Alberto Fernandez and his closest team were finishing lunch when the owner of the restaurant approached them. The place is a charming Argentine grill located in the heart of New York, and the president and his entourage had stopped by to eat on the first day of his tour of the United States. The businessman introduced himself and, knowing that the president likes music and rock in particular, he told them that a famous record studio was located on the same block.
Alberto did not hesitate, and after eating he went to meet Mark Platy, the historical producer of David Bowie. The scene, which went viral after the musician posted the photo with the Argentine the next day, bare the particular political moment of Fernández. It is the almost magical effect generated by the loss of power: in Argentina the image of him holding a guitar circulated more than the speech he gave at the UN, or his meetings with the head of the IMF or the leaders of France and Spain. The king, it seems, is naked.
Miles
This is why the part of the ruling party that still has sympathy for the president, chewed anger during these days. “The tour was very good, Alberto gave a very important speech at the UN, he got the approval of Georgieva and the Fund, he met with several top-level leaders, but go and send this shit”, says one of his collaborators. Behind the resignation appears an idea that is already repeated at this point: that Fernández does not fully understand the dynamics of what the presidential investiture means. “It’s stupid, it is obvious that a photo like this is going to bounce everywhereIt doesn’t matter if it was two minutes. The country does not have the time for this, ”said another, from the Casa Rosada.
The trip itself was loaded with various concerns. The first was the list of members. The entire ruling party was surprised by the presence of Hannibal Fernandez. It was not at all a coincidence that the Security Minister joined Fernández’s trips for the first time: the president wanted to show public support for his official, in the midst of a fuss over the role of the Federal Police in the failed assassination attempt on the vice president. The relationship between Aníbal and the camporismo, which was always bad, is going through the worst moment.
There are many who are in the Cristina Kirchner circle who point him out for the ill-fated security operation. Like any decision in a divided party, the presence of the other Fernandez was processed according to the lens with which you look at him: the Albertistas felt he was a necessary support -in this tribe several times they reproached the president for letting go of their own hands at moments difficult – and for the rest it was a unnecessary wet ear. There is a conflict at the door.
However, the most sensitive issue could not be other than the 2023 elections, which are getting closer. It’s that on his last tour, which was in Europe, Alberto had said that he was “definitely” going to run for re-election. That statement had the same striking effect that occurred after the photo of him with the American musician: despite the fact that his words caused a tremor in the Frente de Todos, only one governor -Gustavo Melella, from Tierra del Fuego- came out to support Alberto’s political intentions. If the President had tried to start a clamor operation, it went wrong.
That is why in the ruling party there was a certain fear of what could happen on this trip. It is seen that these misgivings reached the President. In the press conference that he did before returning to Argentina, Alberto spoke of re-election when in truth they had asked him a question about the STEPS. “I’m not thinking about PASOs or re-elections,” she said, wanting to send a signal to decompress. Some also interpreted it as a real expression of resignation.
Visitor
In the seat of Government they live, since the traumatic departure of Martín Guzmán and the arrival of Sergio Massa, days of worrying monotony. “The Patio de las Palmeras looks like the Chacarita cemetery,” says a minister, who left worried after seeing the parsimony that exists in La Rosada on his last visit.
The president, who used to arrive at his workplace on the first morning, now spaced out his stays in the Quinta de Olivos and it occurs closer to noon, and some days even later. In general, he has a light agenda: one act per day, sometimes two, almost always for the presentation of works or the promulgation of laws, although in mid-September he took a while to Accompany students of a school on a guided tourin a video that went viral and was taken as a joke.
A mayor tells an anecdote that illustrates the moment: the man was going to meet with some foreign businessmen who decided to invest in his town, but when the Presidency found out they invited them all to Olivos, in an event that was later promoted by the Casa Rosada itself. Even in the quartermaster itself they were surprised by the size of the reception, for something that in another circumstance -or at another political moment of the president- would not attract too much attention. “Is that Alberto is trying to regain presence wherever he can”, is the reasoning they do, and that many in the ruling party share.
This is the climate that received Fernández upon his return. The president awaits another meeting with the vice president -the last time he saw her was the day after the attack, although he maintains sporadic contact with her- while he is following the economic front with concern: inflation in September was higher than expected, while tensions between Massa (see box) and his historical friend, the president of the Central Bank, Miguel Pesce, are on the rise. It seems that this is not the time to take out the guitar.
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