Buenos Aires Herald 
Updated at 4 p.m.
Ruling coalition La Libertad Avanza (LLA) suffered a new defeat in Congress on Wednesday as the opposition struck down a decree issued by President Javier Milei granting the State Intelligence Secretariat (SIDE, by its Spanish acronym) a US$100 million budget for confidential purposes.
Despite the vote, the decree continues to stand and would only fall if both chambers reject it. There’s no scheduled date for the Senate to address the issue.
The bill rejecting the presidential decree passed with 156 votes in favor and 52 against, with 6 abstentions. In a surprising turn, a part of right-wing party PRO and center-right Unión Cívica Radical (UCR) voted to strike it down. Peronist coalition Unión por la Patria (UxP), as well as Encuentro Federal, Coalición Cívica, and left-wing Frente de Izquierda all voted in favor of rejecting it.
Minutes after the vote, the official PRO account on X posted a message explaining their vote. They argued that although they have backed the government in measures striving towards “change,” offering intelligence services that amount of money “in a context in which ‘there’s no money,’ without disclosing what it’s for” is a deviation from that course.
“Economic progress requires strong, transparent institutions, and an austere government,” they added. “Within PRO, those values are non negotiable.”
The session had been called for by Encuentro Federal, Coalición Cívica and some of the more confrontational members of the UCR. During the session, Coalición Cívica Deputy Juan Manuel López accused intelligence agents of pressuring lawmakers in order for the vote not to go through. “There is a lot of pressure for deputies to leave the chamber’s floor, which is serious and is coming from intelligence agents,” he said.
This is the second time one of the Congress chambers rejects a presidential decree issued by Milei. In March, the Senate voted to turn down his massive economic reform decree, but the Lower House is yet to debate it.
A key Congress commission
On Tuesday, the opposition managed to snatch the leadership of a new bi-cameral commission that will control intelligence activities that the government coveted.
LLA and PRO wanted to lead it, but in the end the presidency went to Senator Martín Lousteau, from UCR. The remaining leadership positions also went to the opposition, as Deputy Leopoldo Moreau and Senator Oscar Parrilli (both from UxP) will be commission vice president and secretary.
The three new authorities won the vote thanks to an agreement between UxP and a UCR sector led by Lousteau, which, despite being part of the so-called “friendly opposition,” has been increasingly showing discontent with the government and strengthening its role as opposition.
Intelligence services in the Milei era
In July, President Javier Milei transformed the Federal Intelligence Agency (AFI) into a secretariat directly under his orders and granted it more hierarchy and power. He also renamed it SIDE, the acronym it had for decades while being accused of corruption and illegal endeavors.
A week later, on July 23, Milei issued a decree to give the SIDE AR$100 billion (over US$100million at the official rate, US$77 million at the MEP rate). The funds were granted for confidential purposes, meaning they don’t have to give any explanations on what they use them for. Lawmakers have warned that 80% of those funds were spent in just three weeks.
Lousteau has already said he is against the decree and asked his party-mates to reject it. “I’d like to see the UCR sit, debate and vote against this decree,” he said. “If there’s no thorough control of these organisms, we would be doing democracy no favor.”
He also said that “there are clear enough signs” that those SIDE funds are being used to harass journalists and opposition members, as well as carry out political campaign activities.
“I think it’s important to control that,” he stated, adding that it was important that the intelligence commission be run by the opposition so it does not become another “tool for the government.”
