the speech of Cristina Kirchner she did not satisfy the demands of the most faithful leadership, who fervently expected her to say that she would be a candidate. On the contrary, the vice president slipped that she remains firm in her position from December, when she announced that she would not run for any office. However, she stood up political setter, by slipping several demands to the FDT referents in the electoral field and endorsing a STEP. At the same time, he once again put himself in the role of guide for economic management. Far from giving clear support to the leadership of Sergio Massa, after the currency run and in the middle of the negotiations with the IMF dedicated most of his speech at the Teatro Argentino de La Plata to set the course that -according to his point of view- he should take the economic policy and, especially, the monetary, with criticism of the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce.
On the political level, Cristina Kirchner sent several signals aimed at close ranks in the Front of All and, surprisingly, seemed to endorse that there is STEP, a historical claim by Alberto Fernández and related leaders. “We have the obligation to give the discussion and debate”, he said from the center of the table, together with second-line leaders and deputies such as Nicolás Trotta and Virginia García; And he even asked that the dialogues be dealt with more calmly, despite the fact that some of his most faithful soldiers have been doing exactly the opposite since 2021, and even using outbursts.
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“When I told the compañeros and compañeras to take the quarterback’s baton, it seemed fine to me. But (the cane) is not to be given over the head to another teammate, be clear about it, ”he launched. From the box, next to the plenary session of the K leadership, they listened to her Andrés “the Raven” Larroque, Minister of Community Development and one of the most bellicose voices in space; and the social leader of the Movement of Excluded Workers (MTE), John Graboisaligned with La Cámpora, which a few days ago criticized Massa for the adjustment policy.
Cristina Kirchner held the line of recent months, where she chooses to ignore Alberto Fernández, instead of attacking him as during the first years of his mandate. “The problem of wanting to please some and please others is that in the end, you end up making everyone angry”, was the only sentence he dedicated to the President. He did not make a single mention of his resignation, the most important news on the political scene, which he had known only a week before.
The invitation to the Minister of Social Development, Victoria Toulouse Peace and the businessman Enrique “Pepe” Albistur, former Media Secretary of Néstor Kirchner, friends of the President, was also interpreted in the ranks of the coalition as a truce principle. The message of an approach to the non-Kirchnerista PJ through the invitation to the couple had been rumored since the day before, when it was confirmed that they would attend; and it deepened when the vice president directly named the official. She was the only leader present who received that treatment, subtle, but undoubtedly kind.
Yesterday was the first time that Tolosa Paz participated in a CFK act since the defeat in the 2021 elections, after a period of gritty showdown between the two main sectors of the Government, during which the La Plata leader starred in several crosses with the Kirchnerism bishops, among them, the Minister of the Interior and presidential candidate, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro. Yesterday afternoon, both were seated a few seats away, in the main row, together with the Buenos Aires governor, Axel Kicillof, Máximo Kirchner and Larroque.
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The official who headed the list of deputies in the last legislative elections has become, in recent months, one of the strongest defenders of the inmates in the front of alland it has been proposed as “protagonist” in the province of Buenos Aires, according to what they say around them. Last Saturday he organized an act in Ensenada, near La Plata, where he avoided questioning the hard line, but asked for a debate. In different sectors of the ruling party, they believe that this message “settled” her vice president and convinced her to invite her.
In the theater room was also Gabriel Katopodis, the Minister of Public Works and former mayor of San Martín who knew how to be very close to Alberto Fernández in the first section of the Government, but claims to be unit man in the FDT and has dialogue with Máximo Kirchner and with Massa. This week he was at the center of the agenda, when he asked the four winds, on the day of the bullfight, that there be a meeting between the three leaders of the government alliance. That instance, they say in Balcarce 50 and in the Patria Institute, is still far from materializing, but they do not rule it out before the lists close in June.
