Friendly Fire Incident

‘Closer to the caste’ – Milei slams his own vice-president

President Javier Milei opens up on relationship with Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, declaring in an interview that she has “no influence on decision-making” in his government and doesn’t take part in Cabinet meetings.

President Javier Milei has laid bare his dissatisfaction with Vice-President Victoria Villarruel, declaring that she has “no influence” on decision-making in his government and criticising her proximity to business leaders and politicians. Milei let rip at Villarruel directly in a television interview, stating that she had “decided not to participate” in Cabinet meetings and implying that their relationship is at its worst moment.

In the past, the La Libertad Avanza has refrained from criticising his second-in-command, but for the first time, he challenged her directly. “We have the relationship that is needed institutionally to fulfil our roles,” Milei said when asked about their relationship during an extensive interview with the LN+ news channel.

“Villarruel has no influence whatsoever in the decision-making process. She does not participate in Cabinet meetings. She decided not to participate. She has long since decided not to take part in Cabinet meetings,” he revealed. “In her vision, in many of the things we do… she is closer to the red circle, to what she calls high politics, and what we call ‘the caste,’” declared Milei.

It’s not the first time that reports of tensions between La Libertad Avanza’s top two have emerged. Earlier this year, Villarruel described Milei as a “poor little ham” sandwiched between herself and his sister, presidential chief-of-staff Karina Milei – whom he describes as “the boss.”

Villarruel, a hard-right conservative, made a name for herself as the founder of a non-profit organisation that denounced the crimes of leftist guerrilla groups during the right-wing dictatorship that seized power in 1976. In her public appearances, she often focuses on more traditional priorities of the Argentine right, championing cases against abortion, LGBTQ education in schools and prison terms she regards as too lax.

She's an insane piece of shit, ardent supporter of the 1976-1983 dictatorship. Her father was in the military and her only focus in life is to create a false equivalency between the guerrillas and the military who had the State at their disposal, which they used to torture, kill, disappear people and steal babies. It goes without saying she's a massive transphobe and a zionist.

Tensions between Villarruel, 49, and Milei, 53, flared too during attempts to pass legislation and presidential decrees through the Senate, which the vice-president heads. Allies of the President accused Villarruel of not doing enough to resist opposition pressure. She was also criticised for approving pay hikes for lawmakers and staff in Congress.

Many commentators say their relationship was severely damaged by Milei’s decision to hand control of the Defence and Security Ministries – Villarruel’s preferred areas of government – to his former campaign rival-turned-ally Patricia Bullrich and her vice-presidential pick, Luis Petri. “I didn’t like it,” Villarruel said previously of Milei’s decision. “But I respect it.”

The two leaders are hardly the first presidential pair to clash. Milei’s predecessor in office, Alberto Fernández, was at loggerheads with his vice-president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, during their 2019-2023 government, with the duo reportedly going months without talking.

They're not even a year into their administration and they're already ripping each other apart lmao. Not sure what they're trying to do, but institutionally it's not looking very good. This tells you a lot about milei's mental instability, because he's not well. You can't just lash out at your VP like that, there are other channels and institutions you can use if you want to purge your VP or something I guess. I mean, there will be some consequences for shit like that you know?

It makes less sense when you consider Villarruel has some commanding power within the military. If there's anything she has done lately is attend to military barracks to speak up with people, something she's not really allowed to do because she ain't CiC, but whatever, not that like it even matters. It's not that the entire military is at her disposal, I think most military men don't really pay attention to her, but some officers might have connections with her deceased father (who was in the military and achieved a high rank) and might see her as one of their own, more specifically as part of the "Military Party", an old-fashioned coup-friendly group of people whose main ideology can be loosely described as rabid anti-peronism and anti-communism and who, over the last three decades, have lost power to the more efficient compradors coming from other areas of society (business, political parties, unions, etc). In other words, the Military Party was the US' way of getting shit done in Argentina, but in the 90s the method of carrying out constant coups to steer the country at their will became less efficient than just installing civilian neoliberal governments instead and therefore the Military Party was ditched, even though it still exists.

If anything, this exposes a deeper conflict within milei's government. I think the unwanted presence of his sister in decision-making is causing a lot of harm, after all, she's an absolute nobody but has extreme control over policy. It reminds me of the late Qing Dynasty politics, when the Emperor was surrounded by insanely incompetent advisors which had to handle extremely sensitive topics like foreign policy and stuff like supressing of the Taiping Rebellion, which they did but only after a massive bloodbath. This is more or less the same, super unqualified people are taking key posts in government and are colliding with other ministers who are more or less better qualified to hold their posts. Sure, Villarruel is a nazi lunatic, but she is a professional, she doesn't belong to that band of loudmouths like the milei siblings and the many "libertarian" trolls that now occupy State institutions.

They can kill each other for all I care.