Santiago Cafiero: “To ignore that the Frente de Todos is going through a critical political moment today would be foolish”

Chancellor Santiago Cafiero, along the same lines as the presidential spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti, spoke and acknowledged the internal differences between Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, admitted the “crisis” of the All Front, called for it not to become a rupture, and stressed the need for all space leaders seek “mechanisms to resume dialogue”.

“To ignore the fact that the Frente de Todos is going through a critical political moment today would be foolish,” said Cafiero in a note published today on the website El Rocket to the Moon, in which he also stated: “Breaking our coalition would also imply a very big divorce from our political force (Peronism) with the reality that the inhabitants of our country live today”.

The official, who mentions in his text the risks of a political rupture due to the differences between the president and the vice-presidency, exposed during the congressional vote on the agreement that the government negotiated with the IMF, added that Argentina's current moment “cannot see Peronism with its energies placed internally.”

“When unity is most needed, when we begin to see concrete results in terms of economic recovery and employment in all available indicators, when we are faced with the challenge of an international price shock over already very high inflation and knowing everything that is needed for everyday life to stop being a suffering for many compatriots, Peronism cannot give up on the representation and protection of the interests, achievements and rights of the national and popular camp,” said the former Chief of Staff.

In his article, Cafiero argued that “it would have been much better” if the Front of All voted together” in Congress. However, he said: “These differences within our coalition should in no way be transformed into a rupture of political space.”

Gabriela Cerruti acknowledged last Thursday that Cristina Kirchner did not respond to Alberto Fernández's attempts to communicate after last week's attack on Congress, amid the debate on the agreement with the International Monetary Fund.

“The President communicated, without having any answers, with the Vice-President, as well as with her private secretary,” she said before the first consultation on the subject in the usual weekly press round that the official heads at Casa Rosada.

Minutes later, faced with a cross-question, the Presidential Speaker again addressed the fracture between the President and his running mate: “We are a coalition that has different internal views on different issues, we are moving forward convinced that the unity not only of the Front of All but of all Argentines is essential at this time. On personal relations I do not comment, the political relations between the President, the Vice President, the Senate and Deputies are harmonious and moving forward.”

He then detailed what the communication attempt was like: he said that the President sent messages to his vice and the private secretary making himself available and did not get a response.

Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner were last shown in public on March 1, at the opening of ordinary sessions of the Congress. According to the lip reading that allowed the official broadcast to take place, the vice president assured Fernández that she would travel south and return on Thursday (March 4). From that moment on, tension increased with two factors that were decisive: Máximo Kirchner's decision to vote against the agreement with the IMF on Deputies and the stone attack by the CFK office, which did not participate in the vote in the Senate.

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