World
Santiago Muzio resigned from the direction of Casa Argentina in Paris and will be replaced by Alfredo Mario Soto
The official’s departure became known before Javier Milei’s planned trip to France. His management had come under internal scrutiny and also prompted a request for an investigation in Paris.
Santiago Muzio stepped down as director of Casa Argentina in Paris, according to Crónica. The lawyer had been appointed in 2024 by the government of Javier Milei and will be replaced by jurist Alfredo Mario Soto.
The departure comes ahead of the trip the Argentine President is scheduled to make to France toward the end of September. According to Crónica, Muzio’s tenure was marked by several controversies from the moment he took office.
Casa Argentina in Paris is part of the Cité Internationale Universitaire de Paris, a student complex with nearly 50 residences that receives 12,000 students, researchers and artists from 150 countries each year, the outlet reported.
Among the most notable episodes of his tenure, Crónica recalled the expulsion of 13 Argentine students enrolled in master’s and doctoral programs, postgraduate students and musicians from the Maison Argentine in Paris. Those affected said the measure was linked to their participation in the March 24 activities and to their demand over the plaque honoring the disappeared of the dictatorship, which, they alleged, had been removed from the entrance.
According to AFP, students denounced an internal climate of a “mini-dictatorship,” with constant fear and a lack of freedom of expression. In response, Muzio told the French daily Journal du Dimanche that his task was aimed at “extirpating this place from the clutches of the far left and woke ideology.”
Crónica added that there were also questions over the alleged partisan use of the institutional space. The ACAF said that workshops of the Institute of Social, Economic and Political Sciences, linked to Marion Maréchal, were held at the premises. The outlet also said that Muzio hosted a meeting of far-right Polish and Hungarian think tanks allied with Viktor Orbán, where a plan to dismantle the European Union was presented.
In addition, Casa Argentina refused to sign the CIUP charter of values on non-discrimination and secularism, a decision that, according to Crónica, led to the suspension of exchange activities with other residences in the complex.
In that context, the mayor of Paris requested a formal investigation on July 30 from French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot, who said he was holding talks on the matter with the government of Milei, always according to what was published by Crónica.
Muzio’s replacement will be Alfredo Mario Soto, presented by that outlet as a jurist, doctor of Legal and Social Sciences, vice-rector of a university in Rosario and university professor.
Sources
About this note. Written by El Notero with the assistance of artificial intelligence, based on what was published by the cited outlet. El Notero did not conduct its own reporting on this event.
