Politics

First Cabinet meeting of the Argentine government after the presidential inauguration

Buenos Aires, Dec 11 (EFE).- Argentine President Javier Milei convened his cabinet ministers for the first time this Monday at the Casa Rosada (seat of the government) after the swearing-in ceremony.

Each minister will now take charge of their duties to commence the work of the new government.

The new head of state, who is still staying at the Hotel Libertador due to preparations at the Quinta de Olivos (presidential residence), arrived at the seat of government around 8:20 a.m.

According to the Necessity and Urgency Decree signed on Sunday, the leader of Freedom Advances Party (described as far-right) has fulfilled his electoral promise to reduce the number of ministries in line with the reduction of public spending, leaving only 9 of the 18 that existed until Sunday.

The ministers of his cabinet are Luis Caputo (Minister of Economy), Guillermo Ferraro (Minister of Infrastructure), Mariano Cuneo (Minister of Justice), Sandra Pettovello (Minister of Human Resources), Patricia Bullrich (Security Minister), Luis Petri (Minister of Defense), Diana Mondino (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Guillermo Francos (Minister of the Interior) and Mario Russo (Minister of Health).

The Ministry of Economy will undoubtedly be the most sensitive. This Tuesday, as announced by the presidential spokesman, Manuel Adorni, Economy Minister Luis Caputo will make public the first economic measures of Milei’s government.

Nicolás Posse, a man very close to Milei, met him when they both worked at the private company Corporación América, is the head of the Cabinet of Ministers.

Milei also appointed his sister and chief advisor, Karina Milei, nicknamed “The Boss,” secretary general of the presidency.

In order to do so, he had to repeal a decree issued in 2018 by the then-president of Argentina, Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), which prohibited nepotism.

By shaping his cabinet, Milei has built bridges with other political forces to gain allies from his coalition, the far-right Freedom Advances Party, which has a very small number of deputies and senators.

Thus, the new cabinet includes libertarians, Peronists, supporters of the former presidency of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), and the UCR, including the presidential ticket of the United for Change coalition in the last electoral cycle, former presidential contender Patricia Bullrich and former vice presidential contender Luis Petri.

The President of Argentina, Javier Milei, was sworn on Sunday as the new head of state of the South American country. He won the second round of the elections held on Nov. 19 against the candidate of the ruling party, the former Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa.

In his speech to the citizens, the president insisted on his recipe of “adjustment” to solve the country’s macroeconomic problems, which have reached almost 150% inflation over the previous year, 40% poverty, 150% exchange rate gap between the official and parallel rate (or Blue Dolar, which is an unofficial dollar rate in Argentina), impoverishment of salaries and lack of foreign reserves. EFE

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