January is usually sold as a parenthesis in Argentine politics: empty offices, silent phones and an apparent calm that only exists for those looking from the outside. Behind closed doors, the logic is different. This 2026 confirms that, even with the Government “in vacation mode”, the thread not only remains alive but overheatsis rearranged and leaves signs that should be read carefully.
The Casa Rosada has less visible movement, but no less power in exercise. Javier Milei He does not take formal vacations and maintains obsessive control over two axes that run through the entire agenda: the domestic political economy and the international front. In this scheme, Venezuela occupies a central place. The fall of the regime Nicolas Maduro and the situation of the Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo are not only a humanitarian or diplomatic issue: they function as a geopolitical alignment factor that Milei considers strategic to consolidate its international profile.
At that point a key actor appears who works away from the flashes but not from the decisions: Pablo Quirno. The chancellor did not take a break and maintains an intense communications schedule with Washington. In particular, with Marco Rubioone of the most influential figures of the hardline Republican wing in foreign policy. The exchanges are not protocol: they talk about Venezuela, Argentina’s role as a reliable partner in the region and the need to show political predictability in a key legislative year. Quirno knows that, for Milei, the link with the United States is not decorative but structural, and acts accordingly.
That alignment will have a strong postcard in the coming days. Milei will travel next week to the Davos Forum, where he will once again present himself as the outsider turned head of state. There you could come across donald trumpa meeting that, even informal, would function as a global political signal. For the Argentine President, Davos is not only an economic showcase: it is a symbolic stage where he reaffirms his ideological identity and his membership in an international bloc that challenges classic multilateralism.
And the international front coexists in parallel with an equally intense domestic scene. Karina Milei is still installed in Buenos Aires, controlling the daily political pulse; Manuel Adorni He operates from his home, but convenes the first political table of the year with a clear objective: to order the preview of the labor reform that the ruling party wants to take to the Senate in February. Over there, Patricia Bullrich He once again occupies the role of legislative sword, with enough experience to move in a fragmented and harsh Congress in the face of the reforms to be discussed in February.
There appears another key name of summer: Diego Santilli. From the Ministry of the Interior, Santilli began a discreet but intense tour of the provinces to negotiate support. The mission is complex: it is not just about convincing about “labor modernization,” but about managing an underlying fiscal conflict. Article 191 of the project, which reduces Income Tax rates for companies, set off all the alarms among the governors.
The numbers circulate fast. Reports prepared by Peronist leaders, such as Guillermo Michel and Jorge Capitanich, reached the provincial offices with crude calculations: the reduction would mainly benefit some 144 large companies and would cause a significant drop in the collection of a co-participatory tax. Translated into real politics: less money for the provinces. Estimates speak of losses of several billion pesos annually, with a direct impact on the heart of fiscal federalism.
In informal talks, leaders of different political groups agree on the diagnosis, although not on the strategy. In Córdoba, Martin Llaryora He let his rejection of the article as stated emerge. In Salta, Catamarca and Chubut the discomfort is similar. In Santa Fe, Maximiliano Pullaro evaluates a more pragmatic scenario: the province is fiscally ordered and some sectors of the cabinet see the decline in Profits as a possible economic stimulus. There is no homogeneous bloc, but there is a shared warning: without compensation, there are no votes.
Santilli listens, takes notes and measures. He knows that the fiscal article can become a bargaining chip, but also that without the governors there is no possible law. For this reason, his tour does not seek to close immediate agreements but rather to test the mood, identify red lines and detect where there is room to negotiate. In parallel, the governors receive calls from the CGT, which tries to cushion the effects of labor flexibility. Unionism is not betting on reversing the complete reform, but rather on cutting it. And in that game, the provincial leaders are once again referees.
In parallel, Mario Lugones fights with Axel Kicillof and the province of Buenos Aires over hospital debts and the Security area maintains constant activity. The internal message is clear: whoever can take a vacation, should do so, but without disconnecting completely. Power does not wait.
The presidential advisor is also active Santiago Caputo. The President’s main strategist continues to enter the first floor of Balcarce 50 almost daily and, when he goes down to the coast, he does so not as a tourist but as an operator. His appearance in Pinamar, with a new look included—an almost surgical shave with defined peaks—did not go unnoticed. In politics, even a haircut communicates.
The photo next to Cristian Ritondohead of the PRO block in Deputies, was read for what it is: a sign of suture. Ritondo comes from a head-on collision with Martin Menem for the distribution of positions in the General Auditor’s Office of the Nation, with accusations of a pact with Kirchnerism and even a judicial complaint. Caputo, who maintains a strained relationship with Menem, chose to side with Ritondo at a sensitive moment. There were no speeches or statements, but the message was unmistakable for those who frequent the corridors of power.
The logic is as old as it is effective: in an unstable political system, alignments are reconfigured by antagonism. The enemies of my enemies are my friends, and in this libertarian summer the maxim seems more valid than ever. Caputo understands that, with an ambitious legislative agenda and an ruling party without its own majority, every bridge counts. Ritondo, for his part, needs to show that he continues to have direct dialogue with the hard core of presidential power.
The background is even deeper. Caputo continues to be a central actor without a formal position, with influence in sensitive areas of the State and well-oiled links with strategic companies, but without a signature to expose it. That ambiguity—which at the time generated friction with Guillermo Francos— is part of its strength: power without institutional wear, strategy without direct cost.
Thus, while Argentina is distracted by beaches, heat and administrative recesses, real power moves. There are calls that are not announced, meetings that are not on the agenda and photos that say more than a thousand statements. January, far from being a dead month, functions as a silent laboratory where alliances are tested, wounds are healed and strategies are sharpened. In 2026, Argentine politics once again demonstrates that it does not rest: it only lowers the volume to hear better.
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