Wines, snacks and sweet breads. For the holidays, the ministers and their employees will have had to buy little or nothing because, during December, many packages were filling their offices. Santa Claus came from different corners of the country.
Of course, public officials are also affected by the terrifying devaluation of Argentina. In the 90’s Carlos Menem He would get a Ferrari as “attention” and fight to keep it: “It’s mine, mine,” he said when asked by journalists. Today, those who occupy the highest places in the Executive Power barely receive mates, decorations and handicrafts. And, to top it off, they have to declare each one of those present.
Top five of the beneficiaries
Beyond the gifts that the ministers receive throughout the year, which in 2021 were more than a thousand, December is usually the key date: the holidays are a time when leaders, businessmen, ambassadors, foundations and even organizations such as the Federal Intelligence Agency send their presents.
In the last month of the year, when everyone prepares for Christmas and New Year, the Minister of Public Works of the Nation was the most entertained: to the office of Gabriel Katopodis 25 present arrived. Many of them were wines, the most repeated gift. But they also sent him a handmade wicker tree, regional products that were sent from La Rioja and Santa Fea sweet bread from the Margarita Barrientos Foundationa barbecue kit from the Petroleum Union and even a calendar from the Chinese Embassy.
In second place among the most entertained for the holidays was John Manzur. to the offices of the Chief of Cabinet 21 gifts arrived that were duly registered and published by the Anti-Corruption Office. . From civil servants to river businessmen they gave him wines, mates and snacks. Despite the December heat, the former president of YPF Miguel Galuccio and the Israeli ambassador, Romen Galitthey chose the same present: boxes of chocolate.
TO Carla Vizzetti, the minister whom the pandemic pushed into a leading role, received 18 gifts in the last month, many of them sent by different sanatoriums and other actors in the health sector. The Embassy of Russia, the country that manufactures the vaccine that she defended so much, sent her an informative magazine, “From Sputnik to Sputnik”, but also a bottle of vodka. On the other hand, and for him to distract himself from his tasks, the Santa Fe government sent him a domino.
Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro declared receiving 10 presents. The Minister of the Interior had the most original gifts: paintings, books, sculptures and looms from different municipalities and provinces. He also salami salami and alfajores. The only private privs who entertained him were strong the company Newsan and the Argentine Industrial Union.
The Minister of Women, Gender and Diversity closes the top five of officials who received the most presents for the holidays, with eight. During the year, Elisabeth Gomez Alcorta She had been the official who had registered the most gifts, but in December her colleagues relegated her to fifth place. The head of the Cabinet sent him a panettone from Cucina Paradiso, the restaurant of chef Donato De Santis; while the Ciervos Pampas Rugby club sent him a box of sweet food. They were not the most original, because she received “several plants” from a social organization in La Plata, including flowers and even a succulent.
Cabinet
The ranking of the ministers who received the most attention is completed by Matías Lammens, Martín Guzmán and Claudio Moroni. Of the others, nothing. There is no information despite the obligation imposed by decree 1179 of 2016 to communicate to the Public Registry of Gifts, dependent on the Anti-Corruption Office, each of the objects they receive.
There is also no information on those present who arrived at Alberto Fernández’s office. At press time, the latest record is from November 30, when Prince Faisal Bin Farhan Abdullah Al Saud of Saudi Arabia presented him with a box of dates and a decorative piece of glass.
The rule imposed during the government of Mauricio Macri indicates that they can keep the present as long as its price is less than $12,000. The last registered object that does not meet this requirement, and therefore should have remained in the hands of the
State, is a vase that the Secretary of International Economic Relations, Cecilia Todesca, received in November. The gift from the Korean ambassador, Jang Myung-Soo, was destined for the San Martín Palace Museum.
Government officials spent the holidays full of gifts. It’s the Santa Claus effect.
