⚖ CABINET CHANGE • MARCH 5, 2026 • DECREE 133/2026

Mahiques asume Justicia:

Karina's man conquers the courts

Juan Bautista Mahiques, attorney general of the City, replaces Cúneo Libarona with an urgent agenda: to unblock more than 200 paralyzed judicial documents, the two vacancies in the Supreme Court and the expansion of the accusatory system. Her appointment consolidates the power of the Secretary General of the Presidency over the portfolio and resigns ground to Santiago Caputo.

⏱ Reading Time: 7–9 minutes     |     ✍ Writing: Politics and Justice     |     🗞 Sources: La Nación · Infobae · Profile · Scope · Chronicler

The resignation of Mariano Cúneo Libarona was not a surprise. The former minister had submitted his resignation on October 23, 2025, but Karina Milei asked him to remain in office until she herself chose his successor. The deadline he set: March 2026, once the extraordinary sessions of Congress have concluded. During those months, rumors about possible replacements multiplied, with names ranging from Buenos Aires Senator Guillermo Montenegro — favorite candidate of advisor Santiago Caputo — to Mahiques himself.

The outcome took place on March 4: a meeting at the Quinta de Olivos that included Cúneo Libarona, Karina Milei and, at the last minute, the chief of staff Manuel Adorni, defined the terms of the transition. Milei announced the change on his social networks that same day. At noon on March 5, Mahiques was sworn in before the President in the White Room of the Casa Rosada, in a ceremony that for him had a historic character: it was the first time he had met face to face with Javier Milei.

— Source from Karina Milei's entourage (Infobae, 4/3/2026)

Born in the Buenos Aires district of Mercedes 45 years ago, Juan Bautista Mahiques is part of what is known in the judicial corridors as a "family of courts." His father, Carlos Mahiques, is a chambermaid of Chamber I of the Federal Court of Criminal Cassation; his brother Ignacio serves as a Buenos Aires prosecutor and was deputy in the Vialidad case against Cristina Kirchner; his brother Esteban is general director of Institutional Relations of the Foreign Ministry and was a member of the Disciplinary Tribunal of the AFA.

The new minister is a lawyer graduated from the UBA and has a master's degree in Administration of Justice from the Unitelma Sapienza in Rome. He got his first job in the Judiciary when he was just 20 years old. Since 2019 he has held the head of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the City of Buenos Aires – head of all Buenos Aires prosecutors – a position he reached with the impetus of Daniel Angelici, Macrista operator and former president of Boca Juniors. At the same time, he has chaired the International Association of Prosecutors (IAP) since 2022, a position for which he was re-elected in April 2025, and since 2024 he has been rector of the University Institute of Security of the City.

His link with power has multiple layers: during the government of Mauricio Macri he was representative of the Executive Branch before the Council of the Magistracy and Undersecretary of Penitentiary Affairs and Relations with the Judiciary, two positions from which he exercised direct influence on the appointment of national and federal judges. The contact with the Milei universe began just four months before his appointment, mediated by cousins Eduardo "Lule" Menem and Martín Menem, along with Santiago Viola. Karina Milei studied it, evaluated it and concluded that it met the conditions she was looking for.

The appointment of Mahiques was not only a technical change: it was the expression of a power struggle within the libertarian government. Santiago Caputo — the president's star adviser, known in journalistic circles as "the Kremlin's magician" — had been controlling the Justice portfolio through Sebastián Amerio, the outgoing secretary who responded to his agenda. With the arrival of Mahiques and, above all, with the installation of Santiago Viola as secretary, Caputo loses a key link: the man who operated in the Council of the Magistracy and monitored sensitive cases such as those linked to the $LIBRA case and the ANDIS scandal.

In the sector close to Caputo, they interpret the movement as a defeat against the Secretary General of the Presidency. Amerio himself learned of the change in the middle of a meeting in the Council of the Magistracy and had to leave before concluding it. According to reports, until the last moment he resisted the order to leave his office. Mahiques' gestures in his first public message – explicitly thanking Karina Milei for "her permanent support" and "the dedication with which she leads the government's political team" – was read in all sectors as an unequivocal declaration of alignment.

— John Baptist Mahiques in his first message as appointed minister (X, 3/4/2026)

If there is one piece of information that defines the magnitude of the challenge that Mahiques inherits, it is this: the Executive Branch has in its possession the lists of 209 judges from shortlists that have already been sent to it by the Council of the Magistracy, and none were sent to the Senate. The paralysis in judicial appointments caused approximately 40% of the positions in the federal and national justice system to operate with subrogations or interim positions, a situation that the Supreme Court magistrates themselves describe as critical.

The strategy that Mahiques has outlined is pragmatic: start with the simplest lists to negotiate – the family privileges and those without political tension – and gradually move towards those of greater complexity. "The priority is to comply with the coverage of vacancies so that Justice begins to function. We'll start with what's easiest to negotiate. There are other courts that have a more sophisticated thread," said an unobjectionable source familiar with his plans.

As for the Supreme Court, the picture is different. The government's attempt to incorporate Ariel Lijo and Manuel García-Mansilla failed miserably: Lijo's list was rejected and García-Mansilla, who took office by presidential decree, ended up resigning after the Senate's adverse vote. This time, the Casa Rosada opts for caution: vacancies on the highest court will not be an immediate priority. "If the Court did not make any counterproductive measures against us, why wear down the negotiation when we can move forward in the thick of it?" they reason in the official environment.

