Milei kicks off new phase with first cabinet meeting following reshuffle

President Javier Milei formalized his cabinet reshuffle on Monday morning via a cabinet meeting with new ministers Diego Santilli (interior) and Pablo Quirno (foreign affairs), as well as Chief of Staff Manuel Adorni, who will continue to be the presidential spokesman. In a photo shared online, Milei posed with his classic thumbs up next to the members of his cabinet, including the two new additions — Quirno and Santilli. Adorni was already a regular at these meetings. The president’s cabinet suffered a much-awaited shakeup over the weekend. Former chief of staff Guillermo Francos resigned on Friday, along with Lisandro Catalán, who used to be his right-hand man and had been appointed interior minister just six weeks earlier. Gerardo Werthein had already stepped down as foreign minister two weeks ago. There are likely more changes to come. Bullrich and Petri are set to leave the cabinet in December to become national senator and deputy respectively, after winning their seats in the October 26 midterms. Justice Minister Mariano Cúneo Libarona had announced his departure as well, but will reportedly stay for a few more months per request of Milei. The PRO-LLA alliance is on life support The changes, which come as Milei attempts to improve his relationship with the governors, caused some tensions over the weekend with former president and political ally Mauricio Macri, current leader of right-wing party PRO. Following a dinner with Milei on Friday, Macri harshly questioned the departure of Francos and the appointment of Adorni, who he said has “no experience” to be chief of staff. “It doesn’t seem to be good news,” he wrote on X post. At the dinner, which happened before the changes were announced, Macri told the president he thought it was a bad idea to let Francos go. The PRO is steadily losing members, as seven deputies who are aligned with Bullrich announced Sunday they were leaving the party to join LLA. PRO has been overshadowed by LLA since the start of Milei’s government, as the Libertarians captured most of their constituency. Although the two parties ran together in the last election, only LLA’s color and name was visible in the ballots. Santilli is the most recent PRO member to join the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) government, following Security Minister Patricia Bullrich appointment at the beginning of the Milei administration. There are also a number of PRO mayors who have moved on to LLA, like Diego Valenzuela. Defense Minister Luis Petri used to be a member of the Juntos por el Cambio coalition that PRO previously was part of before he moved to LLA. However, Macri said Santilli’s appointment was “very positive” for the government given his experience. “I trust that, alongside the governors, he will be able to articulate the reforms we need to implement.” Who is Diego Santilli Santilli competed in the midterm elections as the main deputy candidate in the LLA-PRO ballot in Buenos Aires province. He replaced deputy José Luis Espert after he dropped out of the race over ties with an alleged narco. Santilli’s appointment as minister means that he won’t take his seat in Congress in December, and will be replaced by another candidate from the list. Milei called Santilli to meet in private on Sunday, where he asked him to be minister, Santilli told Radio Mitre on Monday morning. He added that Milei wants to pursue a 2026 budget bill, as well as labor and tax reforms, and changes to the Crime Code. Santilli is expected to be formally appointed on Monday. Santilli will be key to pass those bills given his role is to negotiate with governors and lawmakers to get them to back the initiatives. Last week, Milei met with leaders from 20 provinces to speak about his reform ideas and mend his strained relationship with the governors. Originally a Peronist at the start of his political career, Santilli joined Macri’s PRO party in the early aughts. He was a central figure of the PRO government in Buenos Aires City. He served as environment minister (2009-2013) and justice and security minister (2018-2021), before becoming deputy mayor under Horacio Rodríguez Larreta (2015-2023). He has also occupied a seat in the Senate and was currently a national deputy for Buenos Aires province.