One of the most uncomfortable documents to emerge prior to Manuel Adorni's resignation as Cabinet chief concerned official presidential travel.
In a response to public information requests, Argentina’s government denied that Adorni's wife, Bettina Julieta Angeletti, had formed part of any official delegation. But it acknowledged she travelled as a "one-way guest," aboard the ARG-01 presidential aircraft during President Javier Milei's visit to the United States in March 2026.
The information came from replies issued by offices under the Presidential Secretariat, in response to requests seeking details of official trips, delegations, guests, transport and accommodation.
The government’s document stated there were "no records" of Angeletti being part of any official delegation, either on foreign or domestic trips. However, it also recorded her as a "guest on the presidential flight – one way" on the Miami and New York legs of the March 2026 tour.
The discrepancy prompted political questions: if she was not part of the official delegation, in what capacity did she travel, who authorised her presence aboard the presidential aircraft and under what criteria was she permitted to use a state plane?
The same records placed Adorni within the official delegation, alongside President Milei, Presidential Secretary Karina Milei and Foreign Secretary Pablo Quirno.
For the Miami leg, the stated purpose was the President's attendance at the "Shields of the Americas Summit," with accommodation at Trump National Doral luxury hotel. The documents show both Milei and Karina Milei stayed in individual bedroom suites, with transport to the city provided by ARG-01.
In New York, the delegation attended the "Argentina Week" roadshow and stayed at The Langham, where the President and Karina Milei were again assigned suite accommodation. The documents also recorded Angeletti travelling as a one-way guest aboard the presidential aircraft.
The government’s document did not in itself point to criminal wrongdoing. But it cut against the government's image of austerity, raising questions over why members of the President's inner circle travelled aboard the presidential jet and stayed in luxury hotels, while individuals outside the official delegation were also permitted on board.
The controversy added to mounting scrutiny over Adorni's assets, spending and other matters already under judicial investigation.
Following Adorni’s resignation, what once appeared to be a bureaucratic detail has taken on greater significance, becoming part of a broader sequence of questions surrounding official travel, delegations, guests and expenses that the government has struggled to answer convincingly.
by Ariel Festa, Noticias Argentinas
Comments