News of villarruel

‘Closer to the caste’ – Milei slams his own vice-president

Yesterday 23:33 President Javier Milei opens up on relationship with Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, declaring in an interview that she has “no influence on decision-making” in his government and doesn’t take part in Cabinet meetings.

LOCAL REACTION

Argentina’s right celebrates Trump’s victory in US election

06-11-2024 15:39 Figures from Mauricio Macri’s PRO party celebrate Republican leader’s win in US presidential election as Milei government officials revel in news.

Foreign relations & diplomacy

VP Villarruel breaks ranks over Argentina-UK agreement

28-09-2024 09:54 Victoria Villarruel, Argentina’s military-loving vice-president, highlights disagreements over new accord and asks if United Kingdom is “playing us for fools”; New agreement between Buenos Aires and London is “contrary to national interest,” supports “occupation” and allows “plundering” of seas, she argues.

BEYOND THE HEADLINES

When ugly ducklings are black swans

31-08-2024 05:27 How can the libertarian creed possibly have anything in common with the totalitarian model of a military dictatorship?

by Michael Soltys

human rights & judiciary

Villarruel vows to reopen criminal cases against anti-junta guerrillas

28-08-2024 11:52 Criticism rains down from human rights groups as Vice-President Victoria Villarruel promises to reopen criminal cases against left-wing guerrillas in speech at Senate ceremony for victims of terrorism.

As I see it

Milei’s party a prey to infighting

24-08-2024 05:29 In democratic countries, leaders of a ruling party that has little to fear from an opposition in disarray soon find themselves confronting internal rebellions. In Argentina, Javier Milei’s party finds itself in a similar situation.

by James Neilson

POLITICS – ANALYSIS

War between Milei and Villarruel escalates

22-08-2024 14:33 Dispute between President Javier Milei and Vice-President Victoria Villarruel has been publicly exposed. The question is no longer why it is happening, but how it can end.

by Javier Calvo

Congress & Politics

Milei's 'Ley de Bases' bill clears Senate as VP casts decisive vote

12-06-2024 23:24 Senate gives general approval to President Milei's 'Ley de Bases' mega-reform bill after fresh round of amendments.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Milei’s flagship reforms head for Senate vote

30-05-2024 16:50 Vice-President Victoria Villarruel and new Cabinet Chief Guillermo Francos secure signatures, allowing 'Ley de Bases' to clear committee stage in Senate.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Argentina bonds climb as Milei deregulation plan moves forward

30-05-2024 14:02 Members of Senate general, budget and constitutional committees approve sending the so-called 'omnibus' bill to all senators.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Attention turns to upper house as senators await omnibus bill

02-05-2024 18:09 La Libertad Avanza begins plotting path of Javier Milei’s omnibus bill and accompanying fiscal package through upper chamber.

Marcha federal universitaria

Milei on education march: ‘Using a noble cause to defend caste interests’

24-04-2024 17:44 Milei used social media to unload on critics and dismisses universities march, accusing "the caste" of using a “noble cause” like education to “defend their caste interests.”

NO HAY PLATA?

Rebellion in Senate: Pay increase passed by show of hands and without debate

18-04-2024 17:40 Milei lashes out via social networks after senators vote to approve pay increase; "2025 will see a historic hiding" for the caste, says President.

POLITICS & HUMAN RIGHTS

Alberto González: ESMA torturer – and vice-president’s mentor

29-03-2024 21:02 He headed the dreaded “underground” of the ESMA Navy Mechanics School concentration camp. Convicted for crimes against humanity, Alberto González was also the first dictatorship-era criminal to be sentenced for rape. He is also the mentor of Argentina’s Vice-President Victoria Villarruel.

by Juan Luis González

24 de MARZO

Milei government casts doubt over dictatorship crimes

24-03-2024 18:49 Milei administration echoes vice-president's line, demanding justice for "the victims of terrorism" during military dictatorship era and questioning 30,000 disappeared estimate from human rights groups.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Argentines send message with march in memory of dictatorship

24-03-2024 17:03 Huge crowds head to Plaza de Mayo to mark the 48th anniversary of the coup d'état that brought Argentina’s brutal 1976-1983 military dictatorship to power, resulting in the disappearance, exile and execution of tens of thousands of people in secret death camps across the country.

