Alberto Fernández met him when, back in 2019, Antonio Aracre wrote a letter about the problems of hunger in Argentina, where he rehearsed a possible solution. At that time the man was the CEO of Syngenta, the Chinese capital company, the place where he worked for 37 years.
But that is over now. After the resignation of Julián Leunda, the president’s chief adviser who became embroiled in the Lago Escondido scandal, Alberto phoned Aracre to offer him the position. The former businessman had been adding points under the presidential eye: Aracre had become one of the few voices in this world that publicly defended the government, and at the time he had defended the former minister Martín Guzmán tooth and nail. During all that time, Alberto and Aracre strengthened their bond.
In mid-December the President offered him the position, in what meant Aracre’s first adventure in the world of politics. Fernández asked him for two things. The first was to bring actors from the private world closer to the state, to convince them to invest. The other idea that he suggested was to set up a dialogue table with actors from all over society – opposition, unions, businessmen – to agree on some basic points about democratic coexistence. The latter, in the middle of an election year, seems difficult.
Aracre had an eventful welcome to the world of rosca. His appointment in itself aroused some comment from hard Kirchnerism. “We came to put Argentina on its feet and we ended up putting CEOS in the Government,” was a reflection shared by one of them.
Then the former businessman got up early in the morning with a meeting of environmentalist firms that asked for his resignation, and later he himself got into a controversy. He was in favor of a “labor modernization”, a play on words that is taboo for a part of Peronism, and the controversy did not wait. Pablo Moyano came out at the crossroads and also joined the request to resign. Hectic months will come for Aracre.
