Who is Victoria Villarruel, the vice president of Argentina faced with Javier Milei (and the one that the president does not even greet)

Without appointing her directly, Milei called her “traitor” on social networks for allowing, as president of the upper house, that the session took place.

Villarruel, this time, did not remain silent, and suggested that the president behave “as an adult.”

Responding not directly to the president but to tweets to Milei, the vice president even questioned that President Gaste “on trips” and in the SIDE (the Intelligence Agency) rather than in social aid.

Although they came to power together in December 2023, Milei and Villarruel represent different sectors within the Argentine right: he, a libertarian economist with an anti -system speech; She, a conservative, nationalist lawyer, Catholic traditionalist and linked to the military.

Like Milei, his vice president is relatively new in politics, where he arrived as a deputy in 2021 after years as an activist leader of victims of the violence of armed left groups of the 70s.

His family environment, marked by military, and his incisive oratory forged this political figure that claims his own space beyond Milei.

Victoria Villarruel, 50, grew up in a family in Buenos Aires closely linked to the Armed Forces, which deeply marked her vision of the country and her career.

His father, Eduardo Villarruel, was an officer of the Argentine army specialized in psychological action and geolocation, and his grandfather, the backward Lauro Hedelvio, one of the most important historians of the Navy.

“She grows in an environment in which her father has an ascent in her career before and during the dictatorship (1976-83). And when democracy arrives, everything begins to go badly to the family,” the journalist and writer Emilia Delfino, author of the book La Genela, an unauthorized biography about the vice president, explains to BBC world.

Eduardo Villarruel refused to swear the Constitution during the democratic government of Raúl Alfonsín (1983-89), which brought him sanctions and faced him with the army dome.

“It seems to me that this frustration, that resentment … and above all that feeling of being a loser all the time of her father – who for her is a hero, not a loser – great influenced,” says the author.

After obtaining a law degree at the University of Buenos Aires, Victoria Villarruel expanded her profile with a security and fighting course in terrorism in the United States.

His leap to public life occurred in the 2000s with the Foundation of Celtyv (Center for Legal Studies on Terrorism and its Victims), an NGO that promoted the recognition of the civil victims of the left -wing armed organizations of the 70s, such as Montoneros and the ERP.

With the Celtyv, Villarruel was a pioneer in defending the victims of guerrillas – in contrast to the disappeared of the dictatorship – which allowed him to “enter the public debate by forcing the reopening of the causes stating that these crimes are not prescribed, but that they are also crimes against humanity.”

Various human rights organizations have accused her of revisionism of this historical process and maintaining links with defenders of the military dictatorship that perpetrated thousands of deaths, as well as torture and other abuses.

Villarruel has denied these accusations and argues that his struggle is for “the rights of civil victims of terrorism” when considering that they have been historically ignored.

Villarruel broke into politics in 2021 by the hand of Libertad advances, the party led by President and his sister Karina.

The author of “La Generala” attributes her incorporation into the party to the recommendations of conservative nationalist sectors that sought to add ideological and territorial weight to the libertarian project of Javier Milei.

“He already represented the libertarian liberals. He needed to add to the other sector on the right, the conservative, the non -liberal, who is considered nationalist, the Catholic. And thus better agglutinate the vote on the right and be able to gain more weight in the 2021 elections, which were legislative elections,” he explains.

And he emphasizes that, during the two years that Milei and Villarruel shared as deputies, the relationship between the two was close and “there was even personal affection.”

However, that tune began to crumble in the 2023 presidential campaign.

One of the keys to distancing was the distant relationship of Villarruel with Karina Milei, a central figure in the political organization of the ruling party to whom the first “always tried to avoid,” says the journalist.

“There was always a lot of distrust from Karina to Victoria, and a lot of underestimation from Victoria towards Karina. The relationship was never good, and they never tried to be.”

The lack of connection with the influential sister of the president excluded Villarruel from the circle of strategic decisions, so he tried to build his own space.

