The decision to apply for Diego Santilli As head of the Liberty list, advance in the province of Buenos Aires for the next mid -term legislative elections shook the political board and presented a series of internal movements in the libertarian ruling that had been in silence for weeks. The former vice chief of Buenos Aires and former national deputy, who until recently maintained a low profile position after his break with the PRO, reappeared after the scandalous resignation of José Luis Espert to the candidacy for the case that links it to the alleged drug trafficker Fred Machado.
While the announcement was not yet formalized in a public act, pending the decision of the Electoral Board, it transpired that the definition was taken during a meeting in the fifth of Olivos headed by Javier Milei, Karina Milei and the chief of cabinet, Guillermo Francos. There it was resolved that Santilli will lead the list of national deputies for Freedom advances in replacement of sister, who until recently was emerging as the Buenos Aires reference of space.
The economist’s exit was the result of an internal wear process that accelerated in recent weeks, when versions began to circulate on his financial link with businessman Federico Machado, accused of fraud and drug trafficking for the United States justice. According to sources from the ruling itself, the decision to move to Espert was taken on Sunday by decision of the same candidate, after a series of accumulated tensions with the “libertarian small table.” In its media raid, the legislator could not justify the origin of the 200,000 dollars that the detainee transferred to the applicant’s account in the 2019 presidential campaign.
In the week, Espert quickly came to deny his resignation and described as “false” the versions that located him outside the libertarian space. In radio statements, he said that “it continues to belong to freedom progresses” and that “nobody asked him to leave his place”, although he admitted that electoral decisions “correspond to the president.” Even so, “the teacher” cornered by external and internal pressures decided to decline his two -week candidacy of the legislative general elections that will take place on Sunday, October 26.
The entrance of Santilli, on the other hand, was the result of a series of conversations that began at the end of August between the Emisaros of the Executive and the Buenos Aires leader. As it transpired, many see Santilli a competitive profile capable of attracting moderate sectors of the electorate who had moved away from the pro after the fracture of together for the change. For that reason, through AI, leaders of The strength of heaven They decided to support the “Colorado” by spreading a flyer inviting the Movistar Arena event with the most representative figures painted with red -haired hair. He Gordo Dan, Agustín Romo And even Javier Milei himself, among others, were dyed in crimson in the postcard, in a wink that also combines the chromatic emblem of the group.
Santilli, who in 2021 had lost the election against Axel Kicillof In the attempt to dispute the Government, he has since maintained contacts with liberal and libertarian sectors, especially with young people from the conurbano linked to the student movement that promoted the agenda of Milei. During the last year, he began to participate in organized meetings in municipalities of the Buenos Aires interior and was publicly shown in talks about economic deregulation and security, two central axes of the official discourse.
That silent militancy in the libertarian movement was progressively approaching the nucleus of Milei, with whom he shares a minimum state vision and an economic agenda focused on the opening of the market. His formal incorporation into freedom progresses was the final step of a process of political convergence that was already weaving the margins of power.
The candidacy represents an attempt by the ruling for consolidating a broader libertarian coalition and assumes a strategic role: to provide structure, management and knowledge of the Buenos Aires territory, key factors for an election where a good part of its governance is played. In the presidential environment they ensure that the incorporation of Santilli seeks to send a clear message of openness to sectors of the Liberal Center and non -Kirchner Peronism.
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