The inauguration of Donald Trump brought together personalities from all over the world and, as expected, Argentina was also present at the different events that took place in Washington during the week of the change in power.
The main guest was President Javier Milei who attended four events: the Hispanic gala, where the Latin community of the United States, especially that of Miami, organized a meeting thinking of entertaining the brand new Secretary of State Marco Rubio, but he did not attend . There Milei was the most outstanding personality of the night and they gave him an award for his work as President. Another event was the 1775 gala, where President Milei gave a speech and received another award. The third event was the inauguration, where he sat next to his Italian counterpart Georgia Meloni and finally attended the Starlight gala, which was the most important, where Trump himself attended and danced the waltz with his wife. There Milei took a photo with Marco Rubio.
Milei was accompanied to all events by his sister Karina, by the Minister of Economy Luis “Toto” Caputo and also by Chancellor Gerardo Werthein, who was the only one who brought a partner. In the photos he was seen accompanied by Nina Francisca, a young Dutch model who in 2012 had a brief stint on Showmatch as a dancer. During those times Marcelo Tinelli used to have conversations with her and the Swedish Alexandra Larsson in limited Spanish.
Another Argentine who was present was the future head of the Financial Information Unit (UIF) Paul Starc, who was accompanied by his partner Eleonora Zocco, sister of Viviana Zocco, the wife of Daniel Hadad. The Starc-Zocco couple is a friend of the marriage between Natalia Denegri and Daniel Rodríguez. She is a famous host and entrepreneur in Miami who in the ’90s had a strong media appearance in different high-profile cases. Together with her husband they have a chain of Argentine grills in La Florida called Baires Grill.
From the world of lobbyists, Buenos Aires senator Alex Campbell, who is a partner of Donald Trump’s lawyer, Carlos Trujillo, was present and shared photos on his networks inside the Capital One stadium where the official Trump campaign events were held. There he was seen with journalist Eduardo Feinmann, who also shared photos on his social networks.
The Argentine consultant Juan Manuel “Jota” Domínguez, partner of the Cuban-American lobbyist Freddy Balsera, was among the most active Argentines: he attended the galas where Milei was, held meetings at the Capitol and even stayed in the same hotel as the Argentine president. The members of the Argentine delegation saw him hanging around the hotel lobby trying to meet the President. He was unlucky, because Milei was in his room the whole time. He only came out to meet with IMF director Kristalina Georgieva who came specially to meet Milei at the hotel.
Two other Argentines who were present in Washington were the mayor of Añelo, Fernando Banderet, the town of Vaca Muerta, and the governor of San Juan, Marcelo Orrego. Añelo is a city that arouses a lot of interest, because despite its small size, it is where the companies that operate in Vaca Muerta are based. This is why Mayor Banderet was invited by an NGO called Comun Sed, which works for the UN. Among the activities it had was the signing of a cooperation agreement between the Municipality of Añelo and the Argentine-Texas Chamber of Commerce.
Governor Orrego had a little more activity. He was at the Argentine embassy, at the IDB and other banks looking for financing.
ArgentTrump. The link between Argentina and the United States has three dimensions to analyze: the direct relationship between Javier Milei and Elon Musk, the institutional relationship through embassies and that of lobbyists and the Latin community in the United States.
The last point is the most novel because the Latin community will have an important weight in the cabinet. Secretary of State Marco Rubio was a Senator from Florida, Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was campaign manager in Florida and Pam Bondi, who will be the country’s attorney general, was Florida’s attorney general. That is to say, relevant places will be occupied by influential people in Florida. They are joined by Mauricio Claver Carone, born in Miami, who will be in charge of relations with Latin America, and the ambassador for Argentina, Peter Lamelas, a businessman with ventures in Florida.
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