The Osaka restaurant in Puerto Madero is one of the most exclusive sushi places in the city of Buenos Aires and is located on the ground floor of the Molinos Building complex, owned by Alan Faena. There, when customers wait to be served and seek to connect to a Wi-Fi network, they encounter a surprise that does not go unnoticed by any NEWS reader. One of the networks that emits a signal is called OCPTECH. All together and in capital letters. OCP Tech is the company of businessman Leonardo Scatturice, with an unbeatable arrival in the Government of Javier Milei and who was the protagonist of the cover of this magazine on two occasions this year.
That’s where Barry Bennett, the protagonist of this story, attends. He is Scatturice’s partner and since 2016 he has worked as a lobbyist linked to the Republican Party and close to President Donald Trump. On October 8, Bennett led a meeting at the OCP Tech offices in Puerto Madero, in which deputies Miguel Ángel Pichetto, Cristian Ritondo and Rodrigo De Loredo participated, among others, as revealed by journalist Carlos Pagni. In that conversation, Bennett spoke as if he were a representative of the United States government who was going down the line and maintained that the Trump administration was willing to accompany Javier Milei. Bennett had claims that were later verified during Milei’s visit to the United States. He maintained that Washington will condition its support for Milei’s government on its being able to guarantee political stability. For this, he explained, the Casa Rosada will have to build agreements with the heads of the dialogue blocs and with allied governors.
Santiago Caputo listened attentively as he moved with total comfort in the Scatturice offices. Also participating in the meeting was a former Infobae journalist, Soledad Cedro, who today serves as CEO of CPAC Argentina, a conservative political organization in the United States. And, perhaps, the most relevant person at the meeting: Matthew Dell Orfano, director of tycoon Rob Citrone’s Discovery Capital fund, which has invested a large part of its capital destined for Latin America in Milei’s Argentina. The importance of the Citrone representative in the meeting was to directly feel the views of the Government’s allies on whether or not there is any chance that Milei can advance with its Government plan in Congress.
Bennett’s role in these conversations becomes relevant given the lack of a United States ambassador in Argentina (Peter Lamela’s appointment is not official), which is why he became the person with the greatest contact with Trump to set foot on homeland. Added to this is that until now, in the meetings between Trump and Milei, the Foreign Ministry, the State Department and the Argentine ambassador to the United States had secondary roles. This is reinforced by Santiago Caputo’s own troops on social networks, who “bring to their chest” the achievements of the presidential advisor, without considering the institutional damage they cause to his management colleagues.
In short, Bennett became the voice that brings the news from the United States, the demands and the aid that will arrive as if he were a kind of intervener.
Backroom. In February of this year, one of the most strategic movements in Argentine foreign policy began to take shape. On February 12, at the request of Santiago Caputo, SIDE signed a contract with the lobby consulting firm Tactic Global. At that time the firm was not yet registered with the United States Department of Justice – its registration would only arrive in May – but it was already operating as an agent of foreign interests, also hired by the government of Vietnam.
The agreement with SIDE coincided with a process of unprecedented rapprochement between Milei and Trumpism. Ten days later, on February 22, Milei was able to greet Trump at the CPAC convention, the annual congress of the North American right. It was the first public contact that sealed a political relationship that would quickly become an operational bridge between Buenos Aires and Washington.
On March 25, Bennett landed at the Casa Rosada. The former Trump campaign advisor met with Santiago Caputo. There was talk of “economic and commercial cooperation,” but the visit coincided with the Milei government’s need to obtain financial oxygen and external political support in the midst of adjustment and social crisis.
Less than a month later, on April 14, the North American Secretary of the Treasury, Scott Bessent, arrived in Buenos Aires. And, in parallel, investor Rob Citrone also traveled, arriving on Scatturice’s plane, along with the entire Tactic entourage to accompany him to the meeting with President Milei. Discovery Capital, Citrone’s fund, is not only an important investor for Argentina. It is also an important client of the consulting firm of Scatturice and Bennett.
On May 4, the former US president sent an emissary to discuss the tariff scheme with Argentina. Washington sought to guarantee preferential conditions for its companies and, in exchange, offered diplomatic support and eventual financial relief. Just a month later, on June 4, Bennett returned to the country to advance the details. A few days later, on June 11, a photo showed him alongside Scatturice and Trump: it was the public consecration of an alliance of business and power.
On July 28, both operators celebrated the announcement of an agreement for the Visa Waiver, the program that exempts citizens of countries allied to the United States from visas. A day later, Bennett celebrated it on his X social network account: “Going to visa-free travel with Argentina is a great declaration of friendship between our countries. Milei is going for another great victory!”
On August 1, the North American government imposed 10 percent tariffs on Argentine exports, although it left the negotiation open to exempt a hundred products.
On September 16, Bennett reappeared at the CPAC in Paraguay, where he shared the stage with libertarian leaders from the region and operators around Milei. The meeting was crucial, because the Argentine president was coming off a strong electoral blow and there Bennett promised to get a meeting with Trump. Four days later, on September 20, the Argentine Presidency announced that the meeting with Trump would take place on September 23 in New York, during the UN General Assembly. It was another example of Bennett’s management skills. When the meeting took place, the lobbyist wrote on his social network account
In October, the exchange accelerated. On the 7th of that month, Bennett arrived in the country on the Scatturice plane, that jet that had been involved in the controversy due to the trip of his partner Laura Arrieta who entered the country without her luggage being checked. This time the Bombardier Global 5000 aircraft had a novelty. He had changed his license plate. It was no longer N18RU, but now bore the inscription N100LA, chosen by its owner. In the aeronautical world they make an inside joke that only those who know about airplanes understand. “Scatturice’s plane was previously the November Uno Ocho Romeo Uniform, now it is the November Uno Cero Cero Laura Arrieta,” they laugh out loud.
The complete note, in this edition of NEWS.
