"The agreement I made with Javier is to be Minister of Security." That comment comes from the mouth of Patricia Bullrich when asked how she will enter the government of La Libertad Avanza. With that phrase, rather than confirming, he rules out possible scenarios: he will not accept another position, even less if the rank of secretary is downgraded to a ministry to which his name is nominated.
The last reason for anger of the former candidate for president of Juntos por el Cambio had to do with a version that emerged from media related to Kirchnerism that in the meeting she held with Milei on Thursday morning, the president-elect had offered Bullrich the Secretary of Labor.
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It was never like that," say PRO sources about that rumor, which circulated without much force, but which annoyed Patricia and her advisors. At least three of the leader's interlocutors say that in the talk she had with Milei, which was joined by the future Minister of Human Capital Sandra Pettovello and other libertarian leaders, they talked about guidelines, state policies and the assembly of teams.
All of them discount that the position that Milei will finally formalize is that of Minister of Security, the same one she held from 2015 to 2019 and that she will accept even without much conviction. "It's not the position I would have preferred," said Bullrich, who internally is still chewing anger at having been left out of a runoff with Sergio Massa that, he feels, would have won.
A place for Petri and his circle of trust
In the midst of the negotiations he is holding with Milei, Bullrich is playing another card: convincing him definitively that the Minister of Defense has to be Luis Petri, his running mate in the frustrated election of October 22 and perhaps the most PRO radical in these times.
The Mendoza native has a good rapport with the libertarians, but it is a ministry that they wanted to reserve for someone chosen by the next head of the Senate, Vice President Victoria Villarruel.
Of course, it's not just that position that he tries to make sure he manages, at least through intermediaries. In parallel to the meeting held by Bullrich, Hernán Lombardi had another meeting at the Hotel Libertador with leaders of La Libertad Avanza. The former media secretary would have been reserved a similar position, according to his trajectory.
In times of anxiety and vertigo to define names, Lombardi is one of the least hurried: He remembers the moments of the formation of the governments of Fernando de la Rua and Mauricio Macri, in which he participated, and it seems logical to him that Milei defines those elected to the positions on the strap.
"You have to fill pages of newspapers and it's understandable, but there's no need to rush," he tells the journalists who consult him.
Bullrich and Milei, together, on the day of the libertarian's historic triumph. Photo: AFP.
The second and third lines are Bullrich's obsession. She wants to fill the Milei government with PRO leaders in those positions, in many cases technical, and that is why she has already prepared dozens of names to approach, some better known than others and many in hierarchical positions.
Gustavo Morón, Superintendent of Occupational Risks in the Macri government and in part that of Alberto Fernández, is the one who most sounds like he wants to be Secretary of Labor, although Bullrich proposes the name of Omar Yasín, a specialist in labor law within the PRO. Former Labor Minister Jorge Triaca also carves in this type of definition.
Coexistence with Macri, increasingly difficult
As Clarín anticipated last Sunday, the relationship between Mauricio Macri and Patricia Bullrich is going through one of its worst moments. While there is mutual respect, the former minister privately and publicly expresses her anger with the former president and has repeatedly warned that she will not submit to him.
Bullrich feels that despite being left out of the runoff, the 6.2 million votes that Juntos por el Cambio got were an endorsement of his candidacy and are not transferable to other PRO actors. That is why it bothers him that Macri attributes them to his leadership in the party in talks he holds and, even more, that he seeks to be the only channeler of the dialogues with Javier Milei.
Macri is aware of Bullrich's discomfort and, in the middle of the campaign to become Boca's vice-president, he would have raised the idea of running away from the exchanges with Milei and leaving them to the current president of the party.
Bullrich does not forgive Macri for the lack of support before the general elections on October 22. "He always played for Milei," those close to him often say of the former president.
Relationship in crisis with former President Mauricio Macri. Photo: AP.
One point that separates them is the definition of Milei's candidate to preside over the Chamber of Deputies. Although both expect the head of the PRO bloc, Cristian Ritondo, to be the head of the PRO bloc, the leader understands that it is the libertarians who make the decision, while the former president is the one who most strongly promotes that possibility. Ritondo, meanwhile, talks with both of them and hopes that Milei will finish blessing him over Florencio Randazzo, the other candidate.
The so-called Pact of Acassuso, on the night of October 24, was promoted by Bullrich, who took the Milei duo – Javier and his sister Karina – to the former president's house to give him his blessing for the second round with Massa and, above all, to ensure him through the PRO the oversight.
It was Bullrich who took the lead in the renewed "Operation Milei 2023", leaving behind the chicanes and darts of the campaign. Macri, on the other hand, adopted more of a mentor role, which many demanded of him. Time proved the two hawks of the PRO right, who opened up from the rest of the party in search of an agreement that would end the possibility of a new Kirchnerist government.
But a little more than a month after that decision, the relationship between the two reached a moment of tension that it had never experienced before. There are those who claim that the link can be recovered, beyond the fact that they suggest that the anger is only from Bullrich towards Macri and not reciprocal.