They can't make it to the end of the month. They're leaving.
At the gates of Argentina's Casa Rosada, the men and women charged with protecting the presidency are quietly disappearing — not through scandal or dismissal, but through the slow arithmetic of wages that cannot sustain a life. Federal Police and Armed Forces personnel earning between 600,000 and 900,000 pesos monthly in an inflation-ravaged economy have been forced into a choice no institution should impose on its guardians: their duty or their survival. What unfolds is less a staffing crisis than a parable about what happens when a state cannot honor the basic compact with those who serve it.
- Security personnel at Casa Rosada are resigning daily across all ranks, not as protest but as surrender — the wages simply do not reach the end of the month.
- Officers are working every available shift, driving ride-sharing apps, and selling goods online just to survive, leaving them so depleted that colleagues have been seen falling asleep standing up mid-duty.
- Armed Forces personnel stationed closest to President Milei earn as little as 600,000 to 700,000 pesos monthly — subsistence figures in a country where inflation is a permanent condition of economic life.
- Each departure strips the institution of not just a body but years of experience and knowledge, stretching those who remain thinner and accelerating the cycle of exhaustion and resignation.
- The crisis now raises urgent questions about whether Argentina's government can maintain credible security at its own seat of power with a workforce that is demoralized, depleted, and leaving.
The guards at Casa Rosada are leaving in a steady, quiet stream — not dramatically, but with the flatness of people describing something that has simply become routine. Federal Police officers and Armed Forces personnel assigned to protect President Javier Milei earn between 600,000 and 900,000 pesos per month, depending on rank and seniority. In Argentina's inflation-ravaged economy, these are subsistence wages. A sergeant with years of service and a family to support described the situation plainly: the salary does not reach the end of the month. So he sells products on Facebook. Others drive for ride-sharing platforms during what should be their off-hours — which is to say they no longer have off-hours.
The exhaustion has become physical. Officers describe colleagues falling asleep standing up mid-shift, their bodies shutting down because the only way to survive financially is to work every single day. The choice has become binary: stay and work yourself into depletion, or leave. Many are choosing to leave. A veteran guard at the presidential residence described the hemorrhaging with the tone of someone watching something inevitable: colleagues resign outright, daily, from every level and every unit. They go do something else. They simply cannot make it to month's end.
The Armed Forces personnel stationed closest to Milei himself earn at the lower end of the range — between 600,000 and 700,000 pesos. Federal Police officers fare somewhat better, though even the higher figures apply only to those with substantial time in service. What these accounts reveal is not a temporary staffing problem but a structural collapse — one that compounds with every resignation, as accumulated experience walks out the door and those who remain grow more stretched, more exhausted, and more likely to follow.
The guards who stand at the gates of Casa Rosada, the ones who check credentials and manage the flow of dignitaries through the presidential residence each week, are leaving. Not in ones and twos, but in a steady stream that has become routine enough that those who remain speak of it with the flatness of someone describing the weather.
Federal Police officers and Armed Forces personnel assigned to protect President Javier Milei earn between 600,000 and 900,000 pesos per month, depending on their branch and seniority. In a country where inflation has become the default condition of economic life, these figures amount to subsistence wages. A cabo—a sergeant—with years on the job and a family depending on his income described the arithmetic simply: the salary does not reach the end of the month. So he sells products on Facebook. Others drive for ride-sharing platforms during their off-hours, which is to say they do not have off-hours anymore.
The exhaustion is visible in the details. One officer spoke of colleagues falling asleep standing up, their bodies shutting down mid-shift because the only way to survive financially is to work every single day, picking up additional security assignments at other government buildings or taking whatever gig work they can find. The choice becomes binary: stay and work yourself into depletion, or leave.
Many are choosing to leave. Resignations happen daily now, across all ranks and all units. A veteran guard with several years at the presidential residence described the hemorrhaging with the tone of someone watching something inevitable unfold: "Colleagues leave every day, in large numbers, from every level. They resign outright. They go do something else. They can't make it to the end of the month. Lately many of us are used to working every single day with the extra shifts or driving for the platforms, but people got tired. They're leaving." The resignation is not just financial—it is existential. These are people who chose security work, who trained for it, who built careers around it. The wages have made that choice unsustainable.
The Armed Forces personnel stationed closest to Milei himself earn at the lower end of the range, between 600,000 and 700,000 pesos monthly. Federal Police officers typically earn closer to 900,000, though even this figure applies only to those with substantial time in service. The gap between what they are paid and what they need to live creates a permanent state of crisis, one that compounds daily as more officers decide the institutional loyalty is not worth the personal cost.
What emerges from these accounts is not a temporary staffing problem but a structural collapse in the capacity to maintain adequate security at the seat of government. The people who open the gates, who stand the watch, who manage the physical security of the president and the institution itself, are being forced to choose between their jobs and their survival. Each resignation removes not just a body but accumulated experience and institutional knowledge. The remaining personnel grow more stretched, more exhausted, more likely to follow those who have already left. The cycle feeds itself.
Notable Quotes
Colleagues leave every day, in large numbers, from every level. They resign outright. They go do something else. They can't make it to the end of the month.— Veteran guard at Casa Rosada
Many of us are sleeping standing up. It's being here all day, every day for a miserable salary.— Sergeant (cabo) working at the presidential residence
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why are these resignations happening now, specifically? Has the wage structure always been this low?
The wages have been low for a while, but what's changed is that inflation has made them impossible to live on. People tolerated it when they could stretch a paycheck. Now they can't. The breaking point arrives when you realize you're working every day and still can't feed your family.
So these aren't people who are lazy or uncommitted. These are experienced officers.
Exactly. Many have years of service. They chose this work. But you can't ask someone to choose poverty. At some point, the institution loses its claim on them.
What happens to security at Casa Rosada when experienced people leave and aren't replaced?
You get younger, less trained people, or you stretch the remaining staff thinner. Either way, you lose capability. And the people who stay get more exhausted, which makes them more likely to leave.
Is there any indication the government understands this is a crisis?
The reporting doesn't show any policy response. The wages remain what they are. The resignations continue. It's a slow institutional failure that nobody seems to be addressing.
What's the human cost beyond just the economics?
Sleep deprivation. Families under stress. People abandoning careers they trained for. And for the institution—you lose the people who know how to do the job well.