The Minister of Economy Luis “Toto” Caputo went out this Tuesday to meet the governor of La Rioja, Ricardo Quintela, after the provincial leader threatened to investigate him if Peronism regains power. The official’s response was neither technical nor economic: it was political and sharp, and pointed directly to the center of the recent history of Kirchnerism.
It all started after Caputo, on Monday, said at a business event that Axel Kicillof will not be president “never in his life.” Quintela came out to answer him with thick ammunition: “We are going to investigate him when we come to power.”
The minister’s reply came via social networks and was forceful. “They were already there and made him governor, because that’s what you use the power of the State for,” Caputo wrote. And then came the thrust: “They then had to invent that my family had attacked the vice president“.
The reference points directly to the judicial case that involved his father, Nicolás Caputo, in the context of the attack against Cristina Kirchner in September 2022. That investigation never prospered and the minister always described it as a political weapon.
“Better than threatening like a neighborhood bully, dedicate yourself to governing your province well, which, because of you, is a real disaster“, continued the head of the Treasury, who closed the message with a specific attack: “By not joining the RIGI you are depriving the people of La Rioja of more employment, resources and better salaries.”
La Rioja is one of the few provinces that did not join the Large Investment Incentive Regime promoted by the government of Javier Milei, a decision that Quintela himself defended on multiple occasions. For Caputo, this refusal has a direct cost on the inhabitants of the province.
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