Argentine President Javier Milei announced Wednesday his selection of Juan Bautista Mahiques, Buenos Aires’ top prosecutor, to lead the country’s justice department.
Mahiques has served as attorney general for Argentina’s capital city since October 2019 and will take over from Mariano Cuneo Libarona, who held the justice minister position starting in December 2023. Milei made the announcement through a post on the social media platform X.
According to reporting by La Nacion, a local publication, Libarona stepped down from his role citing personal circumstances.
The newly appointed justice minister expressed his commitment to the position in his own social media statement: “I assume this role with the conviction that without legal certainty there is no investment, without stable rules there is no development, and without independent judges there is no republic.”
During his address to Congress this past Sunday, Milei revealed plans to pursue additional criminal code modifications this year aimed at implementing stricter punishments for lawbreakers.
The administration recently secured important legislative wins when lawmakers approved contentious workplace reforms and criminal code amendments that reduced the minimum age for criminal accountability from 16 to 14 years old.
