Ruling party La Libertad Avanza (LLA) kicked out Buenos Aires city lawmaker Ramiro Marra for “contradicting President Javier Milei’s ideals” after he voted to approve the Buenos Aires city 2025 budget bill, a vote that took place in December. 

In an X post late Wednesday night, LLA announced that Marra no longer belongs to the party “at a national level nor in any other district of the country” and that the decision is “irreversible.”

The expulsion was “a consequence of not following the party’s guidelines and having voted for the unacceptable tax increase in Buenos Aires City,” the short text said, referring to the budget bill.

“All those who do not respect the President’s agenda will be expelled. It doesn’t matter who they are.”

LLA informa que el legislador Ramiro Marra ya no forma parte de La Libertad Avanza a nivel nacional ni en ningún distrito del país, de manera irreversible, como consecuencia de no seguir los lineamientos del partido y haber votado a favor del inaceptable aumento de impuestos en…

— La Libertad Avanza (@LLibertadAvanza) January 30, 2025

An hour later, Marra responded with his own post: “LONG LIVE LOYALTY. LONG LIVE FREEDOM, DAMMIT. We’ll speak tomorrow.”

VIVA LA LEALTAD.

VIVA LA LIBERTAD CARAJO.

Mañana hablamos.

— Ramiro Marra (@RAMIROMARRA) January 30, 2025

Marra, 42, is one of eight LLA lawmakers in the capital’s legislature. He was elected as part of the LLA coalition in 2021, and is considered one of LLA’s co-founders. Marra was also very close to Milei at the time, and ran for mayor of Buenos Aires in the 2023 elections. 

During the campaign, Marra famously encouraged Argentines to save in cans of tuna, arguing that they held their value better than the peso. In May, he announced that he had eaten them, because under Milei’s government, Argentines no longer needed to stockpile goods.

In mid-December, Marra and two other libertarian lawmakers backed the budget bill issued by Mayor Jorge Macri, with whom Milei has an ongoing feud. However, LLA did not announce their expulsion at the time.

It’s unclear what implications Wednesday’s announcement has for Marra. He is the president of the Libertarian Party, a member of the LLA coalition formed for the 2023 presidential elections. In November, Presidential Secretary Karina Milei — who is rumored to dislike Marra — launched LLA as a national party. 

This is the third high-profile LLA departure in a week. On Friday, Rodolfo Barra was asked to step down as head of the Treasury’s Prosecution Office. Eduardo Serenellini resigned as the government’s press secretary for “personal reasons” on Tuesday. According to political scientist Pablo Salinas, after Serenellini’s departure, the number of officials to have left Milei’s government since he took office reached 116.