Neither the internal complications, nor the financial inconsistencies of the chief of staff, much less the economic imbalances, prevent the government from doing what it likes to do most: smoothing out Mauricio Macri. Like a predator waiting for the right moment to attack, the former president, determined to make the PRO compete in as many provinces as possible next year, abandoned his stony silence at the worst moment in the image of Javier Milei and in the Casa Rosada they exploded. “He never knew his place in the world, not even when he was young,” they said with every intention of offending from the intimate environment of the libertarian leader.
It is not news that the relationship between the lion and the republican has been completely paralyzed since the departure of Guillermo Francos of the chief of staff in November 2025. The engineer, who was having dinner at the Quinta de Olivos at the time when the still coordinating minister presented his resignation from his position, was the first to criticize the head of state’s decision to choose Adorni as his successor and since then there has been no turning back. The decision of the former head of government to relaunch his party was only the last straw in a relationship that, according to Milei’s inner circle, “has no return.”
Despite the differences in the leadership of the parties, the truth is that in the territories coexistence is diametrically opposed. There are many municipalities in which the PRO and La Libertad Avanza manage to coexist in peace in the deliberative councils and with the highest rank within the Buenos Aires Legislature, where the thread for the succession of the most electorally important governorship in the country began a while ago. With terminals in the 135 regions of Buenos Aires, the yellows line up behind the larretista who has become Minister of the Interior, Diego Santilliwilling to receive the blessing of the presidential brothers to compete to succeed Axel Kicillof. An old friend helps him from the shadows.
This Tuesday, Cristian Ritondoreferred to the possibility of converging and left no room for doubt about the yellow position. “In the province of Buenos Aires there is no option if we want to win, we have to go together,” said the former Macrista minister, who in turn praised his friend as a candidate to the detriment of the wishes of Sebastian Parejaanother of those interested in staying with the governorship. “I said it the day we won the election, I consider him to be the one who is better off, who has the most will and logically places himself in a place where he has to have the support of both, at least the two main parties,” emphasized the legislator and main promoter of the pax inconceivable between the old allies.
For months, the head of the PRO bloc in Deputies tried without success to act as a converting link between the Casa Rosada and Balcarce 400. None of the barbecues and dinners in charming restaurants served to loosen the cold heart of the president’s followers, who remained stoic in the libertarian leader’s position of not opening the doors to the former president again. With the ejection signed, Macri quietly gathered his troops again and in recent weeks relaunched the space founded two decades ago with the sole objective of becoming a headache for the Milei.
After the pompous relaunch, which aroused nostalgia for the extinct Cambiemos among experienced operators, the ruling party made it known that the Calabrian was giving “a drowning blow” and that his strength “measures no more than 4 points.” But the twists of fate, and the bad habits of the neonate libertarian caste, made the Adorni-gate outbreak fall like a glove in a space that relies on the discourse of knowledge to accommodate a management that, although they ponder, they warn that the course is not the right one. “Loyalty is to the change that was promised. That forces us to recognize what is right and point out what is wrong,” Macri said in his speech last Friday in Chaco.
During his visit to the province, the man from Tandil held a meeting with the governors Leandro Zdero and Juan Pablo Valdeswith whom the government intends to join forces to paint the country purple. The decision of the provincial leaders did not attract attention within the ruling party, although the readings did not take long to arrive. “It is clear that Mauricio is wanting to reissue Together for Change and that the governors are looking for a plan b”they analyzed without hiding their irritation from the libertarian environment.
It is in this circumstance that the government’s internal disputes over electoral strategy once again surface. While the Karinista side of the management, combined by the national shipowner Eduardo “Lule” Menemunderstands that we must impose our own candidates in each of the provinces, on the Caputist side of the administration they warn that an agreement with some governors is necessary to guarantee majorities within Congress. Last year, these differences opened an irreparable rift within the government that, to this day, keeps members of each tribe deliberately separated into two wings. But nothing like a shared antagonist to regroup in fear.
Without an iota of paradox, the only thing that unites the members of the violet management on the same front is the contempt for the figure of the bostero. The internal without quarter that Santiago Caputo and Karina Milei that has remained fierce for very long months is put on pause when it comes to the former president, eyes of heaven. The honorary members of the extinct Iron Triangle understand that the common enemy is even more dangerous than their bid for power, which unifies the discourse of both spaces against the growth intentions expressed by the founder of the yellow party.
The Calabrian’s deliberate rejection of the presidential sister, whom no one who intends to survive dares to criticize even behind closed doors, prompted all the tribes to unify in pursuit of the care of the youngest of the Milei.
“Macri never understood that the only way to get along with Javier is to get along with Karina and the first thing he did was be extremely offensive towards her,” When asked by this newspaper, a person familiar with the origin of the dispute with the bostero said. Months ago, when he still maintained his intentions of landing in management, the PRO patriarch spoke about the “alarming level of personalism with which Karina handles herself,” whom he accused of not being building a government team, “but rather a closed structure that does not tolerate dissidence or different perspectives.” Enough to be expelled from paradise.
For the same source, the former president’s main mistake was wanting to explain to his successor “how to govern” after his administration “has been a disaster.” In this sense, within the ruling party they understand that the former president not only lacks electoral weight, but they also rule out any possibility of coming together in a coalition with joint overtones of the change. “We compete with the seal of La Libertad Avanza,” summarized another voice familiar with the electoral issues and management.
Next step pic.twitter.com/tuLKpDU1hh
— Mauricio Macri (@mauriciomacri) March 19, 2026
In the latest measurements that reached the ruling party’s collegiate tables, Macri has a voting intention of 4% as a potential presidential candidate, while the PRO oscillates between 5 and 7%, depending on the competition scenario. If eventually the vice president, Victoria Villarruelwould venture to compete to succeed Milei and the center-right vote would be tempted to divide, the former president would be left with five percentage points and the vice president with four.
The low competition numbers for now, however, are a complete calamity when it comes to thinking about a scenario of victory in the first round. “Every candidate who gets votes complicates the 40 – 10”, An expert in libertarian dynamics analyzes the titanic task of reaching a sufficient percentage difference to avoid falling into the always dramatic runoff. The government’s main problem is that Mauricio Macri knows of its complications. And without a doubt he will use them to his advantage.
