Martina Jaureguy President Javier Milei’s support structure in Congress is beginning to show visible cracks as tension between ruling coalition La Libertad Avanza (LLA) and their main ally PRO escalates following the failure of an anti-graft initiative.
The two parties exchanged rhetorical blows Friday afternoon, with PRO accusing LLA of “playing in favor of the corrupt.” The libertarians responded with a jab of their own, calling their ally’s stance “opportunistic.”
The heated exchange was sparked by a botched Lower House session on Thursday scheduled to debate PRO’s anti-corruption initiative known as Ficha Limpia (Clean Record). The session fell through after failing to reach quorum, the second time in a week that this proposal failed to reach the floor for the same reason. This time, however, eight government lawmakers were absent.
PRO deputies lashed out against LLA amid rumors that the Milei administration had struck a deal with the Peronist opposition to tank the session. If approved, the Ficha Limpia bill would prevent people convicted for corruption by two separate courts from running for office. The most obvious consequence of this would be barring Cristina Kirchner from next year’s midterms, as her 2022 conviction for fraud in the “Vialidad” case was recently upheld.
In his daily press conference on Friday, Presidential spokesperson Adorni was quick to point out that a clean record bill is “part of Milei’s culture war” and denied rumors that the government had some sort of quid-pro-quo deal with Kirchner. According to these versions, the failure of the anti-graft bill was a token in exchange for Peronist votes to reelect Martín Menem as Lower House head for the next year.
PRO leader and former President Mauricio Macri made a post on X questioning the failed session without directly mentioning LLA.
“Are we really interested in keeping convicted corrupt [politicians] from occupying public positions, or do we want to feign ignorance and use that weakness as a weapon to push other negotiations?” he wrote on Thursday.
The PRO party made a post of their own explicitly criticizing LLA on Friday, saying that “the government decided to be on the other side” of what voters want and accused them of “playing in favor of the corrupt.”
LLA responded hours later by saying that while they want to work with all those who back Milei, they “won’t allow them to continue lying to society.” The communiqué went on to say that the PRO proposal was “destined to fail from the start” due to lack of support.
The ruling coalition pointed out that Macri chose current Deputy Miguel Ángel Pichetto as VP for his reelection bid in 2019, a lifelong Peronist who left the party over disagreements with Kirchnerism and joined Juntos por el Cambio, the coalition supporting Macri at the time.
“The vice presidential candidate was the biggest defender of Congressional protection for the now-convicted Cristina Kirchner. We can’t suggest that because of that Macri’s government was corrupt or complicit in impunity due to electoral interests,” they wrote.
“Using opportunism as a tool for political action is disgusting,” the communiqué read.
Rumors about a potential breakup between Macri and Milei have been going around for weeks. However, the president said in a recent interview that they have an “excellent” relationship and suggested they could even agree on a formal alliance for the 2025 legislative elections.
Macri has also stated that he has a good relationship with Milei, but has also made attempts at signaling differences between them. In an interview with news channel TN in early November, he said the lack of investments in Argentina is due to a “major lack of trust,” a clear criticism of the government. In August, he ruled out a PRO-LLA fusion.
Another point of tension lies in Macri’s relationship with Milei’s inner circle: main political advisor Santiago Caputo, and Presidency Secretary Karina Milei — the president’s sister. Caputo and Macri have long been reported to be at odds due to the former’s influence on Milei and his aggressive political strategies.
“I had intense talks with Santiago Caputo in the early months of the government, in which we planned several things that were never fulfilled,” Macri said in an interview in August.
Karina Milei, who the president calls “The Boss” and has major influence over her brother, has never been on board with Macri meddling in LLA. In late September, the former president said he didn’t really know her because they had only met twice briefly.
