23/07/2026 09:18 - Politica
In a bold move toward a more federal and prosperous future, the municipality of Castelli has taken a step that could reshape the institutional landscape of Buenos Aires Province. Under the leadership of Peronist Mayor Francisco Echarren, the local City Council has initiated the drafting of the first Municipal Charter (Carta Orgánica) in the province’s history.
The goal is to grant the 135 municipalities of Buenos Aires greater political, administrative, and financial autonomy, replacing the uniform framework imposed by Decree-Law 6769/58, known as the Organic Law of Municipalities (LOM), which has been in effect since 1958. This law, created during a non-democratic period, treats municipalities as mere administrative units of the province—a vision that many consider outdated given today’s local demands.
For international readers: Buenos Aires Province is Argentina’s largest and most populous province, home to over 17 million people. Its municipalities range from bustling suburbs of the capital to rural towns like Castelli, which has about 15,000 residents.
The project, already in the form of a 196-article draft, was designed with local development in mind. Key proposals include:
The initiative is grounded in Article 123 of Argentina’s National Constitution, reformed in 1994, which enshrines the institutional, political, administrative, economic, and financial autonomy of municipalities. However, Buenos Aires Province never updated its own constitution to comply with this mandate.
To resolve this legal gap, Echarren filed a direct appeal with the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation to determine the scope of this autonomy. He argued that the current LOM is “unconstitutional and outdated” and emphasized that autonomy would “improve the lives of residents.”
The measure has the support of more than two-thirds of Castelli’s City Council, a district of about 15,000 inhabitants that is dreaming big.
Castelli’s proposal has reignited a debate that had been dormant for three decades, now uniting leaders from different political backgrounds. Mayors such as Matías Nebot (from the neighborhood party, Saavedra), José Luis Salomón (Radical Civic Union, Saladillo), and Esteban Reino (Radical Civic Union, Balcarce) agree that the lack of autonomy limits local management capacity and hinders the development of public policies.
In the Buenos Aires Legislature, libertarian Senator Diego Valenzuela is pushing for a reform of the LOM based on his 10 years of experience as a mayor, while Senator Marcelo Leguizamón (from the HECHOS party) proposes a bicameral commission to draft a new law. Even Radical Senator Nerina Neumann Losada has presented a bill to increase municipal revenue sharing from the current 16.14% to 20% over four years.
Sources consulted by local media such as Grupo La Provincia, Infocielo, and La Tecla agree that while Castelli’s process could take up to eight years to fully consolidate, it has already achieved its first major goal: putting municipal autonomy at the center of the province’s political agenda.
Event date: July 23, 2026
Alfredo S. Quiroga
