Guillermo Franco was a rare bird within the libertarian administration. A dove in the midst of hawks and lions. A negotiator and, if necessary, a peacemaker. Every time Javier Milei came to blows with someone and had to back down due to force majeure – for example, with the governors -, Francos appeared on the scene. Perhaps he was the only one in the Casa Rosada with the ability to generate consensus and to put cold cloths where everything was crazy and insults from the President. Because that was what the resigned Chief of Staff represented: the voice of reason within a government of bumper cars. And that is why his departure is surprising, or, actually, not so much: it is a consequence of the unexpected electoral result that empowered Milei and now gave him a blank check to do whatever he wants without having to agree anything with anyone.
Before the elections, when the President expected a new defeat after the blow in Buenos Aires and Donald Trump had to rescue him with an economic bailout so that he could arrive safely until October 26, the panorama was different. The general expectation pointed to a scenario of post-electoral weakness for the Government in which it would have to negotiate each measure with allies such as non-Peronist governors or Mauricio Macri’s PRO, who saw themselves as supporters of governability. That was also what the United States demanded in exchange for the rescue, that it seek consensus. But the victory by a wide margin and the setback in the Province changed everything: suddenly, Milei no longer needed to negotiate. He no longer needed the governors nor Macri. And he no longer needed Franco, of course.
There is still, it is true, a staging of dialogue that the Government carries out in its communication strategy. But it is nothing more than that, a pantomime. The staging is evident, for example, when the governors attend a meeting at the Casa Rosada and the only thing they take with them is the request for next year’s Budget law to liquidate all the social improvements that Congress imposed on Milei during 2025. And also when Macri is received with milanesas in Olivos but leaves complaining, in a low voice, that Milei did not offer him places in the cabinet nor did he ask for collaboration in anything. As Mauricio told his journalist friends, the libertarian told him that “he did everything well” and that is why the voters “rewarded him.” How do you sit down to negotiate with someone who thinks like that?
A fact that is not at all lateral: do you know who, a few weeks ago, brought Macri back to the Government? Yes, it was Francos, who approached him at a meeting at the United States embassy, sweetened his ear and asked him to give Milei a new chance, with whom the engineer was disenchanted due to his mistreatment. Macri first hesitated, but then agreed.
You already know how that story ended. For him and also for Francos.
