In this week’s summary, while President Alberto Fernández met with regional leaders in Brazil, the Economy Minister held meetings in China, on his tour of the Asian country to essentially obtain financing. They are two of the main referents of the ruling Frente de Todos coalition, but the most powerful is Vice President Cristina Fernández, who spoke at a public event last week, but did not give definitions on candidacies for the Presidency.
In recent days, the gaze has been on the Frente de Todos and its leaders. Beyond possible candidacies, Cristina Fernández expressed her disagreement with the decision of the Prosecutor’s Office to bring to trial against those who attempted on her life last September, without advancing beforehand on the political connections that she suspects.
Also this week, with much controversy, the statue dedicated to the most winning manager in the history of the River Plate football club, Marcelo Gallardo, was unveiled.
President in Brazil, minister in China
President Alberto Fernández met with other leaders of the region at the Meeting of Presidents of South American countries organized by Lula da Silva in Brazil.
After talking with the Brazilian president, Fernández said that progress had been made in agreements for the financing of part of a strategic energy project: the extension of a gas pipeline that would eventually allow gas produced in the unconventional formation of Vaca Muerta, in the Argentine Patagonia.
But not everything was positive: at a press conference, Lula assured that it has not been possible to develop a mechanism for the BRICS bank (a group made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) guarantee with your funds exports from Brazil to Argentina. Some that the latter country has serious difficulties in paying for lack of foreign currency.
Alberto Fernández also met with Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The meeting sought, according to his words, “to continue advancing in the construction of a united Latin America that defends democratic processes, human rights and the freedom of peoples.”
I met with the president of Venezuela, @NicolasMaduroto continue advancing in the construction of a united Latin America that defends democratic processes, human rights and the freedom of peoples. pic.twitter.com/5WRMTrLTGj
– Alberto Fernandez (@alferdez) May 30, 2023
For his part, the Minister of Economy, Sergio Massa, is in China, on a tour in search of investment for the energy sector, and financing of the China Development Bank for infrastructure projects linked to the sector.
Argentina seeks to strengthen its ties with the Asian giant, continuing with the implementation of a multipolar strategy as far as foreign relations are concerned. On the trip, he is accompanied, in addition to officials from his portfolio, by the pro-government deputy Máximo Kirchner, son of the vice president. The entourage debuted the presidential plane that arrived in the country last week and was the protagonist of a controversial maneuver upon arrival at Jorge Newbery airport of the City of Buenos Aires.
Cristina Fernández spoke but did not define candidacies
On May 25, under the rain, the former president and current vice president Cristina Fernández spoke in the Plaza de Mayo, a few meters from the government house and in front of tens of thousands of supporters. It was an act to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the arrival to the Presidency of her late husband Néstor Kirchner, whom she succeeded in power in 2007.
Fernández did not meet the expectations of those who expected him to deliver some definition regarding the candidacies of the Peronist coalition of the Frente de Todos for the presidential elections this year. The vice president is main figure of the ruling party (yes, above that of President Alberto Fernández, whom she designated as a candidate in 2019 and who was not invited to the event).
There are names in the dance, but no clear definitions or a formula endorsed by Fernández, including one that sounds more and more powerful: that of the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo ‘Wado’ de Pedro, 46, very close to the vice president. Time is running out: the deadline to submit candidates is June 24.
Attack against the vice president: differences after the elevation to oral trial
Carlos Rívolo, the prosecutor in charge of the investigation into the attempted murder against the vice president who shook the country on September 1, requested that the case against Fernando Sabag Montiel, who pulled the trigger of the weapon, and the others involved, Brenda Uliarte and Nicolás Carrizo.
After learning the news, this Monday Cristina Fernández published a letter on her networks that ends with the phrase “They want me prisoner or dead”. There he maintains that there is “an obvious and desperate attempt to avoid finding the possible participation of third parties, financiers and instigators.”
The vice president points out lines of investigation that, for her, could link opposition figures to the crime and assures that it is hasty to send the case to oral trial without continuing to explore them.
The prosecutor does not include in the request for an oral trial the potential political financing of the assassination attempt to which Cristina Fernández refers in her letter. Although he does say that there are research hypotheses pending testing, which could indicate the existence of other participants or masterminds. Those items could eventually go to trial.
A festive and record weekend
In the context of crisis and inflation, a sector that does not suffer seems to be tourism: on the long weekend, from May 25 to 28, a record movement was registered. More than 1.3 million tourists traveled through the country and there were commercial exchanges for 47,433 million pesos, equivalent to some 96,800,000 dollars at the parallel exchange rate, according to a report from the Argentine Confederation of Medium Enterprises (CAME).
“The total expenditure of 2023, at real prices, that is, discounting the inflation effect, was 111.2% higher than 2018,” he adds, comparing with the last year in which there was a long weekend on these dates (although that time was three and not four days).
Among the factors that drove this growth, the CAME points to the Pre-Travel, which is a state plan to promote tourism that returns part of what is spent by travelers; a significant number of tourists from abroad, especially from Chile, Uruguay and Brazil; and the effect of the U-20 World Cup that is taking place in the country.
By the way, the host country, Argentina, won all their matches in the group stage of the U-20 Men’s World Cup and finished first in Group A. However, the streak did not allow them to beat Nigeria in the round of 16 and the national team albiceleste was eliminated.
A controversial statue for Marcelo Gallardo
Last Saturday, a statue of about eight meters high of Marcelo Gallardo, the technical director who gave the most titles to the River Plate club, was presented. As soon as the work was discovered, in front of the Monumental stadium, it drew attention that the genital area appeared particularly bulging. After a controversy of days arose the information that they may end up partially filing down that portion of the sculpture.
