New president reduced Argentine government portfolios from 18 to 9; names had already been announced before the inauguration
The newly inaugurated president of Argentina, Javier Milei, signed this Sunday (10.dec.2023) his 1st decree as head of state. In the text, he made official the reduction of his government's ministries. There will be 9. Alberto Fernández's administration (2019-2023) had 18 portfolios.
The downsizing of the 1st level had been a campaign promise from Milei. He criticized the number of ministries in the previous government. At the time, he stated that there would be 8 ministers in his mandate. He later decided to keep the Health one, bringing the total to 9.
The names were already known before this Sunday's inauguration (Dec 10). They were announced progressively since the end of the 2nd round, on November 19th. The last official name was Mario Russo, precisely for Health.
Milei confirmed that, of the 9 ministries, 2 will be characterized as “super ministries”. You “superministers” will combine the functions of several bodies: Infrastructure will unify Transport, Public Works, Mining, Energy and Communications. Human Capital will include Social Development, Work and Education.
Meet the ministers of Javier Milei's government:
Luis Caputo – Economy
Luis Caputo is an economist graduated from the University of Buenos Aires. He is 58 years old and is known as the “Messi of the economy”, because of Argentina's return to international markets and external financing.
He began his political career in 2015, when he held the position of Finance Secretary in the government of Mauricio Macri. Caputo was appointed Minister of Economy in 2017 and remained until 2018, when he was appointed president of the Central Bank of Argentina and spent 3 months in the position.
In addition to his political career, Luis Caputo worked at two private sector financial institutions: JP Morgan, where he was head of financial market operations, and at Deutsche Bank, where he headed the Argentine arm of the German bank.
The economist, nicknamed “Toto”, studied at the elite Cardenal Newman school, in Buenos Aires, and became friends with Mauricio Macri. He is also the cousin of Nicolás Caputo, a construction businessman and one of Macri's best friends.
Patricia Bullrich – Security
Patricia Bullrich, 67 years old, has a degree in Humanities and Social Sciences with a focus on Communication from the University of Palermo. She has a master's and doctorate in Political Science from the University of San Martín.
Known as the Argentine Iron Lady, she was born on June 11, 1956 in Buenos Aires. She ran in the Argentine elections in the 1st round for the right-wing coalition Juntos por el Cambio (in Portuguese, Together for Change), coming in 3rd place in the election with 23.83% of the votes. She declared support for Javier Milei in the 2nd round.
Bullrich was deputy for the autonomous city of Buenos Aires from 1993 to 1997 and from 2007 to 2015. She was Minister of Security (2015-2019) in the government of Mauricio Macri. She has also served as Minister of Labor (2000- 2001) and Minister of Social Security (2001).
Although her political roots are linked to the left, the presidential candidate presents herself as a center-right politician. She is currently president of Propuesta Republicana, which is part of the Juntos por el Cambio coalition.
Cúneo Libarona – Justice
Mariano Cúneo Libarona is part of the legal office Libarona Cuneo Studio, along with his brothers Rafael, Matías and Cristián. He became known in the 1990s when representing Guillermo Coppola, Diego Maradona's former manager, and in other relevant cases, including the investigation into the attack on Amia (Associação Mutual Israelita Argentina) in 1994.
He graduated in Law from the Faculty of Political, Legal and Economic Sciences at UMSA (University of the Argentine Social Museum). He obtained a Doctorate in Criminal Law from the University of Salvador, Argentina, in 1985, and later from the University of Salamanca, Spain, in 2004. He is currently Dean at UMSA, where he also teaches Criminal Law.
He joined the National Judiciary in July 1981, at the National Court of First Instance in Criminal Matters, being promoted to senior assistant in Secretariat No. 139 of the same court in November 1982. Furthermore, he participated as a counselor in criminal television programs, such as Kaos in the City (2003), Bonaerense Police (2003) and Penal Code (2004), broadcast weekly on America TV.
The 62-year-old lawyer met the president-elect at the company Corporación América, where Milei held the position of chief economist until his inauguration as deputy in 2021. Cúneo Libarona defines a libertarian as someone with “a different head”.
He served as a lawyer and advisor to several football teams, including San Lorenzo and Newell's Old Boys. Currently, he continues to work as a lawyer and advisor to other clubs, such as River Plate and Racing.
As announced by Milei, the new Minister of Justice will have the support of Juan Manuel Berón, a financial analyst specializing in social security matters.
Guillermo Ferraro – Infrastructure
In the 2023 elections, Ferraro coordinated the national inspection of Javier Milei's “La Libertad Avanza” coalition. Previously, in 2009, he contributed to the technical teams of the Ministry of Finance of the Government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires. His CV also includes managing Banco Bisel from 2003 to 2007.
