Axel Kicillof is not willing to part with Sergio Berni. “Sergio is firmly in office,” they say close to the Governor to ratify the minister amid the criticism that his management received from not only the opposition but also from national officials.
It is not the first time that Kicillof, even without saying it on time, must ratify his Security Minister. The last one was after the serious incidents at the end of last year on the gymnastics court. Now, the confirmation comes after the beating that the official received from a group of bus drivers who were protesting in La Matanza for the murder of a driver and that focused on the results of his management in the fight against crime.
The Government’s decision to close ranks with Berni was strengthened by the official’s own statements. “The first one who called me was Cristina Kirchner,” he said. Thus, the figure of the vice president sought to be shown as a central political support for the continuity of the minister. And that is a key fact: every attack that has taken place in recent years motorized by PJ mayors with the wink of La Cámpora to stay with Security was blocked by Kicillof, but in particular, by Cristina.
Another sign that Kicillof does not intend to get rid of his official was provided by the Governor’s own decision to file a complaint to clarify the events that occurred in La Matanza. The proposal before the national Justice was promoted by the Minister of Justice and Human Rights, Julio Alak. For the Province, the events suffered by Berni make up the crimes of attack against authority, serious injuries and public intimidation. And although the minister made the personal decision not to report the attack, “the institutional seriousness of what happened justifies the intervention of justice with a view to clarifying it,” they say in the Justice portfolio.
Kicillof, meanwhile, broke the silence last night regarding the attack suffered by Berni, after a sort of media distance that was part of the decision not only to support the minister but also to prevent the resounding fact of insecurity from directly impacting him. .
For the Governor, Berni is a kind of political lightning rod that absorbs the recurring crises that occur in the Province due to the advance of crime. His sustained television appearances in the last few hours showed him in that role again. For this reason, it also seems difficult that Kicillof was going to move the minister in the run-up to the electoral campaign.
The minister, for his part, not only said that he does not intend to resign. Also, he spread criticism and suspicions about the murder of the bus driver. “I don’t know if they threw a dead man at us,” he maintained, and then accused sectors of the PRO of infiltrating the protest march that ended with the attacks.
“It cannot be that the only methodology is to agitate. There were agitators from the PRO that we have met with acquaintances. There were PRO infiltrators, and Patricia Bullrich is part of that sector. Let them take responsibility. When I arrived at the place there were actors that I already know, ”she assured.
He also charged against President Alberto Fernández, whom he accused of “not having fulfilled his promise” to send more gendarmes to the Province. “One dies standing up, never on their knees. This does not scare us, it is part of the job”, Berni said to confirm that he will continue. This is also how Kicillof and Cristina Kirchner want it.
