President Javier Milei of Argentina signed an order closing the country’s Culture Ministry and other agencies on December 12, soon after assuming office.
Milei, a far-right libertarian economist who calls himself “King of the Jungle,” was elected to a four-year presidential term in November, beating out center-left former economic minister Sergio Massa because of his promises to fix Argentina’s broken economy.
He signed a decree published in the government bulletin shortly after taking office which characterized the change as a merger of the ministries of Culture, Education, Health, Labor and Social Development into a new, single governmental department called the Ministry of Human Capital.
The new super ministry will be headed by Sandra Pettovello, a former broadcast journalist who will now have control over a significant chunk of the overall Argentinian government and budget.
In total, Milei slashed the government down to just nine ministries. The former Ministries of Public Works, Housing, Transportation, Energy, Mining, and Telecommunications have all been consolidated into the new Ministry of Infrastructure.
A notice on the former Culture Ministry website states that it is in the process of being updated to conform to the new decree.
“We promote public policies for the development of a national culture that encourages artistic creation and cultural expressions, having diversity and plurality as fundamental axes,” the website currently reads. “We promote the production of cultural industries in all their variants. We promote the conservation and enhancement of our cultural heritage.”
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