It is not a tourist visit or a nostalgic getaway, although Bariloche is something like a second home for Máxima Zorreguieta. This time the queen of the Netherlands arrived in southern Argentina with agenda, cover and microphone. The event was the Llao Llao Forum, the most exclusive and hermetic business meeting in the country, whose eleventh edition was held between Wednesday and Friday at the emblematic Rio Negro hotel.
Máxima participated in her official role: she is Special Advocate to the United Nations Secretary-General for Financial Health, a position in which he has spent years promoting policies so that more people have access to basic tools such as bank accounts, savings, credit and insurance. Designed as a summit of ideas and not protocol, his speech on Thursday included a talk with Federico Braun, president of La Anónima, the supermarket chain with a strong presence in Patagonia.
Before going on stage, the sovereign spent Wednesday in closed door meetings with references from banks, fintech, agribusiness, energy and technological platforms. The topics: digitization of financial services, electronic means of payment and access to credit in volatile economies. A menu that, in the Argentina of 2026, It is not exactly abstract.
Elsztain’s forum
The Llao Llao Forum is organized by Eduardo Elsztain, the real estate businessman of IRSA, together with the Endeavor network. His profile is deliberately reserved: no press, no cameras, no spontaneous statements. What happens inside stays inside. That, of course, makes him even more coveted by the so-called local Red Circle.
In this edition, the thematic axes revolved around the artificial intelligence and its impact on business, and the energy sector, with Dead Cow as protagonist. Máxima’s presence added a dimension that the forum usually does not have: social inclusion as part of the economic debate, and not as decoration.
It was also confirmed Peter Thiel, the Silicon Valley investor, but declined for scheduling reasons. The most commented absence, however, was something else.
Milei, the empty chair
Javier Milei received the formal invitation, as in previous years. But until the closing of this edition He had not confirmed his attendance. Last year it was also missing. Two consecutive absences in the most influential meeting of the Argentine business community are, at this point, a political fact.
The forum seeks to maintain a purely business profile, but National politics always flies over the environment. At a time when the country needs signs of confidence to attract investments in strategic sectors, the president’s empty chair does not go unnoticed.
Patagonia, its place in the world
For Máxima, Bariloche is not just a location. The queen maintains a deep bond with Patagonia: she is the owner of the Estancia Pilpilcurá, a property of about 3,000 hectares near the city where he usually spends the New Year’s holidays with his family and King William. There he enjoys fishing, horseback riding and meetings with his mother, María del Carmen Cerruti, and his brothers.
This time the trip was for work, but the region remains the same. The forum ended, the meetings were closed and Máxima left. But he left something in Bariloche that the Red Circle meeting rarely has: an agenda that talks about those who are not in the room.
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