Ruling party senator Juan Carlos Pagotto dies aged 74

Ruling party Senator Juan Carlos Pagotto has died aged 74, the government has confirmed.

Pagotto, a senator for President Javier Milei's La Libertad Avanza party representing La Rioja, was found dead at his home in the provincial capital on Tuesday, local media reported. 

Authorities have not disclosed the cause or circumstances of his death.

His Senate seat, which runs until 2029, will be taken by Claudia Cecilia López, who was second on LLA's Senate ticket in La Rioja in the 2023 elections.

Pagotto entered the Senate in December 2023 following the October general election, in which Milei finished second behind the Peronist ticket. Milei went on to defeat Sergio Massa in the November run-off and took office the following month.

He quickly emerged as a prominent figure in the La Libertad Avanza caucus amid slim competition – at the time, Milei’s party had just seven of the Senate’s 72 seats.

Mendoza-born and a lawyer by profession, Pagotto had a political career in La Rioja before joining Milei's movement. He was a provincial lawmaker for the Chilecito department from 1993 to 1997 before spending decades away from elected office. He returned to electoral politics in 2023, when he topped LLA's Senate ticket in La Rioja.

Pagotto was closely associated with the Menem family and had a longstanding relationship with former senator Eduardo Menem, brother of ex-president Carlos Menem. He once described himself as a "Peronist activist," and his links to the Menems were an important factor in his arrival on the libertarian ticket.

In the Senate, Pagotto held several posts. He chaired the Justice & Criminal Affairs Committee as well as the Bicameral Committee on Legislative Procedure, which reviews executive decrees. He later became president of the Senate's Appointments Committee, which handles nominations for judges, prosecutors and diplomats. 

In that role, he opposed Milei's Decree of Necessity and Urgency (DNU) 70/2023, a sweeping deregulation measure drawn up by Deregulation & State Transformation Minister Federico Sturzenegger.

His career as a lawyer was marked by several controversial cases. He represented former federal judge Roberto Catalán and Roberto Ganem in the so-called ‘Menéndez’ megacase, involving crimes against humanity committed during Argentina's last military dictatorship. He also acted in a case investigating the 1976 killings of priests Carlos de Dios Murias and Gabriel Longueville in La Rioja.

His work on cases involving defendants accused of crimes against humanity drew criticism from human rights organisations when he took on prominent positions in the Senate.

As a senator, he faced controversy over the hiring of his son Juan María at his congressional office. His son had been criticised over social media posts containing threats and violent language directed at opposition figures.

Senior La Libertad Avanza figures paid tribute to the lawmaker after news of his death emerged.

Karina Milei, the President's sister and chief-of-staff, described Pagotto in a post on X as "a fighter for freedom" in La Rioja and Argentina. Sebastián Pareja, another senior LLA figure, also expressed his condolences, describing Pagotto as an honest man committed to his values.