Argentine Senator Luis Juez has formally joined the La Libertad Avanza bloc in the Senate, bolstering Javier Milei's officialism ahead of the labor reform vote scheduled for Friday. The move brings the bloc to 21 senators and, with allies, reaches 44 out of 72 votes. Juez aims for the Córdoba governorship in 2027 and praised the president's moderation.
Argentine Senator Luis Juez has left the Frente Cívico and joined the La Libertad Avanza (LLA) bloc in the Senate, as reported by Perfil. This decision strengthens the officialism led by President Javier Milei at a key moment for the legislative agenda. Starting this week, the Senate begins decisive sessions: authorities are designated on Tuesday, the Régimen Penal Juvenil and possibly Glaciares laws are addressed on Thursday, and the labor reform is expected to be sanctioned on Friday in a special session.
With Juez's addition, LLA reaches 21 senators, matching the Justicialista bloc. Adding allies from the PRO and the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), officialism achieves 44 votes out of 72, nearing the two-thirds qualified majority for reforms. However, Peronism faces internal shifts: three Convicción Federal legislators—Guillermo Andrada, Carolina Moisés, and Sandra Mendoza—, linked to governors Raúl Jalil (Catamarca), Gustavo Sáenz (Salta), and Osvaldo Jaldo (Tucumán), seek to form a new bloc away from Kirchnerism.
Juez, who previously left the PRO bloc and the Frente Cívico monobloc, reflects a prior electoral alliance between Frente Cívico and LLA in Córdoba, now extended nationally. The officialist bloc in the Senate is led by Patricia Bullrich, who previously celebrated Juez's vote as a contribution from a “man of convictions”.
The senator acknowledged a change in Milei's tone toward Congress: “The president has moderated after the initial insults to the national parliament,” he stated. Juez also said Milei “learned to use the handbrake and today is a more political president,” moving past the outsider phase and governing with greater prudence. However, he kept distance on issues like the Disability Emergency Law, which is a priority for him due to his daughter's condition.
Juez made his political plans clear: he aspires to be Córdoba's governor in 2027 and is working for Milei's re-election, following a meeting at Olivos where he assured him of this. The labor reform, approved in the Deputies on February 19 and 20 with 135 votes in favor, introduces changes to indemnities (based on the best monthly salary plus IPC +3%), hours bank, flexible vacations between October and April, and dynamic salary. A controversial modification eliminates article 44, which regulated payments during leaves for non-work-related illnesses or accidents, described as “inhumane” by PRO ally Cristian Ritondo.