At the electoral level, Cristina Kirchner also concentrated on asking for a “government program” to present in the campaign, although the candidates are not yet defined. Máximo Kirchner had said exactly the same thing in Ferro, six days before. In fact, the speeches of mother and son were similar, with questions about economic management, the Fund, and Javier Miley. Yesterday, the vice president barely referred to Together for Change (when questioning Mauricio Macri about the foreign debt), and He positioned the leader of Avanza Libertad as the main adversary, with long and striking references to his proposals in general, and in particular, to the danger of implementing a “dollarization” as proposed by the opposition “outsider”. Earlier, the governor Axel Kicillof He had raised a similar perspective, when he predicted that there could be “a tragedy” from the advance of the extreme right in the records of intention to vote in Buenos Aires.
As of today, without Cristina Kirchner’s candidacy on the table – “don’t get your hair twisted” and “I already lived” were the suggestive phrases she used to hint at a resignation – in the Front of Everything the possibilities were raised as they had been until now. yesterday. The speech did not mark a before and after. The main novelty is that the STEP appears, like never before, as the most probable option.
Is that the vice president did not give particular support to any of the candidates despite the fact that there were those who slipped that yesterday he could hand over the baton to one of the officials who are emerging as presidential candidates and await their explicit endorsement.
Peter’s Wado, The man of her confidence -who arrived very late, when she had already begun to speak-, was not mentioned, as in the last speeches, and he has not yet decided to put on the candidate’s suit. While Sergio Massa, who did not attend directly -he claimed that he had an activity in Montevideo with the CAF-, he was singled out from the stage exclusively for his management, and not for his skills as a candidate.
References to the minister were ambiguous. On the one hand, Cristina Kirchner marked a clear disapproval, in broad strokes, of the economic course, in a context of very high inflation combined with low income (she again said that there are wage earners who are poor; and mentioned, among other points, the political tax against big capital, which he considered excessively favourable; and the use of reserves to intervene in the market). On the other hand, she demanded to put limits on the agreement with the IMF, especially on the conditions that the agency demands in exchange for advance disbursements, and that began to be negotiated with the technical staff in recent days.
At the end of the evening, however, he dedicated a recognition, although less, to Massa, for the agreement announced yesterday with China on the swap, although he recalled that the measure originated from his own management. “Yesterday the minister signed a good agreement with China so that they pay us with yuan, in the swap that was achieved when I was president, with Xi Xiping,” she said.
With Massa, he was careful to praise a part of his management, but he was less kind to the head of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce, whom he associated with the previous head of Economy, Martin Guzman, beaten by Kirchnerism until he was ousted from office ten months ago. This time, CFK compared with his mandate to mark a critical perspective.
“Part of the discussions with previous ministers were about the situation of the Central Bank, which did not intervene. Because the Central Bank has reserves. They (also) hit me, and (the markets) ran, but sitting on the reserves, with the administration of the exchange rate and the regulation, we were able to stifle the exchange rate run, ”he launched. In any case, the questioning of the reserve policy can also be interpreted as a shot to the head of economic management.
The vice president did not refer to Daniel Scioli, the ambassador in Brazil who tries to position himself on the board of the ruling party but does not have clear endorsement Alberto Fernández or Cristina Kirchner and faces animosity, for the low, from the Renewing Front of Massa. The main conclusion, in terms of political framing, is that the option of a PASO is the most viable, as has been emerging since Máximo Kirchner accepted them. Cristina Kirchner seems to agree that there is not a single candidate, but rather an internal competition.
In the Casa Rosada they listened to the vice president and considered that the speech was of appeasement, and that it will not have relevance in economic policy, nor in the next elections. “It was one more act,” they said close to Alberto Fernández, who hours before had posted a video asking for the “finger” dynamic to end the lists.
It remains for a few days to pass to assess whether Cristina Kirchner’s recommendations to the economic team take effect and are transformed into effective measures. In electoral terms, the FDT will begin to play assuming that Cristina Kirchner will not be a candidate and the next news will be known in May, the month of definitions prior to the closing of the lists. On the 5th the Congress of the Renewing Front is scheduled; the 16th is the Congress of the PJ; and the most important act of Kirchnerism is scheduled for the 25th, for the inauguration of Néstor Kirchner. Without the former president on the pitch, they all think they have a chance to win the internship, although they will continue to wait for their endorsement.
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