POLITICS & ECONOMY

Villarruel vies with Karina Milei for influence over president

22-03-2024 18:29 Officially, Victoria Villarruel is Javier Milei’s second-in-command. But the president has left little doubt that there is only one adviser who truly has his ear: his younger sister Karina.

100 days of Milei

100 days of Milei: Constructing political enemies and catharsis online

19-03-2024 13:44 The President marked his style from day one, when he broke with tradition and turned his back on Congress. Whatever the fight, he finds his catharsis on social networks.

POLITICS & CONGRESS

Milei’s bold decree suffers major setback after repeal in Senate

14-03-2024 21:18 President's initial dose of shock therapy teeters on the edge of collapse after Senate defeats his sweeping executive decree.

POLITICS & CONGRESS

Blow for Milei as Senate rejects sweeping mega-reform decree

14-03-2024 20:31 President's sweeping deregulation DNU rejected by senators in upper house; Emergency deregulation decree now heads to lower house Chamber of Deputies, where it must also be voted down if it is to be repealed; Tensions reported between head of state and Victoria Villarruel, his vice-president.

CONGRESS & POLITICS

Senate set for debate as Milei's deregulation decree hangs in balance

13-03-2024 15:48 Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, in her role as head of Senate, accepts opposition's request for debate and calls special session for Thursday to address President Javier Milei's sweeping emergency deregulation decree.

POLITICS

Amid anger at pay hikes, Milei trolls feminists on #8M

08-03-2024 12:42 Following controversy over lawmakers' pay hikes, President Javier Milei’s administration trolls feminist campaigners on International Women’s Day by announcing it will rename the Casa Rosada’s “Salón de las Mujeres.”

HUMAN RIGHTS

Milei's human rights secretary on future of ex-ESMA memory site

19-12-2023 17:07 New head of Human Rights Secretariat, Alberto Baños, offers Milei government’s first definitions regarding future of ex-ESMA memory site questioned by Vice-President Victoria Villarruel.

POLITICS & ECONOMY

Milei the pragmatist and Toto’s ‘caputazo’

16-12-2023 06:06 The ‘caputazo’ replaced pure austerity with a mix of higher taxes together with spending cuts and the “dilution” of part of the deficit through high inflation. The next few months will see runaway inflation run even farther away and put intense pressure on the population, as wages and salaries fall even farther behind.

by Agustino Fontevecchia

Congress & Politics

La Libertad Avanza clinches Senate provisional president: Bartolomé Abdala

14-12-2023 10:13 In the first session presided by Victoria Villarruel, fierce procedural clashes between Unión por la Patria and the other caucuses.

Presidential inauguration

Milei's maiden speech to focus on moderating expectations

05-12-2023 16:16 Victorious presidential candidate will speak at his inauguration of the economic chaos left by the Alberto Fernández Presidency and why he will be unable to achieve results in the short term.

by Juan Pablo Kavanagh

Election 2023

Congress formally endorses winning Milei-Villarruel ticket

30-11-2023 00:45 Legislative Assembly proclaims formula of Milei and Villarruel at event attended by lawmakers from all parties; Regulatory step before December 10 inauguration.

Human rights

Protesters in Buenos Aires admonish incoming government’s ‘denialism’

24-11-2023 16:53 Activists join weekly Madres de Plaza de Mayo march to admonish Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel over their “denialism” of state terrorism during 1976-1983 military dictatorship.

VICE-PRESIDENTIAL HANDOVER

Fernández de Kirchner, Villarruel hold ‘historic’ transition meeting

23-11-2023 00:48 “Cordial and respectful” meeting held in the outgoing vice-president’s office at Senate, with no photographs taken; Villarruel says she will be "working all summer through."

IN FOCUS: VICE-PRESIDENT-ELECT

Victoria Villarruel: First vice-president to play down dictatorship’s crimes

22-11-2023 11:37 By presenting herself as a militant of "complete memory," the La Libertad Avanza vice-president-elect has constructed her political figure around the controversial “theory of two demons,” equating left-wing killings with state terrorism.

