That time around, the account was closed down, while this time it was suspended by X for inciting violence. It is at least puzzling that an inorganic official of this government who has amassed widespread power and influence, acts in such a childish manner on social media, as explained in previous columns. In previous exchanges with users on X who revealed a picture of a younger Caputo and what appeared to be a successive aesthetic operation of his nose, one of the associated accounts indicated that the political strategist had broken his nose fighting. Beyond having appointed the chief of spies, Sergio Neiffert—who just received approximately US$100 million in extra funding through an emergency decree—, he is said to control the Health Ministry, holds substantial influence over the Justice Ministry, the Energy and Transportation Secretaries, and the Enacom telecommunications agency, according to Pagni. Which begs the question, why would someone with that level of power resort to childish bickering on social media, which would be funny if not for the potential to exert that level of power against the people he’s threatening. Is Santiago Caputo, who doesn’t have an official post and is registered as a freelancer with the AFIP tax authority, aware of the weight of his words on social media? And if not, should he hold so much power?
A similar question could be asked of Karina Milei, the president’s sister and one of the most powerful people in this administration. She was in the news this week for contradicting vice president Villaruel in the context of the scandal regarding offensive football chants sung by the Argentine National Football team against France in the aftermath of the Copa América victory. The veep has emerged as an internal contender for power by pursuing certain unilateral moves including raising salaries in the Senate when the government was trying to demonstrate austerity, and calling Milei “pobre jamoncito,” (“poor little piece of ham”), stuck between her and Karina. After firing Sports Subsecretary Julio Garro for asking Líonel Messi to apologize for the offensive chants, Milei had shown his support for the National Football team in the global scandal. In that line, Villaruel also tweeted in support, while calling France a “colonialist” nation, sparking an immediate reaction from the Casa Rosada, with Karina immediately visiting the French Ambassador to express a public apology. Karina is portrayed as a political mastermind who not only watches her brother’s back, but is already in charge of the electoral strategy for next year’s midterm elections. She is seen as responsible for several high-profile expulsions from the government, becoming feared by the Cabinet. You are either on Karina’s good side or out of the government. Yet, she does appear to spend an important portion of her time traveling abroad to see her brother receive B-level distinctions and internally purging dissidents.
Milei’s inner circle is tight and essentially consists of Karina, Santiago, and the dogs, including the deceased Conan. This group is in charge of the political direction, ideology, and communications strategy, and are the closest advisers of the president. Human Capital Minister Sandra Pettovello could be added to the select group that is most trusted by Milei. They are passionate and most of all loyal and devout to their leader, who is painted like an illuminated visionary. Past experience isn’t a prerequisite when you have “the strength that comes from heaven on your side.” Past experience isn’t a prerequisite when you have “the strength that comes from heaven on your side.”
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