At what moment, Mario Vargas Llosa could say, did the link between Bullrich and the general secretary, who in practice holds the reins of the Government, “screw up”? It was, everyone involved knows, long before the crude scenes that occurred on Monday the 25th. On the anniversary of the May revolution, the internal storm that shakes the Government was exposed to everyone, when Karina Milei brought out one of the qualities that she has most trained in and that at this point could be said to be her personal hallmark of political leadership: public humiliation of those to whom she has already done the cross.
The general secretariat, the area that is formally in charge of the events, did not invite Bullrich to the walk from the Casa Rosada to the Cathedral. The appointment that came to him was directly to the headquarters of the Buenos Aires church, but the course did not end there: when he threatened to join the first rows of the temple, where the Government staff was, they prohibited him from entering. They told him that by “protocol” only members of the Cabinet could join. It was an excuse that almost made Bullrich, finally destined almost to the back of the Cathedral, laugh when she spotted Santiago Caputo, and his extravagant “Peaky Blinders” look, among the select group of supposed ministers. By “protocol” could the unpaid advisor be there and the head of the official bloc in Seando not?
In any case, the sister had one more rude act up her sleeve. After the Tedeum, and the harsh speech by Archbishop Jorge García Cuerva, Milei and his people went to the Cabildo to sing the national anthem. Here even the President added leaders like Jorge Macri, whom he did not greet until recently. However, once again the senator was excluded from the banquet, denied for the third time like Peter was to Jesus. And while he followed the national song from the cold of the Buenos Aires street, a shout came to him that well summarizes the crux of the matter: “Patricia President.”
It is in that comment from an anonymous fan where the heart of Karina Milei’s problems and cold anger lies: in a few months where the presidential figure seems to be going through a storm, pushed by the endless scandal of the Adorni case, the senator appears in almost all surveys with a better image than Milei himself. And both things seem to be related. The thing is that while the libertarian’s numbers are falling, Bullrich is the only one who publicly questions the Chief of Staff and his transparency.
This crossroads of misfortunes is the worst nightmare of the general secretary’s youngest child coming to life. Since La Libertad Avanza was born, Karina’s priority was to systematically take care of two issues: one was that no one within the space dared to compete with the figure of her brother – much less eclipse her – and another was to ensure, with the zeal of a hunting dog, that no one strayed even a single centimeter from the plot line that the Milei marked. In fact, this last one is perhaps the great novelty that the Bullrich case brings: removing Villarruel, the senator is the first member of the ruling party who dares to challenge the mileista siege by detaching herself in public from the official discourse. Until now – except for the case of the vice president, whom the Casa Rosada cannot constitutionally throw out – no one from La Libertad Avanza survived the ruse against the brothers.
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