The Argentine president, Javier Milei, has appointed the new leadership of the Armed Forces. The far-right assigned the Air Force the leadership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the body that exercises maximum command of the military. In addition, he introduced changes in the leadership of the Army, Navy and Air Force. The most drastic modifications were made within the Army, where Milei appointed Alberto Presti as head of this arm and automatically retired 22 generals. For analysts, the Milei Government is giving “a clear message of empowerment” to the military, who now also occupy relevant positions in the Ministry of Defense.
The appointments published this Monday in the Official Gazette indicate that Brigadier Xavier Julián Isaac will be the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Rear Admiral Carlos María Allievi will be from the Air Force; Brigadier Major Fernando Luis Mengo, of the Navy, and Brigadier General Alberto Presti, of the Army. With this latest appointment, 22 senior generals automatically retire – 23 if the resignation of the former head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Juan Martín Paleo, is added. That is, two thirds of the command body, according to the estimate made by the newspaper Clarion. This is the most drastic change in the Army since the Government of Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), when the Peronist president forced 19 generals to retire.
In this way, the commanders who had links with the previous Government, of the Peronist Alberto Fernández, were left out of the Army leadership structure. Fabián Calle, a political scientist specializing in Defense issues, warns that the decision “does not have any ideological or political significance,” as he believes it did in 2003. “When you look at the names, it is a homogeneous generalship, none of them are considered even left or right,” says Calle, and appreciates that Alberto Presti was chosen as head of the Army for being a “young” soldier with a “good image” within the forces. The political scientist believes that the decision responds to a “strong renewal of the Army” that has to do with Milei's defense and security agenda. “It is an important weapon in the Government's strategy for border control and the fight against drug trafficking,” explains Calle.
Alignment with the United States
In addition, analysts are waiting to see how the appointment of Xavier Julián Isaac as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from the Air Force translates after a decade of leadership of that command by the Army. “I venture that there will be a more linear view of subordination towards the United States,” considers Luciano Anzelini, doctor in Social Sciences and professor at the Torcuato Di Tella University. A hypothesis that is consistent with Milei's intentions, who since the electoral campaign assured that his Government would align itself with the United States, Israel and “nations that respect freedom.” “We must see how the Armed Forces are reconstituted from a strategic perspective,” says Anzeli, who was an official at the Ministry of Defense between 2019 and 2022, under the management of Alberto Fernández.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff was consolidated as the highest military leadership body after the 1982 Falklands War between Argentina and the United Kingdom. At that time it was considered that the failure in the war had responded to the lack of joint action by the Army, Navy and Air Force and the body began to gain greater relevance in advising the Minister of Defense, who today is Luis Petri, former vice presidential candidate for the conservative alliance Together for Change. Since the return to democracy in 1983, the Air Force has held the leadership of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in three periods, between 1985 and 1989, in 1992 and between 2003 and 2013, a total of almost 15 years. The Army has been the arm that has been in charge of the body the longest, some 21 years in total since the end of the last dictatorship, and the Navy has only had that position of power for almost four years.
Claims
Members of the Armed Forces voted en masse for Milei in the November 2023 elections, when the far-right leader of La Libertad Avanza obtained 56% against the Peronist Sergio Massa. The new Government will have to respond to some of the historical demands of the Army, Navy and Air Force, who for years have demanded that their salaries be equal to those of the security forces and ask for a larger budget. During the Government of Alberto Fernández (2018-2023), the National Defense Fund was created and a process of salary equalization with the security forces began that is still ongoing. Within the Armed Forces they hope that these measures will continue.
In the electoral campaign, Milei's running mate, Victoria Villarruel, led the way on defense and security issues. The daughter, niece and granddaughter of soldiers, she promised to increase the budget of the Armed Forces while Milei anticipated cuts in areas such as science, health and education. Furthermore, Villarruel denied state terrorism during the last dictatorship, a speech that did not have the expected impact in the barracks, formed today by new generations of soldiers. After the triumph of La Libertad Avanza, however, Villarruel was left aside. The Security and Defense portfolios went to Patricia Bullrich and Luis Petri, respectively, whose joint candidacy was left out of the race for the Casa Rosada in the first electoral round; Both joined Milei after that defeat.
Political scientist Fabián Calle points out that the salary and budgetary improvements that can be promoted by Defense, however, will be conditioned by those allowed by the Ministry of Economy, which must control inflation that is advancing at 1% daily, according to the Government. “The military needs a stable economy, like any ordinary citizen,” says Calle. The political scientist adds that “there is also a lot to do on a symbolic level.” For the expert, the Government is giving “a clear message of empowerment of the Armed Forces.” This Monday's appointments are in addition to others made in the Ministry of Defense, where retired soldiers occupy important positions, starting with the vice minister, Claudio Ernesto Pasqualini. “They have never had such a presence in the Ministry of Defense since the return to democracy,” says the political scientist.
The institution saw its funding reduced after the return to democracy and ceased to be a relevant actor in Argentine politics with the end of the last military dictatorship (1976-1983), which caused more than 30,000 disappearances, according to the organizations' count. of human rights. The Armed Forces had controlled Argentine politics for more than 50 years. In 1930, with the first coup d'état, they began a long series that attempted to repress, first, the first mass party in Latin America, the Radical Civic Union (UCR), and then, starting in 1955, Peronism. When they handed over power in 1983, they had forcibly removed five democratic governments from the Casa Rosada, not counting the changes of command in the palace. For years, they have been trying to improve their image.
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