Furthermore, the future minister held the position of Undersecretary of Industry from 2002 to 2003, during the presidency of Eduardo Duhalde, and was vice-president of Nación Servicios from 2005 to 2007, under the administration of Néstor Kirchner. He was also chief advisor to Peronist Antonio Cafiero in the Senate. In the 1990s, he participated in the Constituent Convention responsible for the 1994 constitutional reform, which allowed the re-election of Carlos Menem.
For the last 13 years, the doctor in economic sciences has worked as a director at KPMG Argentina, a global company specialized in providing auditing and consulting services.
In an interview with Argentine radio MiterFerraro stated that his objective at the head of the ministry will be to encourage private sector participation and reduce State interference in the area.
Diano Mondino – Foreign Affairs
The economist was confirmed as the new Argentine chancellor as of December 10, succeeding Santiago Cafiero. She has a degree in Economics from the National University of Córdoba and a master's degree in Economics and Business Management from the University of Navarra. Additionally, she completed finance and management courses at Columbia Business School and Yale University.
Before the 2023 electoral campaign, she worked in the private sector and held, at the beginning of this year, the position of director of Institutional Relations and professor of Finance in the Master's program in Business Administration at Cema University, in Buenos Aires.
She was also Regional Director for Latin America at Standard & Poor's, based in New York, and worked for companies such as the Argentine electrical holding company Pampa Energía, Banco Supervielle and the cement company Loma Negra.
The next Argentine chancellor has repeatedly defended the idea of creating a “organ market” and proposed changes to the Justina Law. This law considers any person over 18 years of age to be a donor, unless there is an express statement to the contrary. The suggestion is to implement a cross-donation system, already supported by Argentine legislation.
Mondino has also compared same-sex marriage to having lice. In an interview in early November, he stated that “philosophically”, as a liberal, it is in accordance with each person’s life project, but the question is “much broader than equal marriage”.
“Let me exaggerate: If you'd rather not shower and be covered in lice, and that's your choice, that's it. Then don’t complain if someone doesn’t like you because you have lice.”he stated.
Sandra Pettovello – Human Capital
The 55-year-old journalist will take over the Ministry of Human Capital, which will have the largest budget in Milei's government. The portfolio will cover the areas of Social Development, Health, Labor and Education.
Sandra Pettovello has a degree in Journalism from the University of Belgrano and in Family Sciences from the Austral University. She also has a postgraduate degree in Family Policies from the International University of Catalonia, in Spain.
The journalist does not have experience in most of the areas in which she will lead. In 2022, she was appointed as vice president of the Union of the Democratic Center (Ucede) of Buenos Aires. For the past 10 years, she has worked in a private psychology office as a labor and vocational consultant.
Pettovello was also a columnist at Radio El Mundo and a journalistic producer at La Cornisa from 2001 to 2004.
Guillermo Francos – Interior
Among the ministers chosen by Milei so far, Guillermo Francos is the one who has been in politics the longest. The 73-year-old lawyer, who will take over the Ministry of the Interior in December, was Argentina's representative at the IDB (Inter-American Development Bank) from 2019 to 2023, when he resigned from his position to join the libertarian's campaign team.
Graduated in Law from the University of Salvador, Francos was a councilor in Buenos Aires from 1985 to 1993. In 1997, he became national deputy for the City of Buenos Aires, a position in which he remained until 2000.
The lawyer, who met Milei in the 2000s, was also president of the Bank of the Province of Buenos Aires from 2007 to 2011.
Luis Petri – Defense
The Ministry of Defense was the last defined by Javier Milei. The chosen one was lawyer Luis Petri, 46 years old. He was born in San Martín, a city in the province of Mendoza. He has a law degree from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral.
He was a provincial deputy from 2006 to 2013 and a national deputy from 2013 to 2021. In the 2023 elections, he ran in the primaries as a pre-candidate for the government of Mendoza, but was defeated by Alfredo Cornejo. He later ran as Bullrich's running mate for president. The ticket came in 3rd place in the 1st round.
According to Argentine media, Petri's name was suggested by Bullrich. The appointment of both men to the Argentine Defense and Security Ministries represented a loss of influence for Victoria Villarruel, vice-president-elect. This is because, during the elections, Milei stated that her running mate would be responsible for nominating the names of who would command the bodies.
Mario Russo – Health
Russo graduated in medicine from the National University of Buenos Aires. He was Health Secretary of the municipality of San Miguel from 2009 to 2015. He took over as Government Secretary in 2017.
In 2021, he became head of the coronary unit at Fleni, a non-profit organization created to contribute to the prevention and fight against childhood neurological diseases. He also served as Undersecretary for Health Policy and Planning Coordination at the Ministry of Health of the province of Buenos Aires.
CORRECTION
11.dec.2023 (00:12) – Unlike what had been published in this post, Russo was Secretary of Health of San Miguel from 2009 to 2015 and not from 2009 to 2025. The text has been corrected and updated.
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