x-ray of Karina, the big sister who really rules in Argentina

Karina Milei is the only person in the Argentine Government who has spent the delicious southern Christmas (absolute summer) in Buenos Aires, in the Casa Rosada, preparing the first acts of an electoral campaign that will begin to be seen clearly in three weeks and that Karina for Now she maintains the expectation about whether or not she will be a candidate for the legislative elections and of course about the district in which she would run. The elections that represent a litmus test for Milei will be held on Sunday, October 26, with the objective of renewing 127 of the 257 deputies.

In the crucible that shapes the Argentine political scene, Karina Milei rises – whether present or not – as a figure of power that transcends the borders of the surname. Formally, Milei’s sister is in charge of the General Secretariat of the Presidencyan organization in charge of assisting the president in the design of public policies, the preparation of messages, speeches and declarations, presidential ceremonial and protocol tasks, and relations with civil society.

But this woman, who She has been a tarot reader, baker and paints pictures.is not a shadow behind the president, as some have called it; Nor is it a star that eclipses it. It is rather a kind of hidden compass that indicates the paths, often winding, along which the libertarian government travels headed by his quirky older brother.

Karina, “The Boss” at the Casa Rosada, does not need to raise her voice to be heard; It is enough for him to remain in the room for silence to fall like a curtain.

If we search the trunk of this Karina’s memories from the other side of the Atlantic, we find that she was born in 1973 into a family that never spared blows or contempt. Karina found a refuge in her brother, and he found an ally in her.. That bond, as close as it is enigmatic, emerges from the ashes of a hostile home, where screams and orders were the everyday language.

Her life, until a few years ago, was that of just another citizen. She had gone through unremarkable jobs, in addition to trying her hand at being a pastry chef (making cakes), running a tire shop and studying public relations almost like someone who collects titles to fill a void. However, at some point, Karina found her calling: not in power, but in the art of manufacturing it.

From an administrator with no political experience to the architect of a party that would shake the foundations of the country, Karina understood that her brother was not just an eccentric economist, but a product, a brand ready to be sold in the squares and at the polls. “Karina put together a candidate,” say those who know her, but what she really built was a political machine where her control is as subtle as it is iron. On the public stage, Javier is the gladiator; Karina, the strategist. He screams, she whispers. He challenges, she calculates.

But power has an edge that cuts in both directions. In the Casa Rosada, Karina has consolidated a dominance that few dare to question. With her promotion as Secretary General of the Presidency—a position that would previously have been unattainable without the elimination of certain legal obstacles—she concentrated key areas of the government in her hands. He placed loyalists in strategic positions, remodeled portfolios and outlined lines of action with an efficiency as disturbing as it was admirable. Those who work alongside her speak of a woman who inspires both respect and fear, a figure who does not need applause or microphones to impose her will.

However, This portrait of efficiency is also tinted with chiaroscuro. The centralization of power, nepotism legitimized by decree, and an attitude of calculated opacity in its actions are facets that arouse suspicion among its critics. Karina, like her brother, walks the fine line between the disruptive and the authoritarian, between the necessary and the abusive. While Javier embodies the show, she represents the order behind the chaos.

In the photos, always on the sidelines but never far away, his presence evokes a paradox: he is both invisible and omnipresent. Maybe that’s why Karina Milei doesn’t leave anyone indifferent. For some, she is a skilled operator who has taken Argentine politics to new heights of pragmatism. For others, an example of power that is exercised without accountability. The truth is that Karina, like her brother, has no intention of leaving the center of the board. And in this game, where the rules are written by the winners, she always seems to be three moves ahead.