Brazil & Southern Cone - January 2026

Lieutenant General Carlos Alberto Presti, who had been serving as the chief of the general staff of Argentina’s army, took office as the new defence minister on 10 December, replacing Luis Petri, who won a seat in the lower chamber of congress in the October 2025 midterm elections. The decision by President Javier Milei to appoint an army general to the role of defence minister has garnered controversy and broken with political tradition. Since the end of Argentina’s military dictatorship (1976-1983), the position of defence minister had been held by civilians, a tradition that sought to separate the armed forces from political decision-making and prevent them from exercising influence over government. 

“For the first time since the return to democracy, a person with an impeccable military career, who has the highest rank in his service, will head the ministry responsible for national defence and the armed forces,” Milei’s office stated on 22 November, ahead of Presti’s assumption of the role, adding that the decision was a move to “end the demonisation” of military personnel.

The announcement fuelled criticism from human rights groups such as Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo, which released a statement on 25 November describing the appointment as a “provocation”, saying that the move “confirms a plan to destroy democratic consensus”. The Abuelas group highlighted that Presti is the son of Roque Carlos Presti, a military officer who was accused of committing crimes against humanity during the dictatorship era but died before he could be taken to trial for his alleged crimes.

The statement also framed the decision amid the Milei administration’s “plan to twist the collective history of Memory, Truth, and Justice”. It stated that since taking office in December 2023, the Milei government has obstructed search efforts of the families of those who were disappeared during the dictatorship and that the defence ministry has been reluctant to disclose historical records.

The Abuelas highlighted other indications that the Milei government was seeking to promote a revisionist narrative about the dictatorship period. On 14 November Alberto Baños, who served as the government’s undersecretary for human rights until 4 December, gave a presentation at the United Nations Committee against Torture in Switzerland and sought to dispute the figure of 30,000 disappeared persons during Argentina’s dictatorship. He also sought to emphasise the victims killed by left-wing guerrilla groups.

In addition to rights groups, Peronist opposition figures slammed the decision to appoint Presti as defence minister. On 24 November federal deputy Agustín Rossi, who served as defence minister under former Peronist presidents Cristina Fernández (2007-2015) and Alberto Fernández (2019-2023), wrote on X that the decision marked a “democratic setback and deprofessionalisation of the armed forces”.

In December, Petri was cited in the national press as defending his successor, insisting that “there is no incompatibility” in the appointment and suggesting the Kirchneristas, the main left-wing populist faction of the Peronist movement associated with former presidents Cristina Fernández and her late husband Néstor Kirchner (2003-2007), prefer to appoint members of the Montoneros guerrilla group to government posts. National daily Clarín highlighted this as an indirect jab at former defence minister Nilda Garré (2005-2010), who had faced accusations of having ties to the Montoneros, which she denied.

New security minister

On 2 December Alejandra Monteoliva was sworn in as the new minister for public security. Just as Petri was replaced after winning a seat in congress, Monteoliva takes over from Patricia Bullrich, who won a senate seat in the October midterms. Monteoliva had served as Bullrich’s deputy at the security ministry, so her appointment is expected to mark a continuation of her predecessor’s work, which the president’s office described in a statement in November as the fight against “narco-terrorism and organised crime” and to “uphold law and order on the streets”.