Buenos Aires, November 30, 2025 – Claudio “Chiqui” Tapia not only runs the Argentine Football Association (AFA): he also presides over one of the most sensitive, opaque, and strategic entities in the metropolitan area, the Metropolitan Area Ecological Coordination State Society (CEAMSE).
Photos with new national team jerseys—model with the number “10” and his own name—symbolize a sort of tacit pact between the head of the AFA and the mayors.
The man in charge of maintaining these ties is Carlos Montaña, a close associate of Sergio Berni and vice president of Independiente. From there, he controls the garbage collection for 45 municipalities, administers billions monthly, and maintains a direct link with the mayors of the conurbation, whom he receives, as if in an initiation ceremony, with national team jerseys stamped with the number “10” and their names.
Experts like Raúl Álvarez (environmental lawyer) criticize the “landfill as an environmental genocide,” with leachates affecting the aquifers in González Catán and José León Suárez, where residents report cases of cancer and malformations.
All of them with their new sky-blue and white jerseys, a political gesture that says much more than the photo shows.
However, behind the football postcard lies the core of Tapia’s hidden power: CEAMSE, a state entity with 1,300 employees, an unusually high number of executives, and a highly outsourced system that, according to information obtained by Total News Agency, presents gray areas in waste management, toll billing, and internal mechanisms that urgently require judicial attention.
A strategic entity, unclear management, and the silence of power
TNA has accessed information revealing dubious practices in sensitive areas of CEAMSE, especially in:
the control of garbage and the collection and final disposal circuit, where outsourced contracts without public traceability prevail; “black” billing on the Camino del Buen Ayre toll road, managed by the company; an oversized organizational chart, with an excess of directors and managers whose real role is difficult to determine.
In a system of this nature, with billions at stake, the lack of transparency is an evident institutional risk.
His appointment coincided with his rise, promoted by the Province, where Axel Kicillof placed him as president at the end of that year.
CEAMSE administers the environmental complexes of:
North III: receives 85% of the AMBA's waste; González Catán; Ensenada; Ezeiza.
All of them are critical nodes for the functioning of the conurbation.
Perhaps a complaint is needed to prompt judicial action or a prosecutor to decide to investigate on their own initiative.
Mayors, garbage, and power: a perfect political board
Each of the 45 municipalities in the conurban area that dispose of their waste in CEAMSE's complexes pays around 200 million pesos monthly, a variable amount depending on volumes and subsidies.
He represented the Buenos Aires City Government in the vice presidency until Jorge Macri decided to remove him in 2024 for “not being able to dedicate time to the position.”
There are many instances where the Camino del Buen Ayre remains in the dark despite the high toll paid.
At his last meeting, on November 19, Tapia posed smiling alongside the mayors Federico de Achával (Pilar), Federico Otermín (Lomas de Zamora), Nicolás Mantegazza (San Vicente), and Gastón Granados (Ezeiza).
This cash flow turns the relationship with Tapia into a link of high political dependence.
Therefore, every meeting with mayors becomes a space for building territorial power.
Tapia's presence—a leader already questioned for his practices in the AFA—makes this risk even greater.
For many observers, it is striking that an entity with almost all of its services outsourced maintains a workforce of 1,300 employees.
For now, however, everything continues as if nothing has happened.
Tapia smiles, hands out “10” jerseys, and accumulates power.
The garbage, as always, is swept under the rug.
Montaña, who has been with CEAMSE for a decade, is considered one of the most influential operators in the internal structure.
A company with a political history and constant tensions
Tapia has been a permanent member of the entity's staff for two decades.
Meanwhile, the “dirty gold” of the garbage—a USD 1 billion business—remains state-owned in the hands of CABA and the Province of Buenos Aires, but under scrutiny for equity and health.
And all of them, under the leadership of a football unionist who now also handles garbage, mayors, funds, and a key entity that, according to data obtained by TNA, urgently requires a deep review.
A parallel power growing unchecked
The combination of:
football influence; territorial management through the mayors; control of metropolitan waste; million-dollar resources; and low transparency
makes CEAMSE a central player in the real power in Buenos Aires.
Meanwhile, opposition leaders and public management experts warn that the irregularities must be investigated by both the Justice system and control bodies.
CEAMSE responds with monitoring (370,000 irregular requests processed in RASE) and a “zero waste” goal via TMB, but without incineration or massive landfills, the future hangs on pending tenders.
In an AMBA that generates 16.5 million tons/year, the transition is urgent: expanded biogas or European thermal valorization?
In this context, there are more than a few who believe that a man in the style of Federico Sturzenegger, focused on state modernization, should “take a look” at CEAMSE to closely observe management practices that smell of another era.
