A group of future La Libertad Avanza lawmakers have rejected Milei’s agreement to work with former president Mauricio Macri on his campaign. In a statement released on Wednesday, they said Macri is their “moral and ideological limit.”

One of the parties in the LLA coalition, Partido Fe, confirmed to the Herald that it will form a separate bloc in the national Chamber of Deputies and the Entre Ríos provincial lower house. In Argentina, in addition to the national congress in Buenos Aires, provinces have their own congresses. 

The Herald was not able to confirm whether other parties from LLA would follow suit.

“We respect our candidate’s decision to sign an agreement with Juntos por el Cambio (JxC),” said the statement, referring to Macri’s coalition, “but we can not comply with this change of tides for electoral reasons.”

The lawmakers were elected in the October 22 elections, and will take office when the new government takes power on December 10.

The communiqué’s signatories confirm that they belong to LLA and will participate in the coalition’s blocs in the national and local legislatures. However, quoting a phrase Milei used as a campaign slogan before his deal with Macri, they said that “a different Argentina is impossible with the same old people.” 

“During […] Macri’s term, there were decisions like taking the biggest debt in Argentine history, jeopardizing future generations, even those who have yet to be born,” the text says.

Julia Calleros, an Entre Ríos provincial deputy-elect who signed the document, told the Herald that her party, Partido Fe, would form a separate bloc in the local legislature. Pablo Ansaloni, national deputy-elect and leader of Partido Fe, will do the same in the national lower house.

“We weren’t consulted about the alliance, and we don’t agree with it,” Calleros said. “We will form separate blocs as Partido Fe.”

Calleros had already announced her departure from LLA last week, alongside fellow LLA Entre Ríos provincial deputies-elect Liliana Salinas and Carlos Damasco, who also signed Wednesday’s statement. Their exit came after former JxC presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich announced she would back Milei ahead of the November 19 run-off.

Macri announced the week after the first round of the presidential elections that he would back Milei in the run-off. His shifting alliances have triggered a crisis in both JxC, whose more moderate members have ruled out an alliance with the libertarians, and in his own party, Propuesta Republicana (PRO).

“When we joined the LLA coalition, we said our limit was Macri. Now, we aren’t saying anything outlandish, we are just stating something that had already been said,” Calleros said.

“Macri did a lot of harm to all Argentines. He especially harmed workers. [Macri] is more of the same old caste.”

In addition to those mentioned above, the document is signed by national senator-elect  Ivana Arrascaeta, national deputy-elect Gerardo González, and Mercosur legislators-elect Fabiana Martin, Fabricio Cascino, Mario Nallar and David Ocaña. 

While LLA national deputy-elect Lisandro Almirón’s name appears in the list, he told the Herald that he had not signed the document. “We are still firm in our convictions and working for Javier Milei to get to the presidency,” he said. 

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