Alejandra Monteoliva: the technical architect of the institutional armament of the security forces

When Alejandra Susana Monteoliva sworn in before the President as Minister of National Security on December 2, 2025 Javier MileiThis closed a circle that she had helped shape: the continuity and consolidation of a security doctrine based on order, the support of state forces and the professionalization of their structures. His assumption of office was not a break, but the culmination of a technocratic career marked by almost three decades in the security sector inside and outside the country.

Monteoliva, 55 years old, was born in Córdoba and trained as a political scientist there Catholic University of Cordoba and earned a master’s degree in development planning and management at the University of the Andesin Colombia, where he not only lived for 19 years, but also worked with the National Police and multilateral organizations in security and crime prevention policy. His career includes roles both internationally at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and the Andean Development Corporation (CAF) in Latin America, as in local and national public administration.

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Prior to her current position, Monteoliva served as Minister of National Security since June 2024 following her election Patricia Bullrich to replace Vicente Ventura Barreiro. During these years it established itself as a key element of the so-called “Bullrich doctrine“, which prioritizes the frontal fight against organized crime, drug trafficking and the restoration of public order as essential conditions for coexistence.

Her profile combines a high-level academic education with an operational management logic: she was national director of security operations in the Bullrich administration during the government of Mauricio Macri (2015-2019), coordinated the management of criminal information and assumed operational responsibility in various state security structures. He even worked for United Nations agencies concerned with citizen security, which strengthened his technically comprehensive approach to the phenomenon of crime.

But with her leap into the political center of the scene, the minister showed that her commitment is not just of a technical nature: her public speech borders on a strong institutional support for security forces faced with criticism and legal questions after complex operations. This defense was explicitly expressed in their statements, arguing that in carrying out orders from the political leadership in high-tension situations, the police are usually the variable that receives subsequent recriminations, despite acting in high-risk scenarios. Rather than victimizing actors, this discourse aims to make visible the imbalance that exposes forces to judicial scrutiny without first having a fully consolidated regulatory framework.

This institutional defense is inserted into a context in which Argentine society demands security, but also debates the limits of the use of force and civil rights: The majority of the population supports the use of the police in the fight against crime, but doubts excessive repression, especially during marches or pickets, and calls for a balance between order and basic guarantees. Within this framework, Monteoliva has publicly asserted that the armed forces must be supported by the political leadership and that the state must ensure that operational decisions do not lead to individual criminal consequences for agents, without a structural analysis of institutional responsibility.

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Critics point out that this defense can become an institutional shield that reduces accountability and undermines democratic controls; Their defenders assure that it is essential for the armed forces to act without subsequent fears of legal action, especially in the face of serious threats to public order. In any case, Monteoliva’s position marks a clear line of political protection towards the policein contrast to more critical or cautious approaches of other security models.

For the ruling party, its technical-legitimizing profile represents the necessary continuity of a security approach that, in its opinion, has restored order in several parts of the country and strengthened the fight against organized crime; For its critics, it embodies a tendency to favor institutional support of forces over concern for human rights or strict controls. In the midst of this debate, Monteoliva consolidates herself as a minister who will not only manage security, but also define how the Argentine state carries out its responsibilities towards its own security forces and before the judiciary.

JCS/TV/ff