Milei clings to Adorni as Congress demands his head and libertarian infighting erupts

Weeks go by and everything remains the same at the Casa Rosada. With a president furious with the media and journalists, an economy that promises at the macro level but does not reflect in people’s pockets, and Manuel Adorni still in his position despite everyone calling for his removal. The novelty is that those voices are now heard within the libertarian ranks themselves. Today, only the President still supports him. Not even his sister Karina, the all-powerful secretary general, seems to be on his side.

Milei is obsessed with keeping Adorni. This weekend he took him to Rosario for the Flag Day events, in a show of explicit support. But the gesture did not go unnoticed: Vice President Victoria Villarruel was not invited by the government, although the Santa Fe authorities did summon her. Villarruel took the opportunity to mark her territory: she did not applaud the presidential speech, spoke to the press, and described Milei’s failure to greet or invite her as «a terrible message.» Moreover, she dropped a bombshell phrase: «No one is more at odds with Belgrano’s values than Adorni.» With that, she made it clear that she will be a presidential candidate next year. Perhaps it won’t be enough for her to become the opposition figure sought, but she will have the power to damage Milei’s electorate.

Let’s go back to Adorni. On Friday, Milei invited him for breakfast at Olivos, but the meeting lasted more than six hours. There they finalized a key issue: the appointment of a new presidential spokesperson, a position Adorni no longer formally held. The chosen one is Deputy Adrián Ravier, a 47-year-old economist with a particular past: between 2018 and 2020, Milei called him «total imbecile,» «charlatan,» «donkey,» «idiot,» and «terrible economist.» One must acknowledge the President’s ability to mend relationships. Around 1:30 p.m. on Friday, Adorni himself announced the appointment on social media platform X.

Senator Patricia Bullrich celebrated the announcement, considering it a great step to «unblock the government’s communication,» in a veiled criticism of the devalued Chief of Staff. The decision was made by Milei, not by his sister. Ravier is described as «close to Santiago Caputo,» but has a good relationship with Karina. In short, he is more a man of Milei than of any faction.

Ravier’s arrival implies a change in the officialist bloc in the Chamber of Deputies. He will be replaced by Martín «Facha» Matzkin, son of a former president of the Peronist bloc during Menem’s time, and very close to Bullrich. The head of the officialist bloc in the Senate is the one who has internally raised the need to remove Adorni. And she is increasingly convinced, given that the status quo harms her work. The officialist bloc is stalled in Congress due to Adorni’s presence in both chambers.

In the Senate, the officialist bloc barely managed to prevent the issue from exploding last week, negotiating a postponement of the session to next Thursday. They agreed that day to vote on the interpellation of the Chief of Staff for July 2, the same day Adorni committed to delivering his first management report. There would be two instances: first the interpellation and then the report. But the hardest-line opposition wants to vote immediately afterward on a censure motion.

Bullrich is confident that by then Adorni will no longer be in office. She conveyed this to Karina Milei, who reportedly replied to let a few days pass. That is, she did not reject the departure of the one she has so protected. But Milei has given no signs that he will accept «handing over» his official. The officialist bloc now wants to modify what was agreed in the Labor Committee meeting: it proposes that the interpellation require two-thirds, not just an absolute majority, a criterion imposed by José Mayans. Since there is no precedent for removing a Chief of Staff, there is a legal vacuum that the government does not want to establish.

Under no circumstances do they accept that the interpellation be enabled by a simple majority. For Mayans, that issue is already resolved and he refuses to attend the new Labor Committee meeting requested by the officialist bloc. The dialoguing opposition wants Adorni out, but looks favorably on the interpellation being voted by two-thirds. In the Chamber of Deputies, they are watching what happens in the Senate. There is a session requested by the opposition for this Tuesday, June 23, and another for the following day, requested by the officialist bloc, to deal with the agreement with holdouts and the «Super RIGI.» Time is running out and the libertarian infighting shows no respite.

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