Mahiques' second major priority is to extend the Federal Criminal Procedure Code – the so-called accusatory system – to the rest of the country. The model already works in Salta, Jujuy, Santa Fe, Mar del Plata and Mendoza, among other districts. On November 11, 2026, Comodoro Py, the federal jurisdiction of the City of Buenos Aires, headquarters of the most politically sensitive judicial cases in the country, is scheduled to join. Implementation requires judges, prosecutors and defenders appointed in a timely manner – which makes the plan of indictments and that of the accusatory system two sides of the same coin.

On his last day at the head of the Buenos Aires Public Prosecutor's Office, Mahiques signed the creation of seven new prosecutors' offices to investigate complex crimes, raising the number of prosecutors' offices of first instance from 40 to 46. The decision – specifically aimed at urban drug crime and the crimes of corruption of Buenos Aires officials – can be read as a letter of introduction to the management style that he intends to take to the national level.

No profile of Mahiques can avoid the episode that marked his career in 2022: the trip to Lago Escondido, the Patagonian ranch of British tycoon Joe Lewis, where Mahiques himself, his father Judge Carlos Mahiques, Federal Judge Julián Ercolini, the then Buenos Aires Minister of Security Marcelo D'Alessandro, attended – with all expenses paid –  directors of the Clarín Group and a former SIDE agent, among others.

The leak of chats from the Telegram group in which some of the attendees participated set off public alarm. According to the transcripts, it was Mahiques himself who would have proposed to manage an invoice to cover up the financing of the trip: "We could find out the issue of a little bill. I don't think it's necessary...", he was heard saying in an audio. The judicial investigation resulted in complaints of alleged gifts and breach of duties of a public official. In December 2023, the Federal Court of Bariloche dismissed all those involved on the grounds that there was no configured crime.

The episode did not stop his career, but he remains an obligatory reference for the political opposition and human rights organizations that question his independence. Cristina Kirchner linked him at the time to judicial pressure against her during Macri's administration, an accusation that Mahiques always rejected.

Rarely in recent history has the identity of the Minister of Justice had such immediate relevance. The government faces several simultaneous judicial fronts: the $LIBRA case – which investigates the cryptocurrency scandal linked to Milei – the ANDIS case, and the constant pressure of the cases inherited from previous administrations. Mahiques comes to office with the explicit mandate of being "the eyes of the Government in Courts", a function that goes far beyond the bureaucratic administration of a portfolio.

In addition, the year 2027 brings presidential elections, and the battle for the federal courts – which in the words of the libertarian environment itself are "those who decide whether one goes to prison or not" – acquires a strategic dimension that transcends the institutional. The arrival of Viola as Secretary of Justice, with his ties in the Senate and in the arc of traditional politics, seeks to oil precisely that legislative mechanism that determines who occupies each judicial office in the country.

🏛 FINAL ANALYSIS

The arrival of Mahiques to the Ministry of Justice is much more than a change of names. It is the clearest sign so far that Karina Milei not only does not retreat in her advance on the architecture of government power, but accelerates. With one man of its own in the chair of Justice and another in the secretariat, the "Karinist" wing of the government now controls the lever that moves 200 judges and prosecutors, access to the Council of the Magistracy and the pulse of the most incandescent judicial cases in the country. The question that no one in the Courts ends up answering is whether Mahiques will achieve what his predecessor could not: transform the accumulated lists into real appointments, before the 2027 electoral calendar turns everything into a bargaining chip.

📅 KEY TIMELINE

• 10/23/2025 — Cúneo Libarona presents formal resignation; Karina Milei asks him to stay until March.

• Dec. 2025 / Jan. 2026 — First contacts reserved between Mahiques and Karina Milei; nexus: cousins Menem and Santiago Viola.

• 04/03/2026 — Meeting in Olivos; Milei announces the change in X. Amerio finds out in the middle of a session of the Council of the Magistracy.

• 05/03/2026 — Decree 133/2026 in the Official Gazette. Mahiques is sworn in at noon in the White Room. Viola takes over as secretary.

• Next steps — Negotiation of lists with the Senate; expansion of the accusatory system; decision on vacancies in the Court.

📚 SOURCES

• La Nación — "Juan Bautista Mahiques is the new Minister of Justice", 4/3/2026

• Infobae — "Who is Juan Bautista Mahiques, the new Minister of Justice", 4/3/2026

• Infobae — "The background of Mahiques' arrival in government", 4/3/2026

• Profile — "Official Gazette: Mahiques was confirmed as Minister of Justice", 5/3/2026

• Profile — "His links with Mauricio Macri, Chiqui Tapia and Pablo Toviggino", 4/3/2026

• Scope — "Milei confirmed Mahiques as new Minister of Justice", 4/3/2026

• El Cronista — "Mahiques disembarks in Justice and prepares his action plan", 4/3/2026

• El Destape Web — "Judicial Family, Macrism and the Lago Escondido Plot", 4/3/2026

• elDiarioAR — "Juan Bautista Mahiques will be the new Minister of Justice", 4/3/2026

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