Buenos Aires, Dec 5 (NA) – National deputy for La Libertad Avanza, Lorena Villaverde, today ratified before the National Electoral Justice her resignation from the position of national senator elected for the province of Río Negro in the October 26 elections, following the loss of internal political support amidst questions about alleged ties with drug trafficking operators in Argentina and the United States.
The libertarian, who withdrew her resignation letter from the Chamber of Deputies to be able to complete her term (until December 2027), had attended the preparatory session of the Upper House last Friday with the intention of being sworn in as a senator. However, an agreement between the ruling party and the opposition prevented her from doing so, and she had to leave the premises.
In a writing accessed by the Argentine News Agency (NA), Villaverde stated that her decision "responds to strictly personal reasons, linked to the duty to safeguard" her "integrity" and that of her family.
"During the last months, I have been the victim of malicious media operations, of an obscene and deeply injurious nature, whose objective was not political debate but personal destruction," she considered in the document.
According to her, "it was a calculated violence against a woman, a mother, and a leader who is inconvenient to sectors of the old regime."
For Villaverde, "continuing under these conditions would imply validating an unjustified harm" and putting her children at risk.
"Likewise, I understand the seriousness of the institutional moment the country is going through. Certain sectors have attempted to use my personal situation as a tool to stop reforms, condition the composition of the ruling bloc in the Senate, and erode the transformation process for which millions of Argentines voted. I am not renouncing my commitment to Río Negro."
"I will not be functional to those maneuvers, nor will I allow myself to be used to distort the popular will," she affirmed.
In her account, the Río Negro legislator highlighted that her "convictions" linked to "freedom," "merit," and "responsible work" remain "intact."
"And precisely for that reason - because no office is worth more than personal integrity or the institutional future of Argentina - I understand that this resignation is the most ethical, coherent, and responsible act in the face of the current situation," she explained.
"All of the above without prejudice to considering that I am being proscribed by a group of senators who violate the National Constitution by arrogating judicial powers that do not correspond to them," she reproached.
Villaverde stated that "unfortunately, procedural times are working against her" and that in that sense she could not "allow LLA not to have all its senators in their seats to vote on all the laws that will change our country."
"I am not renouncing my convictions. I am not renouncing to accompany the transformation process that I consider indispensable for the Nation. I am only renouncing being used as a tool to harm the country and its people," she emphasized.
"I make this decision with serenity, full awareness of its institutional transcendence and profound respect for the authority of this Tribunal," she concluded.
