The news was announced by the President himself in one of the many interviews he gave these days: his main political advisor, the star advisor Santiago Caputo, would take a formal place in the Cabinet after the elections on October 26 and would thus leave the comfortable back room in which he operated until now. It is a way to whiten their real power and give them the visibility that their decisions deserve. But is it a reward or rather a punishment in the midst of his endless internment with sister Karina Milei?
For those who maintain the former -including himself-, his entry onto the scene is a consequence of the consultant’s empowerment after having become a key protagonist in the North American rescue of the Argentine government. It happens that Caputo hired the company of his close friend Leonardo Scatturice -yes, the one with the plane that was not inspected at Aeroparque- to lobby the United States and oil the bilateral relationship. Scatturice has as a partner Barry Bennett, an influential friend and former advisor to Donald Trump, and it was through this means that the two meetings between Milei and the North American President were achieved and the announcement of economic aid from the North that for a few days calmed the dollar in the local market. With that cucarda under his belt, Caputo today sees himself as the savior of the Government and knows that the President thanks him for those underground efforts that achieved what Chancellor Gerardo Weirthein could not from his formal position.
The Foreign Ministry is, precisely, one of the places where the star advisor could end up, although the Chief of Staff currently occupied by his rival Guillermo Francos or the Ministry of the Interior of Lisandro Catalán are also mentioned as possible destinations.
On the other side, we said, are those who believe that Caputo’s supposed empowerment is actually a punishment. Those who argue this way remember a similar situation in the government of Raúl Alfonsín, when, after losing the legislative elections of 1987, the then President forced Enrique “Coti” Nosiglia, his historic operator, to assume a formal position and come out of the shadows. Nosiglia was sworn in as Minister of the Interior, took charge of his decisions and stopped scheming from behind the scenes with impunity. The same thing that Guillermo Francos demands today from Caputo, a great admirer of “Coti”: that the star advisor “take responsibility” and put his signature, “the hook,” on what he decides. Let him show his face. Because it cannot be, Francos complains, that a simple monotributista without formal position has more real power than the Chief of Staff. Empowering him, according to that logic, is also a way of limiting him, of keeping him under control: a minister pays the consequences of his actions, a shadow advisor does not.
As we said, Caputo until now was a Government contractor. The contract is with the General Secretariat of the Presidency commanded by his internal rival, Karina. It is for “provision of freelance professional services”, with monthly fees of 2.3 million pesos during 2024, the latest data available.
It is monotributist category B, the second lowest in the regime. There is no ending.
