The recent event at La Rural, held in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Palermo, has intensified the already tense relationship between the president Javier Milei and Vice President Victoria Villarruel. This event, which should have been a show of unity and support for the agricultural sector, turned into a scene of coldness and disagreement between the two main figures of the government.
From the beginning of the event, the tension was palpable. Javier Milei and Victoria Villarruel shared the central stage, but their interaction was minimal. A cold and distant greeting set the tone for the day. During the almost three hours that the event lasted, they did not exchange a word, which made evident the rupture in their political relationship.
The event at La Rural was organized by the Sociedad Rural Argentina and was attended by various political and agricultural figures. However, the focus was on the interaction, or rather the lack of it, between Milei and Villarruel.
The official broadcast, controlled by the Casa Rosada, focused on underlining the centrality of Mileileaving Villarruel in the background. The tension between the president and the vice president is not new. Since the incident of the “unfortunate tweet” in which Villarruel called France a “colonialist country”, the differences between the two have become more evident.
This comment, made days before a scheduled meeting between Milei and French President Emmanuel Macron, generated significant discomfort in the Argentine government and diplomacy. The event at La Rural was the first time the two had seen each other in public since the military parade on July 9, where they also shared an awkward moment.
On that occasion, a photo of both of them on an Army tank went around the world, but the coldness between them was already evident. During the event, Vice President Villarruel remained in the background, barely visible in official broadcasts. Her response to the situation was acidic and direct.
Indifference
In his speech, Villarruel did not hesitate to veiledly criticize some of the government’s policies, which was interpreted as a direct challenge to the authority of Javier Milei. The relationship appears to follow a similar pattern to that of the previous administration, where tensions between the president and vice president were a constant.
This confrontational dynamic not only affects governability, but also generates uncertainty in the country’s political and economic spheres. The president of the Rural Society, Nicolás Pino, tried to mediate in the situation, but his efforts were in vain.
