The journey continues United States of the president of Argentina, Javier Milei. The mission, the fourth in the US territory, and – summarize the media – was designed to present the economic vision of the Milei government and propose Argentina as a technological hub in the artificial intelligence sector. Yesterday evening the president held a “wonderful” meeting with the CEO of Open AI, Sam Altman, an opportunity to show the “enormous possibilities offered by libertarian Argentina”, wrote Milei in a message published on his profile Luis Caputo, and to the secretary of the Presidency, Karina Milei – the head of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers, Demian Reidel. The latter has stated on several occasions to the press that Argentina must invest in the artificial intelligence sector, being a country with large energy reserves, with a large area of land and “where a policy of low regulation, free enterprise and ideas of freedom”.
Milei’s agenda today begins at 13.30pm, the late evening in Italy, with a 45-minute speech at the Hoover Institution, at Stanford University, followed by a meeting with the rector of the university, Richard Saller, and with the director of ‘Hoover, Condoleezza Rice. Meetings are scheduled to follow with the CEO of Google, Sundar Pichai, and the executive director of Apple, Timothy Cook. The Argentine president will close the day by meeting 30 entrepreneurs and investors linked to the world of artificial intelligence. Tomorrow, Thursday 30 May, a new appointment with owners of intelligence-based start-ups, before a speech at the Pacific Summit, an event organized by the economic analysis institute Bay Area Council. On Friday, Milei leaves the United States for El Salvador, where he will attend Nayib Bukele’s inauguration ceremony as president. He is scheduled to return to Argentina at the weekend.
Milei’s exit from the country also coincided with the first important change in his government team: on Monday evening, Nicolas Posse – engineer and economist, as well as a personal friend of the president – left the post of Chief of Staff to the Minister of ‘Internal, Guillermo Francos. The change, which has been in the air for days, seems to herald a new phase in the activity of the Argentine government. Francos, the most experienced politician of the entire team, has the task of “coordinating the work of the ministers” to carry forward the ambitious reform agenda, in the face of the lack of a parliamentary majority or provincial governors coming from the ranks of the party of government Freedom advances (Lla). The new head of cabinet was the protagonist of the dialogue with the opposition thanks to which the so-called “Omnibus Law”, the container of the main economic and institutional reforms desired by milei, received the green light from the Chamber of Deputies. However, a path that ran aground in the Senate, due to the lack of an agreement that satisfies Milei’s potential allies.
Francos takes over as mentioned Posse, a personal friend of milei, engineer and entrepreneur who entered the government with a long CV as a manager of private companies, therefore described as having a great practical and organizational mentality. His resignation, as the presidency clarified in a note, resulted “from the difference in criteria and expectations regarding the progress of the government and the tasks assigned”. “Putting a government in motion at the point we are at creates a lot of wear and tear,” Francos said today. “Posse and the president had differences that certainly led him to this situation. At a certain point it seemed that the situation was unsustainable and he submitted his resignation”, said the new head of cabinet, according to whom “the best thing was to conclude” a phase and start “a new phase”.
In recent times, according to rumors in the press, Posse has come under criticism from leaders of the Milei administration, precisely due to slow government action and a partial detachment from the reform route undertaken by the president. In particular, the delay in the appointment of numerous positions in the public administration, the increase – signed by Posse – in the salaries of some officials and the personal frictions with the general secretary would have counted, Karina Milei, wife of the president. Finally, Francos confirmed Milei’s intention to also include the former governor of the Central Bank, Federico Sturzenegger, in the government. The head of state “wants to include in the government a person capable of analyzing the Argentine regulatory framework and discussing with all members of the executive his vision of the process of simplification and deregulation of our complex public regulations”.