Argentina gov't plans bill giving military greater role in domestic security

FILE PHOTO: Argentina's President Milei receives US Secretary Blinken in Buenos Aires

BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - Argentina's right-wing government is planning to send a new bill to Congress that would seek to allow the military to take an active role in domestic security operations under certain conditions, a senior security official said on Thursday.

The bill, which would need the backing of a fragmented congress where libertarian President Javier Milei controls only a minority of seats, would be a shift for the country where the military is restricted to a support role in domestic operations.

"We are modifying the internal security law to allow the Armed Forces to intervene and carry out internal security operations," defence minister Luis Petri said, citing examples such as drug gang related violence in farm hub city Rosario.

(Reporting by Eliana Raszewski and Lucila Sigal; Writing by Adam Jourdan)