National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich has quit the PRO party she previously headed and formally joined La Libertad Avanza.
Bullrich – who became part of President Javier Milei’s government in December 2023 but did not formally join the ruling party – made the transfer official at a ceremony at a park in upmarket Recoleta, Buenos Aires City.
She called the move “an act of honesty” and went on to criticise PRO, which she led until early last year.
“I have been part of the government from day one – this for me is a consistent act,” Bullrich declared after converting.
“The PRO voter wants a country with institutions, with a republic, to vote for laws like the ones we promote. The PRO voter wanted this, for people to be free. That's why I ask them to join us,” said the minister.
The act was overseen by Presidential Chief-of-Staff Karina Milei and La Libertad Avanza’s lead candidate in the upcoming City elections, Presidential Spokesperson Manuel Adorni, who is competing for a similar voting base to Bullrich’s former party colleagues in the May 18 vote for the City Legislature.
Reports circulating in local media outlets suggest that Bullrich’s departure could lead to a fracture of the PRO caucus in the lower house Chamber of Deputies, with as many as 12 deputies said to be ready to quit the ranks.
In a strongly worded statement (entitled “Reputation”), PRO authorities accused Bullrich of “turning her back on those who voted for her.”
Leaders “achieve their positions of power by representing the ideas and the will of many people who believe in them,” it read. “In a sense, when they are elected, they cease to be entirely free, because they acquire a responsibility that has no expiry date.”
“Today, by turning her back on those who voted for her and believed in her, she is leaving behind a very large part of her reputation, perhaps all of it,” said the party.
The statement stressed that Bullrich “was elected on behalf of the PRO and was accompanied by more than six million votes in the 2023 elections”
“PRO, like voters, learns from good and bad experiences, distinguishes between people and continues to move forward to fulfil its mandate for change,” it concluded.
Bullrich ran against Milei in the 2023 presidential election as a candidate for the Juntos por el Cambio coalition, finishing a disappointing third and claiming just over a fifth of votes.
Shortly afterwards, she threw her backing behind Milei in the run-off against Peronist candidate Sergio Massa, a fact that won immediate favour with the outspoken libertarian, who had slammed Bullrich repeatedly on the lead-up to the election.
Since her arrival to Milei’s Cabinet, Bullrich has become one of the President’s favourite officials, winning regular praise for her hardline approach to security issues and street demonstrators.
Political analysts see this latest move as the first step towards Bullrich taking on a bigger role for La Libertad Avanza in the national midterm elections in October. There are reports that she is considering a run for a Senate seat under Milei’s party banner.
Her switch comes amid talks between LLA and several PRO leaders over a potential alliance in Buenos Aires Province to take on the opposition Peronists, who currently rule the province in the form of Governor Axel Kicillof.
Pre-empting criticism from PRO and its co-founder and current leader, former president Mauricio Macri, Bullrich on Tuesday called on her former boss to “support the change with everything.”
“A year and a half ago, I made the decision to join a project for deep change in Argentina. This affiliation is one more step along that path,” she said in a post on social media referencing her “political decision.”
“When I decided to support Javier Milei, I did so because he represented the future. And I did so with the backing of those who voted for me, who chose real change.”
She signed off her statement with the letters “VLLC” – a reference to Milei’s famous catchphrase: “Viva la libertad carajo!”
Political chameleon
Bullrich has spent over five decades navigating Argentina’s turbulent political waters — from left-wing militancy to hardline conservatism and libertarianism. She has often shifted allegiances in step with the times – her switch to La Libertad Avanza is the sixth formal affiliation of her long political career.
Born on June 11, 1956, in Buenos Aires, the new La Libertad Avanza member comes from a politically distinguished family. Among her ancestors are Juan Martín de Pueyrredón, supreme director of the United Provinces of the Río de la Plata, and Honorio Pueyrredón, a minister who served under then-president Hipólito Yrigoyen (1916-1922; 1928-1930).
Bullrich’s interest in politics was clear from the start – at least according to family legend. During a childhood trip to the countryside in Los Toldos, the then-four-year-old reportedly stood in the aisle of a train and introduced herself to fellow passengers as "Patricia Bullrich Luro Pueyrredón de San Martín," before declaring her intention to become president one day.
In 1973, as a young 17-year-old, Bullrich joined the Juventud Peronista, developing close ties to Montoneros leader Rodolfo Galimberti, who was then married to her sister.
Her involvement, formal or not, with the guerrilla group, has been the subject of great controversy. Several outlets have reported she had held the rank of second lieutenant in Montoneros, under the alias Carolina Serrano.
During the 2023 presidential campaign, Javier Milei accused Bullrich of having planted bombs at kindergartens – a claim she denied, subsequently filing a criminal lawsuit.
Following the 1976 military coup and the fragmentation of the Peronist youth movement, Bullrich went into exile in Brazil. She returned in 1982, just prior to the return of democracy, and founded her own group within the Juventud Peronista.
In the 1990s, she moved into national politics, serving as a deputy from 1993 to 1997 under then-president Carlos Menem. At the end of the decade, she joined the Alianza coalition and was appointed to successive posts under president Fernando de la Rúa — criminal policy and prisons secretary, labour minister, and later social security minister.
She resigned in 2001, following a decree she signed that trimmed pensions by 13 percent — a measure she defended at the time as “firm and extremely tough.”
After a period away from politics, she returned in 2007 with the rebranded Unión por la Libertad. That year she ran for Buenos Aires City mayor in alliance with Recrear, finishing fourth. Her party joined up with Elisa Carrió’s Coalición Cívica, and Bullrich served as a national deputy until she jumped to Macri’s PRO in 2011.
In 2015, Macri named her national security minister, a post she held throughout his presidency and which emboldened her hawkish reputation. Her tenure was marked by a hardline approach to protests, the deaths of Santiago Maldonado and Rafael Nahuel and the controversial “Chocobar doctrine” – new rules imposed after a police officer shot a fleeing thief in the back.
In 2023, Bullrich won the PRO party’s primary against Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and ran for president, but she finished a disappointing third with 23.83 percent. Days later, she endorsed Milei in the run-off, declaring: “When the homeland is in danger, everything is allowed, except not defending it.”
Following Milei’s victory, she was appointed security minister for a second time on December 10. Her closeness to the ruling party created tensions with Macri, her former boss, and has ultimately led to her final break with PRO — a move now made official with her affiliation to La Libertad Avanza.
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