Following the victory in the past legislative elections, the government of President Javier Milei began an accelerated process of reorganization, not only regarding positions and offices, but directly related to the real power in Argentine politics.
Today, with a new parliamentary composition much more favorable for the ruling party, the Casa Rosada decided to advance in the development and sending of ambitious projects, although some of them with certain doubts about their approval. This is what is happening these hours with the 2026 Budget initiative.
It is the ticking clock of the Interior Minister Diego Santilli, who is running out of time to negotiate its approval with the 'dialogist' governors. What the provincial governors are asking for is the sending of funds through National Treasury Contributions (ATN) to support the project in the National Congress, a long-standing demand. Santilli has his hands tied. He cannot exceed his powers and must respond with what the National Government can offer. Hence the pressure on the official who is working against the clock.
However, Santilli also met this past Tuesday with the ambassador of the United States in Argentina, Peter Lamelas, which can be read as an extra function within his role as minister in coordination with the provinces. However, it was nothing more than a protocol meeting, considering that Lamelas, who officially began his diplomatic work in the country a month ago, had already held meetings with Foreign Minister Pablo Quirno as well as with part of the Cabinet. These are 'introductory' meetings that Lamelas carries out with the aim of getting to know and understand the functioning of local politics in the search for agreements, especially financial ones, with the government of the United States led by Donald Trump, who has already expressed his support for the Milei administration.
But in this new map of real power in Argentina, there have been drastic changes. The biggest one was the consolidation of an Iron Triangle with other actors to the detriment of advisor Santiago Caputo. Today, after ups and downs and even trying to defuse the situation in the case of bribes in ANDIS and the supposed decision to strip power from the Undersecretary of Institutional Relations Eduardo 'Lule' Menem, he has returned to the fray and has become a point of that triangle in support of his nephew and President of the Chamber of Deputies MartÃn Menem. That is, the tripartite power scheme is today divided between the president, the General Secretary of the presidency Karina Milei and the Menem clan, which maintains certain vital levers in several key government positions.
In other words, the Forces of Heaven were relegated to a second place, something that was marked after the legislative elections of last October 26, when the president raised the flag of victory and attributed it to his sister. Something similar happens with Patricia Bullrich, who will become a fundamental lever for the Casa Rosada in Congress, not only because of her political trajectory that gave her a certain expertise, but because she will be in charge of closely monitoring the steps of Vice President Victoria Villarruel. That is, despite leaving the Ministry of National Security, her role as a senator will be of vital importance and will be even more relevant for the Government in political terms than her time in the Cabinet.
This is happening amid the changes in the Government with the empowerment of the aforementioned Diego Santilli and the Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni and the new appointments in Security and Defense.
