President Javier Milei has repeatedly made it clear on his social media accounts and various officials have also reflected his thoughts: it is time for the chainsaw to rip through the Foreign Ministry.
Until this week, and her removal from office, the portfolio managed by Diana Mondino had managed to avoid the chainsaw. In fact, according to government data gathered by Perfil, the now former foreign minister did not make any adjustments.
Moreover, Mondino started with an initial budget of 188,314.80 million pesos and ended her term with one of 511,662 million pesos – more than double. Of this amount, the portfolio to date has spent a total of 358,011 million pesos, with a 75 percent budget execution rate.
In terms of resource execution, Mondino's Foreign Ministry has numbers in line with other key portfolios such as the Human Capital Ministry (average of 74 percent), the Economy Economy (72 percent), the Justice Ministry (73 percent) and the Security Ministry (73 percent).
The question of where that expenditure lies can also be accessed. The highest item is staff salaries, at 108,258 million pesos. It is precisely this aspect that President Milei has questioned since Mondino’s removal, criticising the “diplomatic caste” and its privileges.
Deputy Press Secretary Javier Lanari described as “scandalous” the fact that ambassadors earn US$20,000 dollars in a country where 50 percent of the population is poor.
“It's even more scandalous that they say they can't afford to maintain a good standard of living abroad, chainsaw,” said the official in a post on the X social network, a message later shared by Milei.
Mondino not only had a larger budget, but in real terms, considering year-on-year inflation, her area had a positive balance of 0.3 percent. No other ministry has similar figures as of September: Guillermo Francos' Cabinet Office made a cut of 28.03 percent, Human Capital 26.97 percent, Justice 28.70 percent, Defence 15 percent, Security 22.3 percent and Interior 63.2 percent.
Even the Presidency, following La Libertad Avanza guidelines, made severe cuts, boasting an adjustment of 57.15 percent. But Mondino, the economist who was ejected from her post and has now been replaced by businessman Gerardo Werthein, did not set an example.
Despite this, Mondino did travel on commercial airliners and with a minimal entourage. But since taking office on December 10, according to the Foreign Ministry's website, she has appointed 12 people to the Ministry's organisational chart, ranging from the posts in cabinet units to advisors to various secretaries and undersecretaries.
Some of them passed quickly through the Palacio San Martín, such as Francisco Sánchez, who was put in charge of the religious sector but was responsible for controversial acts and remarks at various different forums. Reason enough for Nahuel Sotelo, a libertarian figurehead, to arrive at the Foreign Ministry without the endorsement of the Chancellor and with the approval of the La Libertad Avanza iron triangle of Milei, sister Karina Milei and presidential advisor Santiago Caputo.
