Sergio Massa left Cristina's office in the Senate - still full of glass by the stones against the windows - and did not hesitate to whatsapp the President:” call her” he wrote as he walked to the deputies precinct. I wasn't going alone. His circumstantial company looked sideways at the answer: “It is that he is going to bastard me...”. It was four o'clock in the afternoon of Thursday, March 10. The list of speakers to comment on the agreement with the IMF had just begun in the lower house.
Massa insisted twice more.
At almost six o'clock, when the presidential message finally arrived, first to Mariano Cabral, CFK's private secretary, and then to herself, the vice president's office didn't just have broken windows.
It was on fire. It's true. She never answered.
Alberto Fernández, in his 27 months in office, must be used to being hammered. Silence and distance was the way Cristina apparently chose to demonstrate, depending on the moments, her dissatisfaction, her sadness, her disappointment or her anger. But, by decision of the President, this is the first time that the lack of communication between the binomial elected in December 2019 has been officially and in detail communicated.
Gabriela Cerrutti, the government spokeswoman, made it public first at her weekly conference and then to Ernesto Tenembaum on the radio: “What happens now is that they don't talk to each other, the day it happened she sent her a message to see how she was doing and she didn't respond.”
So far the facts. They are already of detailed public knowledge such as the dimes and diretes of the celebrities in the chimenteros programs on television. Paro Cerrutti, this lack of communication is not part of the political sphere but of “personal relations”.
Big mistake. Alberto and Cristina have always had stylistic differences. But today, mutual personal exhaustion is supported by two almost antagonistic views of what is the present but, above all, what will be the future of the country in the medium term. For the President, the agreement with the IMF that will be debated tomorrow by the board in Washington does not imply an adjustment. Moreover, he understands that it is the beginning of a period of greater tranquility in the markets and the confirmation that Argentina is leaving the pandemic behind to confirm the path of recovery that began last year with 10% growth.
Alberto is so enthusiastic about the future that in a quasi-suicidal outburst in communicational terms, he preannounced the war against inflation four days in advance. Not only was the term grandiloquent given the softness of the measures of yesterday's speech, but on top of that it triggered price increases “just in case”, in the country's main food stores.
Malpractice that will surely be added to the March index, which is already triggered by the increase in fuels, the rise in the international value of commodities due to the war and the drag of 4.7 February.
“If I had at least used films to quietly explain what is happening with international prices as I did in the pandemic, part of the people would at least understand. But he can't even do that,” they lamented, lapidarios, around the vice president.
It is also clear that Cristina's criticism of management is not only in communicational terms. From the officials who do not work to the agreement with the IMF, the vice-president is convinced today that the Government - beyond the pandemic - is not meeting the expectations it generated when it won over macrismo. She is convinced that the agreement is an adjustment, that raising interest rates will curb growth, that tying the dollar to inflation is eating the tail and will generate a speculative and inflationary spiral, and that the recovery of real wages in this context and with this direction is almost impossible.
The big problem is that today all this and behind closed doors is not talked about in the ruling coalition. Because not only is there no talk of the attack on the vice president's office. There is no talk of anything. And there the problem ceases to be personal to become foundational in the political sphere.
It is clear that Alberto would never have become President if Cristina had not elected him. Now what initial covenant was there and was clearly broken is still anyone's guess. At the Instituto Patria they say that “Alberto signed up”, implying that when he had the power of the pen he got dizzy.
The President has another version: “He told me that with me we could bring Massa and the governors closer together. If they wanted a chirolita they would have put it to (Oscar) Parrilli,” he opened up this week to a friend who is not one of the usual courtiers and who is, like many, worried about the future of the coalition. Or rather, for the future of the remaining two years of government.
It is clear that such transparency in the encounters of Alberto and Cristina makes Kirchnerism and “albertism” more boiling today than ever. Any excuse is good for unleashing storms. The K continue to tell Martín Guzmán's ribs and the President's friends do not miss an opportunity to convince him to get all the officials who respond to Máximo off his back.
The one who is going to find himself at a crossroads this week that begins today is the Secretary for Human Rights, Horacio Pietragalla Corti. The Cámpora announced yesterday that on March 24 it will again do the traditional 13-kilometer hike from the former ESMA to Plaza de Mayo, as they did in 2017, 2018 and 2019, and that it was cut off by the pandemic. The slogan is well Peronist “First the Fatherland”.
In the Government they take it as an affront. That is why they wonder what official or institutional event is being organized for the President by the camporista secretary of human rights. “The slogan is not real. For them it is not first the Homeland is First La Campora”, they meow with anger.
Thus, there are few interlocutors that are valid for both Alberto and Cristina. Despite the gestures, Kirchnerism continues to maintain that they do not leave the coalition. And that all this stir is going to end up finding its way.
Massa is still waiting for someone to pick up his idea of retaking the political dialogue table. Almost in the style of the opposition.
The big topic is Alberto. He alone as President today has the power to reconvene everyone. Will he be able to manage his level of encono?
It will continue...
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