Far-right president-elect Javier Milei said during interviews on Monday that lawyer Mariano Cúneo Libarona will be his future justice minister and national deputy Carolina Píparo will lead the social security administration during his government. 

The names include a mix of allies from his campaign and newer figures, such as Cúneo. He kept mum, however, on his economy, security, and defense ministers.

In a press statement published on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday afternoon, an account called “The Office of President Javier Milei” said that Milei would not formally announce his appointments until he takes office. His inauguration will take place on December 10.

Milei’s press team did not immediately respond to confirm the statement’s authenticity, but his La Libertad Avanza coalition’s official X account shared the post.

During an interview with Radio Mitre on Monday morning, Milei confirmed that his government will have just eight ministries. Economist Diana Mondino will be his foreign minister, engineer Nicolás Posse his chief of staff, and Sandra Pettovello his minister of human capital. 

The latter is a new portfolio that will combine health and labor, which will no longer be ministries in their own right. Gustavo Morón, who served as labor risk superintendent during the right-wing government of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), will be labor secretary.

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Lawyer Cúneo Libarona rose to fame in the 1990s when he defended Guillermo Cóppola, the former manager of football superstar Diego Maradona, in a drug dealing case. His other high-profile work included defending two of former President Carlos Menem’s siblings-in-law: Emir Yoma was charged with illegal arms dealing and Amira Yoma was charged with money laundering and drug dealing.

Cúneo Libarona spent a brief stint in jail in the late 1990s for allegedly helping to cover for two policemen accused of stealing evidence regarding the 1994 bombing of the AMIA Jewish community center. He was released after one month, when the policemen were acquitted.

He is currently the defense attorney of Enrique Barre, a former Buenos Aires Province policeman standing trial for crimes against humanity committed during Argentina’s last dictatorship, according to La Retaguardia.

Píparo, who ran for governor of Buenos Aires Province this year but lost to Peronist Axel Kicillof, is a social worker. She will lead the ANSES social security administration, which handles pension and social welfare payments. Milei confirmed that the pensions system will not be privatized under Píparo’s administration, like it was between 1993 and 2008.

Píparo has been a national deputy for Buenos Aires Province since 2017, first as a member of opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio, and since 2021 as part of the libertarian bloc. During her time in politics, she has espoused hardline stances on crime.

Milei added that he had chosen an economy minister, but decided to postpone the announcement, claiming that outgoing Economy Minister Sergio Massa (the losing candidate in Sunday’s runoff) and his allies would “torpedo” his candidate before he took office.

Vice President-elect Victoria Villarruel will be in charge of selecting the security and defense ministers, Milei added.