Citing its inability to guarantee security conditions ahead of Pope Leo XIV’s arrival, the Buenos Aires city government, led by Republican Proposal (PRO), suspended public events scheduled between November 6 and 13 and proposed postponing the LGBT Pride March in Buenos Aires. The government anticipated resistance from the Pride March Organizing Committee, which reaffirmed the event’s original date. What it failed to foresee, however, was that both the national government and the Catholic Church would endorse holding the march as planned.
Isolated, the Buenos Aires city government initially tried to maintain a public stance of firmness, but eventually backed down following negotiations with the Pride March Organizing Committee. The episode can be interpreted as another attempt by Mayor Jorge Macri to appeal to the city’s conservative electorate. Faced with the threat posed by La Libertad Avanza to PRO’s historic stronghold, Macri’s administration is following a pattern seen among other center-right parties around the world: emulating aspects of the far right and decisively abandoning its traditionally ambivalent relationship with progressivism.
However, this shift has not necessarily translated into greater electoral competitiveness for the center-right. The political landscape in Buenos Aires will reveal whether this strategy can preserve PRO’s dominance in the city.
PRO’s origins and its ambivalent relationship with progressivism
PRO emerged in the context of Argentina’s 2001–2002 crisis, amid the collapse of the country’s traditional political parties, with Peronism as a partial exception. Against this backdrop of political fragmentation, PRO positioned itself as the force for renewing Argentina’s center-right in Buenos Aires. It adopted a platform rooted in economic and social liberalism, blending entrepreneurship, community engagement, and environmentalism, while maintaining staunch opposition to Kirchnerism, which had appeared virtually invincible since 2003.
PRO’s relationship with progressivism has always been ambiguous, reflecting the diversity of ideological currents within the party. When Congress voted on polarizing social rights issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion, opposition partially prevailed. However, once those battles had been settled, and as public opinion increasingly embraced these issues, PRO gradually incorporated them into its agenda in Buenos Aires, with its progressive wing gaining influence.
Under PRO administrations in the city, legislation was adopted to recognize and ensure the full exercise of citizenship rights for LGBTQ+ people, allow both parents to be registered when a child was born through surrogacy, and bring the City of Buenos Aires into line with the National Protocol for the Legal Termination of Pregnancy (ILE), all with substantial majorities. Law 6482 was also passed, officially establishing Pride Week in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires and granting civil society organizations the authority to set the date of the Pride March.
Under the leadership of the current deputy mayor, the city government also promoted the display of the Pride flag in public spaces, the illumination of Buenos Aires landmarks on World AIDS Day, and official participation in the Pride March with its own float.
For years, PRO monopolized Argentina’s center-right political space, allowing it to flirt with both progressive and conservative agendas while maintaining a broad electoral base that secured its dominance in Buenos Aires. This pragmatism with principles was neatly captured in a 2023 statement by Jorge Macri, who expressed his satisfaction at having “(…) a city that celebrates Gay Pride Day, but also the Day for Both Lives.”
The rightward turn: Culture wars, transnational conservative networks, and evangelicalism
Milei’s arrival changed PRO’s political calculations, particularly in the City of Buenos Aires. Although PRO and La Libertad Avanza consolidated their alliance in Congress at the national level, Milei’s party now threatens PRO’s dominance in the capital. In last year’s Buenos Aires legislative elections, PRO lost for the first time in more than twenty years, finishing in third place following La Libertad Avanza’s stellar performance.
With the 2027 mayoral election in sight, PRO has fundamentally changed its relationship with the progressive agenda. Deputy Mayor Clara Muzzio has been a driving force behind this shift, suddenly emerging as a prominent figure in the so-called “culture war.” Adopting a pronatalist, anti-abortion stance and opposing Comprehensive Sex Education (ESI), Muzzio has described ESI as a “death trap” designed to promote “gender ideology” and “gender-affirming surgeries for adolescents without parental consent.”
Muzzio has also begun building ties with transnational far-right networks, particularly the Political Network for Values (PNfV), an international ultraconservative platform that promotes opposition to abortion, comprehensive sex education, and same-sex marriage in Europe and the Americas. The deputy mayor attended the 7th Transatlantic Summit in Brussels and organized the Freedom for the Future Political Forum in Buenos Aires, in collaboration with conservative right-wing organizations such as the Global Center for Human Rights.
Muzzio’s case is not an isolated one. The mayor himself, who has generally preferred to distance himself from his deputy’s statements, has also taken recent steps reflecting a turn toward the culture war. A practicing Catholic, Jorge Macri began strengthening his ties with the Evangelical Church in 2023. Evangelicalism has emerged as a key conservative political force in Argentina, now representing between 15% and 20% of the population. Recognizing the political potential of the evangelical community, the mayor has taken part in public activities organized by the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of the Argentine Republic (ACIERA).
PRO’s actions are not isolated incidents. They form part of a recent series of desperate moves to appeal to conservative voters and counter the growth of La Libertad Avanza in the very district where the party was born twenty years ago. PRO’s case reflects a broader pattern among centrist right-wing parties in recent years: adopting the rhetoric and policy agendas of the far right in an effort to maintain their electoral competitiveness.
The October 2027 election for mayor of Buenos Aires will reveal whether this new version of PRO can halt the advance of La Libertad Avanza.
Autor
Master’s degree in Transnational Governance from the European University Institute (Florence, Italy). Serves as a Senior Associate at Pan American Strategic Advisors. Her analyses have been published in outlets such as The Diplomat, NACLA, and Global Americans, among others.