ELECTIONS 2023 – ANALYSIS

Macri has a Plan A and a Plan B

16-11-2023 11:41 Former president's bet on Javier Milei, outlined during campaigning and quickly confirmed after the first round vote, has put Mauricio Macri back in the spotlight.

by Javier Calvo

HUMAN RIGHTS

Victoria Villarruel criticises ESMA dictatorship world heritage site

14-11-2023 13:55 Far-right vice-presidential candidate Victoria Villarruel suggests ESMA memory site, once home to detention and extermination camp, should be turned into a school; Javier Milei’s running-mate alleges widespread corruption in government’s human rights policies.

election 2023: VP DEBATE

Vice-presidential candidates clash over poverty and human rights

09-11-2023 20:05 Exchanges over crime, state terrorism and economy and accusations of lying dominate high-voltage debate between Agustín Rossi and Victoria Villarruel.

HUMAN RIGHTS

The imperious need to penalise denialism

27-09-2023 13:12 There are issues, like crimes against humanity, which should be beyond electoral speculation. With the same speed with which the government secured approval for amending the income tax threshold, it should also now approve a law to condemn denialism with the support of Juntos por el Cambio and a united opposition.

by Jorge Fontevecchia

GUEST VOICE

Victoria Villarruel, human rights, and truth

22-09-2023 05:19 Many victims and relatives of victims of armed organisations neither feel represented by, nor do they endorse, Victoria Villarruel’s claims and views on human rights.

by Gustavo Llarull**

ELECTION 2023

Vice-presidential candidates clash in heated television debate

21-09-2023 00:46 Victoria Villarruel, Agustín Rossi, Luis Petri, Nicolás del Caño and Florencio Randazzo fired rhetorical darts at each other in an often bad-tempered vice-presidential debate.

Human rights

Ex-Trial of the Juntas judge: ‘Argentina should punish denialism by law’

20-09-2023 16:32 One of the judges who sat on the court that convicted Argentina’s military junta of crimes against humanity declares that “denialism tends to undermine the validity of the democratic rule of law.”

Politics

The make-up of Victoria Villarruel’s inner circle

07-09-2023 15:04 Javier Milei’s vice-presidential candidate has close group taken from her teams from the Fundación Oíd Mortales and the Partido Demócrata of Buenos Aires Province. Trajectories and thoughts of a hermetic group on the rise.

by Giselle Leclercq

Human rights

Outcry at event puts Villarruel's dictatorship beliefs in spotlight

05-09-2023 16:23 Demonstrators protest against Victoria Villarruel's event paying tribute to "the victims of terrorism" held at the City Legislature.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Victoria Villarruel on the military dictatorship and era of state terrorism

05-09-2023 11:58 Javier Milei’s running-mate leapt into politics from her militancy in organisations for "a complete memory" of the 1976-1983 era of state terrorism. Her statements on the military dictatorship, response to those who accuse her of denialism and the national deputy’s links with dictators.

ELECTION 2023

Milei draws up plans to ‘free’ Argentina’s Judiciary

31-08-2023 13:46 Libertarian presidential hopeful believes that Argentina’s “political caste” has “taken the Judiciary hostage.” Claiming that he wants to remove political pressures and fill judicial vacancies, Javier Milei could make Guillermo Montenegro, a candidate for national deputy and a figure close to Victoria Villarruel, his judicial operator, should he reach the Casa Rosada.

by Juan Pablo Kavanagh

ELECTION 2023

Rumours and confirmations: Milei assesses potential cabinet options

26-08-2023 00:27 Propelled by his PASO primary victory, the libertarian lawmaker’s team is hurriedly assessing its options. The presidential hopeful has already said who will be heading Ministries of Foreign and ‘Human Capital,’ the latter pooling sensitive areas under the leadership of a woman with an unknown background. Who might join a Javier Milei cabinet if he is elected as president: confirmed names and rumours.

by Giselle Leclercq

Election 2023

Electoral platform: Dollarisation, privatisations, guns, no sexual ed

18-05-2023 15:33 Leaked electoral platform presented by libertarian lawmaker to Judge María Servini features more than 60 proposals he aims to put into practice if he becomes president.