PRO distances itself from government amid Adorni scandal

Right-wing party PRO, which has been President Javier Milei’s strongest ally from the start of his administration, distanced itself from the government as the corruption scandal involving Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni continues to grow. In a statement, the party led by former Argentine president Mauricio Macri said that, while they supported the libertarian government, they would not “applaud everything, even less so what is wrong.” Adorni is being investigated for illicit enrichment after it was discovered he had purchased properties he failed to include in his assets statements, while he also made large expenditures such as expensive trips and a full home renovation paid in cash, which may not match his declared income. Milei has given his chief of staff his full support and has claimed in interviews he is “innocent.” PRO also questioned the results of the government’s economic policy. The communiqué hints that Macri’s party could decide to run on its own in next year’s presidential election, after they decided to join forces for the 2025 legislative race, which Milei’s La Libertad Avanza (LLA) together with PRO won by a landslide. While PRO is not formally part of LLA, its voters were key to ensure Milei’s win in the run-off against Peronist candidate Sergio Massa in the 2023 general elections. Since the start of the libertarian government, PRO has backed Milei’s policies, especially in Congress, where they have voted favorably for all his bills, with very few exceptions.  When they joined forces to compete together in 2025, PRO’s candidates took a back seat to LLA’s nominees, a decision that left Macri’s party with significantly less Congress presence today. PRO’s presidential candidate in 2023, Patricia Bullrich, who was appointed as security minister by Milei and later left PRO to join LLA — the party she now leads in the Senate — has been the only high ranking party member to publicly demand Adorni file his assets statement to put an end to the accusations against him. PRO’s manifesto The statement highlighted, without naming any names, that LLA represented change at a time in which “Argentina hit rock bottom” during the final months of Alberto Fernández’s Peronist government (2019-2023), stressing that they supported it. “Some things started to change. But starting isn’t the same as getting there. And you can feel that, too. Because there’s a difference between the big numbers improving and your life improving,” the statement — which they called a “manifesto” — read, in reference to macroeconomic improvements that have not impacted in the day-to-day life of most Argentines. The document added that “it hurts” when “that pain goes unheard […] When no one leads by example […] When others’ sacrifices aren’t respected.” “Change has two enemies: the same old populism, which makes many promises and destroys everything”  — a reference to Peronism — “and those who stop change from the inside, with scorn, with arrogance, or by asking for sacrifices they are not willing to make,” they said, seemingly referring to Adorni’s apparently lavish lifestyle, while the government cut almost a third of public spending, and many Argentines lost purchasing power since Milei took office. PRO said they will “confront both” and that “the next step” is for change to reach Argentines’ lives.  “The next step is more roads, more hospitals, better education. And taking care of what has been done,” they added, in an apparent jab at Milei’s austerity measures, including stopping public works.