The distance between Diego Santilli and Nancy Pazos, separated since 2013 after two decades of relationship and three children -Nicanor, Teo and Tonio-, became a classic of the intersection between politics and the media. Today, with Santilli as Javier Milei’s Minister of the Interior and Pazos consolidated as a figure of “A la Barbarossa” and a Peronist streaming analyst, the tension erupted again.
In the middle of the Buenos Aires campaign, Pazos pointed out bluntly. Asked if Olga wished Santilli luck, she responded: “I don’t want him to do well. He’s a bad influence on my children.” He said that he sees them “very influenced by him” and, after the libertarian victory, he concluded on air: “It is true that I did not want him to win,” also remembering his contribution to the leader’s beginnings: “I contributed a lot so that he could speak like that.”
On Radio 10 he questioned the request to reprint ballots for Santilli to head the list: “I would say with yours, and I would feel sorry for it because it is with my children’s.” His statements reactivated old tensions, such as those revealed in a 2025 book about Juliana Awada, where it is mentioned that the former first lady saw Pazos as “ambitious” in Santilli’s political beginnings.
Before, in 2023, Pazos had criticized Milei on networks: “He believes that women are inferior to men,” a message read as a reproach to his ex’s political turn. And in 2024 she said: “When I got married I was already Santilli’s lover and he was at the wedding,” a phrase that returned in memes during the campaign.
Santilli’s entourage responded less stridently. Nicanor wrote: “It is an honor to call you my dad.” And Analía Maiorana, the minister’s partner, stated: “That Diego does not speak badly of Nancy is not a merit, she is a good person.”
Santilli maintains his strategy: do not answer. “I will never talk about the mother of my children,” he said on “Puro Show.” In Clarín he insisted that what is familiar is discussed “at home,” and in El Día he added: “One has to respect both.” In the midst of ideological differences—Peronism versus libertarianism—the minister preserves a low profile and avoids replicas.
While Pazos was ironic about his appointment (“excellent move by Milei”), Santilli opted for a tactic that mixes containment, silence and prudence. An exercise in Gandhian pacifism.
