Argentina’s Foreign Minister Gerardo Werthein has presented his resignation to President Javier Milei and will leave his post on Monday, the day after Sunday’s midterm elections, a source at the Casa Rosada has confirmed to the Herald.
Days ago, Milei said he was planning to reshuffle his cabinet after the election with a view to pursuing “second generation reforms.” However, the changes were expected after the election, once the results were known. The Casa Rosada source said that Werthein had decided to leave earlier, although his resignation letter is dated Monday.
Rumors of Werthein’s departure had begun to circulate in recent days after libertarian influencers such as Daniel Parisini blamed him for an alleged mistake by United States President Donald Trump during Milei’s visit to Washington to announce an economic aid agreement.
During the meeting, Trump said that continued economic support for Argentina depended on Milei performing well in the upcoming elections, a comment that sparked confusion about whether the U.S. leader had understood that Argentina was going into presidential elections that would lead to a change of government. Sunday’s vote is a legislative mid-term election to renew half of the Lower House and a third of the Senate.
Later that day, Trump described the vote as “mid-terms” in a post on his TruthSocial network, indicating that he was aware Milei personally was not up for re-election.
According to the Herald’s sister publication Ámbito, Werthein was hoping for Milei to publicly back him, but that support never came.
Werthein’s departure comes at a challenging political time for the government, which has faced scandals over bribery accusations and links to drug trafficking involving members of Milei’s inner circle. The election is key for the government because it will determine the makeup of Congress for the remaining two years of President Javier Milei’s term. It is broadly being taken as a referendum on the administration.
Werthein was Argentina’s ambassador to the U.S. at the start of Milei’s government. He was appointed foreign minister less than a year ago to replace Diana Mondino, who left the administration after Argentina voted against the U.S. blockade on Cuba at the United Nations — a decision the government was aware of in advance.
Three other high-ranking officials will leave the cabinet after the election: Security Minister Patricia Bullrich and Defense Minister Luis Petri are running for senator and deputy, respectively. Presidential Spokesman Manuel Adorni is also set to become a lawmaker for Buenos Aires city after coming first in May’s local elections.
