Buenos Aires, December 3, 2025 – Total News Agency-TNA-The Government announced the departure of Sergio Neiffert from the head of the Secretariat of State Intelligence (SIDE) and his immediate replacement by Cristian Auguadra, an official close to presidential advisor Santiago Caputo.
Auguadra, a public accountant with experience in auditing, risk management, institutional strengthening, and travel, is politically accountable to Caputo and is part of the circle that promotes a SIDE fully aligned with the power strategy of the presidential advisor, who could take some time to lower stress, as TNA has already reported.
The decision was formalized through Decree 852/2025, published minutes after the official announcement, and positions Auguadra at the helm of a central area within the intelligence system.
Exclusive: Intelligence Secretary's resignation accelerates crisis in SIDE and revives the struggle for control of espionage. The media exposure of the use of reserved funds, the participation of officials in activities unrelated to their specific mission seem to have had no impact at all and as the official communiqué ensures, "transparency prevailed".
Auguadra takes over at a time when the Casa Rosada is seeking to send signals of internal order after several episodes of tension in the strategic agency. To that trip were also the current director of the SIA, Alejandro Colombo, and Gonzalo Auguadra, son of the one who had to investigate said trip and is now anointed secretary of intelligence.
Within the Government, the appointment is interpreted as a consolidation of Santiago Caputo's influence in the intelligence structure. The intelligence agencies of friendly nations observe with fine attention the exclusive Argentine system.
In practice, the reorganization promises continuity, but under a leadership more loyal to Caputo and with an "administrative" core that was already gaining ground within the agency.
Three men from SIDE, an impossible mission in Azerbaijan and Colapinto a victim of Albon. The official communiqué states that the new leadership has the task of "deepening the modernization, professionalization and transparency processes" of the SIDE.
Behind closed doors, the movement reveals an internal struggle that had been dragging on and had escalated in recent weeks. Total News had exclusively revealed the trip of high-ranking SIDE chiefs to Baku—financed with reserved funds—where they attended the race of driver Franco Colapinto.
The displacement of the former "Caputista" Neiffert, initially shown as a technician in charge of "cleaning and ordering", leaves evidence that the first stage of the process was not only an administrative readjustment, but also a preparatory move to guarantee a leadership aligned with the hard core of the presidential advisor-monotributista, managing intelligence without putting his signature or holding a formal position, a "very" Juan Grabois style.
SIDE at war: A supposed summary that shakes the circle of a poorly medicated Santiago Caputo. His arrival deepens the integration of SIDE into Caputo's power scheme, consolidating a model of intelligence and with a more direct political control of the reserved funds.
With that stretch concluded, the Executive justified that the second phase had to be in the hands of a new leadership, but managed "from the shadows" by the same person, Santiago Caputo.
TNA's scoop on spies' trip to Baku. The question now is how the internal organizational chart will be reconfigured under Auguadra's command and what operational changes he will push in a structure that was already the object of tensions, fun trips and power struggles.
Among those present was Lago Rodríguez, one of the officials with the most "cash" power within the organism, and considered by various sources as the one who led the attempt to displace Neiffert. However, the context suggests that the displacement of Neiffert was not only a product of a transition, but also the political impact of Sergio Neifert informing Karina Milei where the rumors of commissions in the ANDIS scandal came from and the internal tug-of-war for the control of sensitive areas.
