The relaxed talk served to iron out rough edges. On Thursday 9, at a table with few diners and a lot of sushi, Horacio Rodriguez Larreta and Maria Eugenia Vidal they last saw each other. The relationship is the same as always, say those who participated in the birthday of Federico Salvai in his house in Buenos Aires, but a climate of tension caused by some political vagueness can be felt in the background.
Larreta and Vidal They promised each other, once again, not to make their bond of trust suffer beyond what results in the 2023 elections. But the candidacies could cause a relationship to crack that, until a few months ago, had no fissures .
Is that Mauricio Macri climbed Vidal into the ring as a presidential candidate, which puts her on an equal footing with Larreta and Patricia Bullrich. But in addition, the former governor encourages Christian Ritondo as a candidate from Buenos Aires, knowing the noise it generates, because the decision of the mayor of Buenos Aires is to support Diego Santili.
Lastly, and given the lack of definition of Vidal, Larreta promotes as his successors in the City Jorge Macri and Martin Lousteau.
The former governor’s dangerous strategy: while she speculates about her place in the coming contest, she sees how the boxes are being filled. From waiting so long, she can be left empty-handed. And without the support of her political godfather.
Tourneys
The relationship between Larreta and Vidal began to have short circuits in the 2021 legislative campaign. It was when the former governor launched ritondo for the province, in the middle of the Santilli campaign.
“This is my team in the province. And he has a leadership that for me he more than earned, someone I trust with my eyes closed, which is Christian Ritondo“, said Vidal, then a candidate for deputy for the city of Buenos Aires. The phrase was an earthquake in the Uspallata building.
Vidal won the election in CABA, but she was not installed as a natural candidate to succeed Larreta. In fact, she continues to develop her national figure, instead of cultivating a Buenos Aires profile that could put her in competition with Jorge Macri or Lousteau. So far in 2022, the former governor has visited a dozen provinces and plans to visit the rest in this last semester. Her next landing will be in Córdoba, where she was already a month ago.
His agenda is completed with a weekly tour with Ritondo through Buenos Aires, in addition to legislative work and some activities in the City.
While Larreta has decided his path (he even assured that if macri decides to be a candidate, he will face him in an internal one), Vidal has a harder time finding himself in the face of 2023. In his intimate environment he has two interlocutors with different views: Salvai, his former chief of staff, advises him to become strong in Capital, while Ritondo drags her to the Province. For months the head of the block has triumphed PRO in Deputies.
M-Factor
The relationship between the PRO leaders was tense. And the last statements of Macri on Vidal they did nothing more than add seasoning to an inevitable discussion.
“I always had a soft spot for Maria Eugenie”, said the former president in an interview with Viviana Canosa. And he added: “If I am not participating next year and I see that Horacio Rodriguez Larreta and Patricia Bullrichor others like Maria Eugeniewhich does not rule out (compete), they express a change, I am going to give my opinion”.
Once again, in Larreta’s environment the alarms went off: Macri put Vidal on an equal footing with the already declared presidential candidates and that could generate new problems. In fact, the former president authorized Vidal to put a coordinator, as they should do Larreta and Bullrich, to work at the Foundation Think with the completion of government programs.
Vidal has a range of possibilities, but the lack of definition could play a trick on him: if he does not manage to stand as a presidential candidate, it could be too late to aspire to the succession of Larreta. In Uspallata, where they monitor the image of their officials, they say they are surprised by the growth of George Macri. It is a way of notifying Vidal that the train is missing.
The former governor also plays her cards. In an interview on radio Rivadavia, she was asked about her aspirations: “I would like to be president, although I am not desperate,” she blurted out. Larretismo took note.
In the environment of both leaders they seek to lower the tone and insist that the relationship is of such trust that it would be impossible for it to break. They also assure that the differences will be resolved between them: “Nobody can get in the middle,” they add. But it is politics. And in politics anything can happen.