“It took to an act flags with a 'V' of Victoria, and that fell very bad because in La Libertad advances there is no place for anything other than Milei, the lion,” says Delfino.

And he emphasizes that the vice president began to occupy spaces that the president left empty.

“Milei is missing a national act in a province, and she goes behind and occupies that place. Milei does not negotiate with the governors, and she goes and meets with the governors. Milei does not want to negotiate with anyone from the opposition, and she goes and dialogues with the opposition. She supplies those absences and thus seeks to strengthen,” he says.

Thus, the distancing between Milei and Villarruel was aggravated until the recent crossing of disqualifications publicly certified the rupture.

“It seems difficult for this to be turned back, they are very intense and vehement. Although everything is possible, especially in Argentina where politicians have fought badly and then you see them in the same list, those personal wounds will not be easy to heal,” says Emilia Delfino.

The personal and political identity of Victoria Villarruel is marked by traditionalist Catholicism, nationalism and direct and confrontational rhetoric.

Devotees of the Virgin, Villarruel attends a Lefebvrista church -a ultraconservative current of Catholicism considered “to the right of Opus Dei” in Argentina, according to the author of the Generala.

“He prefers the Mass in Latin, a Mass very much for, very personal, very individual. He even goes with the mantilla, with the veil, stays in a corner to not attract much attention, because now he lost the anonymity and strange the anonymity a lot,” says Delfino.

Despite his defense of the traditional family, Villarruel has never formed one. His only marriage ended in divorce and achieved the ecclesiastical cancellation to continue communing.

His marked nationalism makes her differ with the liberal Javier Milei in certain issues.

“There is something that has been eradicating a lot, which is the Malvinas issue,” says Delfino.

He emphasizes that the vice president has publicly questioned decisions of the current government that, according to her, contradict Argentine sovereignty about the archipelago, and has criticized Milei's admiration for the former British minister Margaret Thatcher.

On the other hand, analysts emphasize that the greatest institutional vocation of Villarruel – in contrast to the anti -system libertarism of Milei- gives it a greater capacity for dialogue with all the political forces of the Argentine Parliament, including the Peronist opposition.

In any case, the great political asset of Victoria Villarruel is his rhetoric, which gives him a valuable ability to impact speeches and debates.

“It is brilliant in the oratory. His great strong politician is that: the word. Convincing with the word and demolish the enemy with the word. A source that has known her for two decades defined her as a sniper, someone who acts alone, not as a team, and who is very accurate with her shots,” says the writer of her unauthorized biography.

Villaruel maintains a close relationship with his only sister, Virginia, who is attributed to the management of his social networks, although she has denied it.

His lifestyle has generated some controversy: in 2024 he rented a house in an exclusive neighborhood of the North of Greater Buenos Aires, for an amount that, according to sources cited by Delfino, exceeded 50,000 dollars annually.

“She tells her environment that she used an inheritance from her grandmother to pay that rent, inheritance that is not declared,” says the journalist.

The vice president has publicly complained that her official salary “are two chirolas”, Argentine expression to refer to an insignificant sum.

Like Milei, she is fond of dogs and has two, Gaucho and Captain, whose names reveal her marked attachment to the national symbols.

Villaruel also “enjoys the compliments, the gifts, the celebration of his person,” according to Delfino.

The bulky ego of the vice president is, for many, an indication that it holds presidential ambitions.

The journalist quotes her interview with Emilio Vimonte Olmos, a man of trust in Villarruel until last May, who assured her “that every night he told her: 'Think what you want to be president.'”

“I think that his own right hand of that moment confirms it: there is an ambition to be president. And it seems to me that the phrase also confirms that he has not decided why, right? As there is ambition, but there is still a decision,” he evaluates the author of the Generala.

Subscribe here To our new newsletter to receive every Friday a selection of our best content of the week.

And remember that you can receive notifications in our app. Download the latest version and act.