\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t President Javier Milei\u2019s decision to appoint the head of the Argentine Army, Lieutenant General Carlos Presti, as his new defense minister has caused a stir across many sectors.\u00a0<\/p>\n
From human rights groups to defense experts and top military brass, concerns regarding the participation of an active military member with the federal government are broad and go beyond the country\u2019s polarized politics.<\/p>\n
Presti will succeed Luis Petri, who will leave the post to become a deputy on December 10, after winning the seat in October\u2019s parliamentary election.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In order to understand the controversy, we have to go over the country\u2019s recent history and the army\u2019s role in it.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The designation is unprecedented in modern times. The end of the last military dictatorship brought on a consensus that the head of the defense department must be a civilian. Human rights organizations estimate some 30,000 people were disappeared during the last military regime, between 1976 and 1983.<\/p>\n
The president\u2019s office defended its decision to break with convention in a statement announcing the appointment.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor the first time since the return of democracy, a person with an impeccable military career who has reached the highest rank in his hierarchy will be at the head of the ministry in charge of national defense and the armed forces, inaugurating a tradition that we hope the political leadership will continue from now on and putting an end to the demonization of our officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers,\u201d it read.<\/p>\n
Since his presidential campaign, Milei has defended the armed forces and questioned the extent of the crimes committed during the last military dictatorship.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After taking office in December 2023, he demoted the Human Rights ministry to an undersecretariat, and his government was the first to deny the existence of 30,000 disappeared.<\/p>\n
The Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who are dedicated to finding the close to 500 children stolen during the last military dictatorship, considered Presti\u2019s appointment another \u201cprovocation.\u201d \u201cIt confirms a plan to destroy democratic consensus,\u201d they denounced on their site.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The organization\u2019s president, Estela de Carlotto, warned that the decision \u201cis starting a situation of violence in society.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe already know the history that Argentina has had with coups, dictatorships, and everything we have suffered,\u201d she stated in an interview with Radio Splendid.<\/p>\n
Concerns over the decision are not limited to the symbolic nature of the move but to the man himself. Presti\u2019s decision to not retire from the Army despite it being mandated by law, coupled with the disarray his appointment caused in the military\u2019s chain of command and serious allegations against his father, have only increased the spotlight.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A military member and a minister Shortly after being appointed, Presti announced he would not retire from the military to take his post in the government. Instead, he requested to be placed on standby (known in Spanish as pasar a disponibilidad), an equivalent to taking leave.<\/p>\n
It should be noted that this is allowed on a temporary basis. According to war veteran and seasoned Ambito journalist Edgardo Aguilera, military legislation allows senior personnel appointed to government functions not linked to the armed forces to be on \u201cdisponibilidad,\u201d but only \u201cup to six months tops.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
After that they must retire or return to active duty. Presti has not indicated if he will eventually retire.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Former Defense Minister Oscar Aguad \u2014 who served under Mauricio Macri (2015-2019) \u2014 described the decision to appoint an active military officer for the post as \u201ca mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think Presti should retire, firstly because the law doesn\u2019t allow it \u2014 military personnel cannot get involved in politics\u2014 and secondly to avoid creating confusion,\u201d he stated during an interview with Infobae.<\/p>\n
Agust\u00edn Rossi, in charge of Defense between 2019 and 2021 under President Alberto Fernandez, also showed his opposition. \u201cThe armed forces become involved in the fate of the government when they should be preserved from any political circumstance,\u201d he told Herald sister publication \u00c1mbito.<\/p>\n
Those who defend the appointment, however, claim that since the defense ministry is directly linked to military activity, that law shouldn\u2019t apply to the future minister.<\/p>\n
Sins of the father Pestri is also being questioned over his connections. Specifically, regarding the controversial role his father played during the dictatorship and the view his son has held regarding alleged crimes he committed.<\/p>\n
As head of the 7th Infantry Regiment of La Plata, Roque Carlos Presti was allegedly involved in the kidnappings of high school students during what became known as the infamous Noche de los Lapices (Night of the Pencils), in September 1976.<\/p>\n
He was also accused of organizing the clandestine detention of Clara Anah\u00ed Mariani, the granddaughter of one of the founders of the Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, who remains disappeared.<\/p>\n
While Presti Sr. admitted before a court in 1987 that he had received orders from his superiors to \u201cdetain people,\u201d he was never formally tried for any crime, as he died in 1993, before the so-called \u201cimpunity laws\u201d \u2014 a series of laws passed in the late 1980s that put an end to the trials for crimes against humanity \u2014 were struck down.<\/p>\n
Carlos Presti has never spoken publicly about the crimes his father was accused of, something his critics denounce.<\/p>\n
Another former defense minister, Julio Mart\u00ednez (2015-2017), however, has cautioned against condemning someone because of their family name.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cJudging by surnames was done by the Nazis and also during Kirchnerism, when impeccable military personnel were denied promotions because they had a relative linked to the dictatorship,\u201d he warned on Radio Rivadavia.<\/p>\n
Changes in the military Prest\u2019s appointment also stirred things up within the top military brass.\u00a0<\/p>\n
By naming him minister, the government in essence created a conflict in the chain of command, as he would be considered \u201cabove\u201d his current peers, the heads of the Navy (Admiral Carlos Allievi) and the Air Force (Brigadier General Gustavo Valverde), and even over his current superior, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Brigadier General Xavier Isaac.\u00a0<\/p>\n
To resolve this, Milei decided to change the whole leadership, with one exception: Valverde, who will remain as the head of the Air Force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
President Javier Milei\u2019s decision to appoint the head of the Argentine Army, Lieutenant General Carlos Presti, as his new defense minister has caused a stir across many sectors.\u00a0 From human rights groups to defense experts and top military brass, concerns regarding the participation of an active military member with the federal government are broad and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":243,"featured_media":15682,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5127,5128,1442,61,59],"tags":[5125,5126,2188,89,86],"class_list":["post-15681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-defense-ministry","category-grandmothers-of-plaza-de-mayo","category-human-rights","category-javier-milei","category-politics","tag-defense-ministry","tag-grandmothers-of-plaza-de-mayo","tag-human-rights","tag-javier-milei","tag-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/243"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15681\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15682"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}