Marcela Pagano It does not go with half inks. Face in front, without scales and if they cut the microphone in full session, take out a megaphone from the wallet and keep talking. That literal. So disruptive. The deputy of La Libertad Avanza became the protagonist of one of the wildest inmates of current politics. Your favorite target is Martín MenemPresident of the Chamber of Deputies and, in theory, benchmate. In practice, your nemesis.
Everything exploded when it was discussed to approve President Milei for the debt with the International Monetary Fund. That day some audios of Martín Menem had been leaked asking the deputies of La Libertad advances that the session should be tumultuous. “I want to shout at me, fucking me, nothing peaceful”, Said the president of the Chamber of Deputies. Pagano picked up the glove and asked Menem explanations: he accused him of having“ fascist ”practices, he accused him of wanting to boycott the libertarian project, and something worse: look too much like the caste that Milei says he fights.
After finishing her speech, knowledgeable about the arts of the show, Pagano decided to continue talking to Menem, and with the closed microphone, but with a surprise in her bag: at that time she took out a megaphone and, as if she were in a university assembly, he shouted Mene in full venue to give explanations about the filtered audios in which she asked for “generating chaos” against her. The scene was celebrated by the opposition that accompanied screaming and smiled at the occurrence. While two distance benches, Lilia Lemoine filmed the scene with her cell phone.
The anger between Pagano and Menem has been fermenting months ago. It is not political, it is personal. In April 2024, when Pagano was elected president of the Political Judgment Commission, he said he did not recognize that election. That had been invalid. Pagano, to add arguments in his favor, he asked the leading constitutionalist to a legal opinion Andrés Gil Domínguezwho made an opinion analyzing the situation of the deputy. In short, he said that the appointment was valid, legitimate, with quorum and everything in order.
Rival
Pagano is not just with Martín Menem. It also has its parallel war with the libertarian deputy Lilia Lemoine. Pagano says that Lemoine operates with gossip, that intoxicated the block with hairdressing intrigues. That in campaign it was all smiles, but then took the claws. They even had a good relationship at the beginning of the management, when the deputies were going to eat at the restaurant of the Gastronomic Circuit of Las Cañitas called El Ahienciero, which they attribute to Martín Menem.
The libertarian block is an eruption volcano. An egos, influencers, dogma purists and recycled career politicians. In that chaos, Pagano chose a side: his. And swears fidelity to a single person: Javier Milei. “I work for the president,” he repeats in each interview, as a mantra. And there is the key: Pagano is sold as the authentic libertarian. The one that does not transa. The one that does not negotiate with the caste or the new bureaucrats of Mileism. In other words: it is more milestic than the Mileists.
But in this strategy, the most sensitive point is the relationship with Karina Milei. Pagano argues that he has a good link and is respectful of Karina, whom those who know say, should not be ignored. There is a maxim within the mileismo that says: “In Lla you can talk to Karina and not talk to Javier, what is impossible is to talk to Javier without talking to Karina.”
In a recent interview, Pagano said he had a good relationship with Karina, although he gets lousy with Lemoine, who is a kind of lieutenant of the presidential sister. In a tweet, Pagano has come to say: “I am not afraid of your true boss.” Who would he refer to? It is very known that in the libertarian world the only one that they say “The boss” is to Karina. The president’s sister has the pen, decides destinations, weapon lists and disarms races. And although he says he does not get into the pagan-menem intern, everyone knows that there is no movement in the block without his venia.
The paradox is that Menem is one of Karina’s protected. Who protects it? At the opening of ordinary sessions, he took his newborn baby and, upon entering, the president stopped to greet her. For now, Pagano moves between two waters. On the one hand, it shows discipline towards the presidential figure. On the other, it challenges the operators surrounding Milei. Use Congress as a trench, but also as a scenario. And if necessary, take out the megaphone.
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