The Government anticipated distancing itself from the governors who were never willing to support Javier Milei’s call to sign the May Pact. The Minister of the Interior Guillermo Francos never explored the possibility of agreements nor did he meet alone with the man from Buenos Aires. Axel Kicillof not even with the pampas Sergio Ziliotto.
In Balcarce 50 they were never excited about a wink from the governors of Tierra del Fuego either, Gustavo Melella; from Formosa, Gildo Insfran; or from La Rioja, Ricardo Quintelasome of whom participated in hand-to-hand meetings with the political minister.
The Cabinet also does not want to give them – especially Kicillof – a media platform to criticize on site the agreement of 10 policies that seeks to show support for the policies of a president without governors, mayors and in a legislative minority.
Here, a review one by one of the governors who were not invited to the summit and who do not support the pact called by the President and his link with the Government.
Those who reject
1. Axel Kicillof (PJ, Buenos Aires). “Start if I don’t arrive,” ironically stated the governor of the most populous district in the country after the President’s convocation in Congress on March 1. Francos, who at that time was preparing the ground to receive the 24 governors at the Casa Rosada, then explained that the Government was not necessarily planning to invite Kicillof.
“The canchereadas are out of place. Nobody invited him yet. If he puts himself in that position, it is difficult to invite him,” said the minister during his visit to ExpoAgro. Two months later, nothing changed between the hardline opponents and La Rosada.
For being him governor closest to Cristina Kirchnerdespite its internal nature, is usually also the President’s favorite target. “Kicillof has to lower spending, not increase taxes. It happens that he has the same conceptual defects as Martín Guzmán,” Milei criticized him after the real estate increase. The head of state responded to the call for a fiscal rebellion made by the head of the Budget commission José Luis Espert.
The Buenos Aires governor also polarizes Milei every time he can and describes him as “standupero”. Was the first to request that the Senate reject the Bases Law. He also has a particular record among his peers: dhe sent the Executive four times before the Supreme Court.
In February he sued the national State before the Supreme Court, for the cessation of the Fiscal Strengthening Fund. In April he filed a third lawsuit when he stopped collecting the Teacher Incentive Fund (Fonid) and a second when the Government eliminated the Compensation Fund for Public Passenger Transport by urban and suburban automobile in the interior. The fourth was to demand the regularization of the funds for financing the Social Security Fund (Anses): $681,000 million.
2. Sergio Ziliotto (PJ, La Pampa) He never met alone with Executive delegates. He was one of the first to reject the idea of the May Pact. “It will never be possible if the Constitution is not respected first”, he answered immediately. Since then and without personal aspirations to become a national reference, he became an articulator of Peronism. “I have the responsibility to govern and defend La Pampa. “No agreement will lead me to give up any rights of the people of Pampa,” said the governor who defined the May Pact as “a smokescreen.”
The governor made a provincial channel to denounce the effects of the Mega DNU and in April he sued the State before the Supreme Court for the Nation’s debt with the retirement fund. In February he presented an amparo before the highest Court to collect the Transportation Compensation Fund again. Libertarians see no gain in negotiating with Ziliotto, where the violet wave comfortably prevailed in November 2023. The provincial leader points out that there is still no political support to promote an impeachment against the President.
3. Ricardo Quintela (PJ, La Rioja). The governor of La Rioja was also one of those most targeted by the Casa Rosada since December 10. He presented a protection before the Supreme Court in December against the Mega-DNU, but the supreme authorities ruled in favor of the government.
The Riojan governor He had threatened before the runoff to resign if Milei was elected president. It was also targeted by the issuance of provincial bonds. Another component is added to his profile as a tough opponent: the aspirations of Martín Menem. The president of the Chamber of Deputies does not hide his desire to emulate his uncle, former president Carlos Saúl Menem, and become governor of his province.
4. Gildo Insfrán (PJ, Formosa). The governor of Formosa since 1995 is also the president of the PJ Congress and a emblematic symbol of “the caste” for the Government. Manages the province since 1995.
“It is the clearest example of a fiefdom that goes back 100 years,” said the Minister of the Interior. For this reason, he was surprised that the governor stayed at the meeting of leaders of the Norte Grande with Francos, where Quintela was also present. But that’s as far as love goes. “The president is lying, he does not have a zero deficit and much less a surplus”Insfrán answered after the President’s last presidential statement. Insfrán and his alter ego in the Senate, the block head José Mayans, like the Riojan Quintela, do not clash despite their province’s dependence on national co-participation.
5. Gustavo Melella (UCR K, Tierra del Fuego). An ally of UxP, he became one of the toughest Patagonians. “It is not known what it is, they are titles. Milei says ‘it’s this or nothing’ and that is not a true agreement,” said the governor as soon as the President’s invitation to the May Pact emerged.
The governor He avoided appearing with the President during the visit of the head of the Southern Command Laura Richardson to the province. Melella declared the American general persona non-grata and described her as an accomplice of the British occupation. José Luis Espert harshly criticized the industrial promotion regime of Tierra del Fuego, but the President did not charge against the system that – driven by the opposition in the debate over the base law – could be revised.
The doubts: a northerner and three Patagonians
6. Gerardo Zamora (UCR K, Santiago del Estero). The position of the governor of Santiago del Estero for now is unknown. Provided some services to the Government without leaving your fingers marked. His legislators failed in the Senate when authorities were elected in the commissions and in the first vote of the Base Law, in Deputies. The governor met hand in hand with Francos and the minister promised to rehabilitate public works.
7, 8 and 9. Claudio Vidal, Rolando Figueroa and Alberto Weretilneck (“Provincials” of Santa Cruz, Neuquén and Río Negro). The governor of Santa Cruz has a strained relationship with the Government, but his presence in Córdoba for the May Pact, like those of the leaders of Nequén and Río Negro, is still unknown.
The three They stood next to Ignacio Torres from Chubut, from the PRO; Melella and Ziliotto, and threatened to cut off oil and gas production. Patagonia is the region where the reversal of Profits has the most impact. The behavior of their senators for the vote on the Base Law could be decisive in determining their invitations.
