Milei leaves the luxury hotel where she lived for the last few months to move to the presidential residence

The Argentine president, Javier Milei, will move into the presidential residence this Monday after months staying in a luxury hotel. Milei lived during the final stretch of the electoral campaign and his first month as head of state in a four-star accommodation in the center of Buenos Aires. The Hotel Libertador has been the center of operations for Milei's party, La Libertad Avanza, until now, when the far-right party will finally leave the establishment, as announced by the Government. National media claim that the president paid part of the accommodation with a personal credit card, but the Casa Rosada has not yet given details about the expenses of the stay as of December 10, when Milei assumed the Presidency.

The Hotel Libertador, a 20-story building from the 1970s, is located between the financial center of Buenos Aires and one of the richest neighborhoods in the Argentine capital. Mieli settled there during the electoral campaign, when he was still a legislator, and that has been his residence for the last few months. There his followers celebrated with lion masks and cardboard chainsaws on the night of November 19, when the far-right won the electoral victory with 56% of the votes; Milei later met there with his Cabinet, with foreign leaders, with businessmen, with journalists; Social organizations also mobilized at its doors last week to complain about the critical Argentine economic situation, which has worsened in recent years, and to ask for food for soup kitchens.

During this time, the far-right has changed apartments and rooms. An investigation from elDiarioarHowever, he assures that since December 10 the president has occupied the Junior Suite and has contracted an adjoining room for his custodians. The newspaper states that between October 22, when the first round of the elections was, and December 10, when Milei took office as president, the far-right paid three million pesos with his credit card, about $7,600 at the official value. from that moment (390 pesos per dollar unit), for the stay. The price he paid per night, according to that calculation, is $150. “A highly promotional price,” the journalists point out. The current value of the Junior Suite is $250, as shown on the hotel's official website.

It was Karina Milei, sister of the far-right, who chose for the hotel to become the La Libertad Avanza campaign center. “El Jefe looked for it well, huh,” Milei told a journalist who interviewed him before his victory. The boss is the nickname Milei calls her younger sister, who was the strategist of her campaign and is today secretary of the Presidency, a position of great trust for the president. Between Milei and the journalist, on the screen, the name of the establishment appeared. The hotel received great publicity during the campaign and there were times when it was not possible to find available rooms.

Milei's stay in this accommodation has been investigated by different media and questioned by the opposition. In addition to doubts about financing, which the Casa Rosada has assured that it will clarify – they affirm that no public funds were used -, there are reservations about Milei's closeness to businessman Eduardo Elsztain, owner of the hotel. Elsztain is president and main shareholder of IRSA, one of the largest real estate groups in the country and owner of the main shopping centers. The businessman accompanied Milei on his first trip to the United States as president and attended his inauguration as president. Another question arises from the dissemination of the visits that Milei had in the establishment while he was president, information that the Government has refused to communicate until now.

Milei returned over the weekend from a trip to Antarctica, where he visited the Marambio Base with part of his Cabinet, and this Monday he will sleep at the Quinta de Olivos, the official residence of the Argentine presidents since 1955. The house is located in a 30 hectare property on the northern outskirts of Buenos Aires, in the town of Olivos. The Casa Rosada, headquarters of the Executive, in the center of Buenos Aires, is located 15 kilometers from that farm. The presidential spokesperson, Manuel Adorni, reported at the Government's daily press conference that this week the president will continue to hold Cabinet meetings on Tuesday and Thursday at the Casa Rosada. “It is something dynamic,” the spokesperson warned, however, because Milei expressed during the campaign his intention to govern from Olivos and not from the Casa Rosada.

The renovations to the residence, which presidents carry out before moving in there, were partly delayed by the construction of kennels for Milei's four mastiffs, which have been in a nursery since the far-rightist settled in the Hotel Libertador. “Some weigh more than one hundred kilos, the idea was to be able to adapt some structures so that my little children can be as well as possible,” the president said this Sunday in a radio interview. The president's move was urgent because the residence cannot be uninhabited for more than 30 days in a row, according to the newspaper. Page 12. That period ends on January 10, one month since the previous tenant, the Peronist Alberto Fernández, officially left the presidential villa.

Subscribe here to newsletter from EL PAÍS América and receive all the key information on current events in the region.