President Javier Milei fired his foreign minister Diana Mondino on Wednesday. Her departure from the National Cabinet is said to have been due to Argentina voting in favor of Cuba in a UN resolution against the United States embargo against the island.
In any case, Mondino's power had been cut by the Secretary General of the Presidency, Karina Milei , for several months due to the mistakes made by the former foreign minister in diplomatic terms and her off-track attitude regarding libertarian policies. And according to presidential spokesman Manuel Adorno , she will be replaced by Gerardo Werthein, Argentina's current ambassador to the United States.
The alleged trigger that generated Mondino's departure was due to the fact that in The latest action by Ricardo Lagorio as Argentine representative to the UN; he voted this Wednesday in the United Nations General Assembly against the economic embargo imposed by the United States against Cuba. The resolution was approved with 187 votes in favor, 2 against (United States and Israel) and one abstention (Moldova).
It is not clear what Lagorio was still doing at the United Nations, since last Friday, through Decree 957/2024, the Government had appointed Francisco Tropepi in his place. A career diplomat who was supporting Gerardo Werthein at the Argentine embassy in Washington.
The now ex-chancellor was on the tightrope on several occasions. She created a diplomatic dispute with China, the country's main trading partner. In a statement she had said that "the Chinese are all the same."
He also faced several questions regarding his policy on the claim of sovereignty over the Malvinas Islands. The most serious incident was the signing of a controversial agreement with Great Britain, which was criticised by Vice President Victoria Villarruel . He then had minor scandals such as the presentation of a map of Argentina without the Malvinas Islands and a statement naming them as the British do: Malvinas.
“Mondino joins the long list of officials who have left the government of La Libertad Avanza. With Mondino, there are four ministers who have resigned. The first was the head of the extinct Ministry of Infrastructure, Guillermo Ferraro. Then it was the turn of Milei's first chief of staff, Nicolás Posse. Recently, the head of the Health portfolio, Miguel Russo, resigned,” Ámbito listed.
Who is Gerardo Werthein, the new foreign minister?
Following Mondino's abrupt departure, the president chose the current ambassador to the United States, Gerardo Werthein. Although he graduated as a veterinarian, his entire life oscillated between the world of business and sport.
Gerardo Werthein with President Javier Milei, on the balconies of the Casa Rosada.
Until three years ago, he was one of the visible faces of the family's business holding company, one of the richest in the country. The Werthein Group has more than 90 years of experience and works in areas as diverse as food and beverages and real estate ventures. Today Gerardo is the owner of Haras El Capricho, where an exclusive horse race is held.
At the same time, he held various important positions in the world of sport. Between 2009 and 2021, he was president of the Argentine Olympic Committee (COA) and is still a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS).
The UN resolution in favor of Cuba
The text, presented by Cuba, calls on all States to refrain from enacting and applying laws and measures that contravene them, urging those who still impose them to repeal such measures, the UN reported.
Argentina voted together with all of Latin America and the Caribbean. In this way, the UN General Assembly approved for the 32nd consecutive time a resolution calling for the end of the United States economic embargo on Cuba that has been in place since 1960 and has been tightened at different times in history.
The resolution argues that "the sovereign equality of States, non-intervention and non-interference in their internal affairs and the freedom of international trade and navigation, enshrined in numerous international legal instruments."
