In the Pink House The long-rumored rumors began to gain strength that the Chief of Staff, Nicolas Posse, is on its way out. At the persistent distance with Javier Milei, that has been going on for months, the indignation of Karina Milei due to the discretion with which – he says – the official activates and stops appointments. And the former businessman, apathetic, apolitical and with a very low profile, does not defend himself from the internal fire, even when In some offices they slip that he could leave after May 25.
The suspicions deepened last night when Posse missed Milei’s show yesterday at Luna Park, where all the ministers, deputies, legislators and shipowners did go. Those around him said that he had planned to go, but not the reasons why he backed out. And although today the head of the ministers led the Cabinet meeting, like every Thursday, no one in the Government House denied the ridiculousness. At most, the President’s closest advisors refrained from speaking. One said that the objective is to put certain limits on ambitions, but that it would be very difficult to find a replacement. Furthermore, his deputy, José Rolandi, became a fundamental piece in the re-drafting of the Bases law and the conversations with the opposition.
The problems between Posse and Milei began two months ago, when the Chief of Staff increased, without prior consultation, the salaries for the Government’s hierarchical personnel, including his own and that of the President. Today in Balcarce 50 they remember that political moment as the worst of their mandate so far, a stab in the heart of the story. And every time they complain in retrospect about that bad experience, they attribute it to the coordinating minister.
The bitterness, they say in the Executive, was not unilateral, but mutual. “It’s something that became personal,” they mysteriously slipped into the Government. Despite the degree of closeness between the two – they have known each other for 20 years, when they worked at the Eurnekian Group – there was no reconciliation. And although there began to be short circuits (for example, they avoided traveling together on the same plane on the trip to Washington) at no time did the president take the reins of the silent discussion.
Karina Milei never had a particularly good relationship with Posse, but neither did she have a blatant enmity. In fact, at the beginning of her mandate, before she strengthened her ties with Martín and Lule Menem, she knew how to have a kind of tripartite partnership with the Chief of Staff and advisor Santiago Caputo. That bond was worn out in the hustle and bustle of the national administration, when the Secretary began to resent the voracity of her Cabinet colleague to appoint people she trusted.
He had already felt a bitter taste during the assembly of the Government, when he had to resign the appointment in the Legal and Technical Secretariat of his most trusted lawyer, Santiago Viola, because Posse imposed Javier Herrera Bravo. But he had decided to turn a blind eye.
The rejection towards Posse began to grow when he detected that many appointments, even of the most faithful collaborators of “the Boss” were still suspended until further notice, which causes some members of his closest team not to receive the salaries that would correspond to them for their work. I’ve been working since December. While the Chief of Staff did quickly launch the files in his area. “He has stepped on everything,” they often complain on the ground floor of the Government Palace.
Javier Milei did not kick anyone important out of his space, but Karina gave several proofs – Oscar Zago, Ramiro Marra, Eugenio Casielles – that she has no problem moving forward when she reaches the limit of distrust. And in general she showed that once she makes up her mind, there is no turning back. In this case, she would be determined to appoint Eduardo Lule Menem in her place, although there are those who mention the national deputy José Luis Espert as the number one, who went on stage with Milei last night to talk about the economy.
Posse avoids defending himself. Some say he is resigned. Others, that he wants to return to his pre-state life. Someone who knows him well had slipped, last year, when the engineer ordered the disembarkation of Milei from the Libertador building, that he would only be in the JGM for six months, a version that the offices in his orbit always denied.
In any case, not everything has been said. The Secretary of the Presidency is very trusted by Milei, but sometimes they have differences, and she was not always able to impose her will. For example, she was never able to displace the Secretary of Communication, Eduardo Serenellini. “What are you going to do, you won over Javier. He wants it,” a “Karinist” official lamented about the journalist-turned-official. No one dares to say, today, whether the head of state still wants Posse at his side. There are those who slip that the noises of recent days are, in reality, a wake-up call for the chief of ministers, who today led the Cabinet meeting as every Thursday and in the afternoon was working as always in his office on the first floor. Balcarce 50 apartment.
