The Cámara de Diputados of Catamarca approved the reforms of CAMYEN promoted by the provincial Executive Power and returned the project to the Senate to review the modifications. The vote was supported by eight members of La Libertad Avanza, while Francisco Monti and Laura Quintero were the only deputies of the libertarian bloc who rejected the initiative.
The internal division of LLA combined with negative votes from other groups. Members of Generar Tiago Puente, Natalia Herrera, and Mamerto Acuña; Javier Galán and Fernando Baigorrí, from MID; Natalia Saseta, from the PRO; and Alicia Paz and Luis Fadel, from UCR, also opposed it. The voting map showed, therefore, support and rejection that crossed the provincial opposition.
Damián Brizuela, deputy of Frente de Todos and reporting member of the majority office, defended the project on the basis of management capacity. He argued that the discussion does not change the ownership of resources, but rather the way of managing them. In his view, the State Company scheme remained rigid compared to the current operation of the mining and energy markets.
The initiative seeks to change the legal structure of Catamarca Minera y Energética to provide it with tools consistent with those conditions. CAMYEN was created in 2012 through Law No. 5354 as a State Company intended to intervene in the development of mining and energy activities in the province. The reform comes from the Executive, and its approval in the Chamber of Deputies incorporated changes that now require a new senatorial review.
The support of eight deputies from LLA was decisive for the majority, but it does not represent a unanimous position of the group. The opposition from Monti and Quintero, together with that of Generar, MID, PRO and UCR, left open a dispute about how the provincial company should operate. The argument in favor focused on management efficiency; the rejection was expressed in the vote of the aforementioned blocks.
The passage through the House of Representatives does not yet complete the procedure. Due to the modifications, the Senate must accept or review the text before the transformation can be sanctioned. Consequently, CAMYEN remains under its current structure while the legislative process advances. The next verifiable event will be the decision of the upper chamber on the version approved by the deputies.
