Karina Milei was not at the meeting. But for some time now he no longer needs to be physically present: if Michel Foucault were alive, perhaps he could use the case of the youngest of the presidential family to once again demonstrate that the most effective power is that which does not require force to operate. In the meeting between the other two strong women of the Government, that ghost that runs through the red circle appeared again.
It was in the last minutes of the afternoon of September 27, the day before the new senators were sworn in. Patricia Bullrich and Victoria Villarruel had had some friendly meetings before, with courtesy but not without various evils involved (for example, the vice president had given her a red wine and a Constitution, a poisoned dart that the outgoing minister returned by stating in the media that she had actually been the one who had given her the canonical text). This meeting was the last before the inauguration of the new members, but above all something else: Karina’s landing in those boxes, a choreography studied to demonstrate that she no longer only controlled the room next door, but that now her influence extended to the entire Legislative Branch.
Although Bullrich requested the rally due to the logistics of the event, Karina’s visit was the secret reason for the conclave. And also the reason for the annoyance with which the two women ended up. One because the general secretary used her almost as a secretary, an explicit gesture of demonstration of power, and the other because she understood that last-minute notice for what it was: another wet ear. And he did not want to give in, arguing that the disembarkation of Executive officials at such an event had to be planned in advance for security reasons. Bullrich asked him to take it as “a favor” to her. “Karina asked me personally,” said the now senator, a scene that, if the day comes when she breaks up with her sister, she will surely relive as tragicomic. Villarruel was blunt: “Tell Karina that this is not her house: it is the house of the provinces.” That last phrase was heard even by the guards waiting outside.
The general secretary’s formal request arrived at dawn, late enough for the vice president to feel authorized to do something evil. When Karina arrived the next morning, she found out in the anteroom of the venue that Villarruel had assigned her to the worst place she could find: the press box. Witnesses present saw how far the situation escalated. Karina’s guards began to push and shove with the Senate security personnel. If it were not for the fact that one of the entrants to the Chamber chose the most powerful person in the Government before his own family – whom he ordered to vacate their seats -, the situation would have ended more than badly.
Karina, in any case, smiled for the cameras from that box and achieved what she wanted. The latter would seem to have the force of a mathematical equation in the ruling party: time is what passes between when the general secretary sets a goal – almost always destroying enemies or accumulating boxes – and that objective actually happening. That is why this year’s most prominent personality is the woman who manages the Government, those who make it up – or those who, by order of her, stop doing so – and, especially, the President.
Karina Milei’s meteoric career could be followed well through the NEWS covers of which she was the protagonist. In mid-2022 he reached the cover of this medium for the first time, in what was also his debut on the first page of any national media. “Who is ‘the boss’, the woman who controls Milei. Psychological dependence and esotericism. Nervous breakdown with threats in the political space. Why everyone fears her.” The note was not only revealing because of its content, but because of what it did: when the libertarian, then a deputy among 257, read it, he swore before a small group of witnesses present that once he came to power he was going to “destroy Perfil.” The first part of that promise has already happened, and for the second part it is doing everything possible, which is why the company maintains five lawsuits with the libertarian administration. In any case, the tantrum illustrates how far the economist is capable of going with everyone who messes with his sister, even if it is in the format of a journalistic investigation.
At the end of 2023, Karina was chosen by this media as the character of the year, “the most feared in the Government.” Once again, the Milei’s reaction was unexpected: the new official – who assumed a position despite the fact that the eldest of the brothers had spent the entire campaign ensuring that he would not do so and that he would only collaborate on an honorary basis – turned the cover image into a sticker, which he began to use to respond on WhatsApp every time someone accused him of something bad. Now she is once again chosen as the figure of the year, but with notable differences.
At the end of 2023, Karina arrived at the Government with zero management experience, a very limited network of contacts in the red circle and too many tasks to take care of in a very short time. In fact, he only had one asset in his possession: the emotional, therapeutic, spiritual and mystical control that he always had over his brother. Two years later, except for the unique connection that unites the Milei, everything else has changed.
Karina, already planted in the management of power, began 2025 by starting all wars, all at once. He accelerated against the PRO, whom from minute one he regarded as a circumstantial, minor and careerist partner, and, especially, against Santiago Caputo, his great internal enemy. It seems like it happened a lifetime ago, but during the first half of the year the presidential advisor was running – through friendly pens – as the one who would forcefully carve the electoral lists of future deputies and senators, sometimes even making agreements with local governors or other forces. Karina, on the other hand, always had another idea: to run from LLA for unknown people, the hangover from other political spaces, who precisely because of their low flight were going to owe her submission and loyalty. Today, with electoral victory involved, no one dares to argue that the pen is – and will be – in their hands. Not even his critics, who are the majority within the Government.
But Karina not only managed to take over, without discussion, the handling of the pen. A huge fund concentrated its power, which also has the advantage of not being as newsworthy, unlike what happens with the SIDE controlled by Caputo and which due to the dynamics of Argentine history is usually the object of much interest. At the base, the general secretariat – on paper a third-order place within a Government – grew like never before in other administrations. Karina assigned important areas such as the Ministry of Culture, the Argentine Investment and International Trade Agency or the Country Brand, just to name a few. And, like everything that surrounds his figure, this growth in his area was also symbolic: for the first time since the position of Chief of Staff was created in 1994, that office adjacent to the President’s is not occupied by the person designated in that role. Karina Milei knows – and maybe even hears – everything her brother says right next to her. Furthermore, according to the newspaper Perfil, the increase planned for the general secretariat in the recently approved Budget will be 25.7% in general and 33% in the item destined to pay for “cabinet of higher authorities”, well above the 10.1% inflation that the same Budget predicts for 2026.
