Sergio Massa walk inside a maze with multiple exits. The Economy Minister continues to be among the options being considered within the Frente de Todos for this year’s presidential formula, but the promised miracle of containing the skyrocketing prices would be taking longer than expected and that could frustrate his dream. . The inflation number for March, which will be released in mid-April, could start with a 7 ahead and register a rise for the fourth consecutive month.
According to INDEC, economic activity started the year with a growth of 2.9% year-on-year in January and almost all sectors of the EMAE (Monthly Estimator of Economic Activity) registered year-on-year increases at the beginning of 2023, but the effects of the drought in agriculture, the main engine of injection of dollars into the local economy, predict devastating effects (production for this year would be around 50% less, in dollars, than last year).
In that context, Massa sails in troubled watersbetween the micro of local politics and a worrisome inflationary scenario – Minister Victoria Tolosa Paz assured that the poverty figures for the second semester of 2022, close to 40%, are the product of the inflationary spiral that makes “growth reach a few pockets”, a script repeated insistently in recent months by the hard-line Kirchnerism- and a macroeconomic horizon that is increasingly disturbing and that is tied to the creativity of the minister.
The rumors about Massa are incessant, the news of the last weeks plagued the leadership of the Renewal Front with anxiety and, in general, to the leadership of the Frente de Todos, but the official still has one more letter: the focal studies show that society recognizes his efforts within a government that is characterized by its inactivity and inmates. They ratify it, even, in the campaign team of Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, the moderate candidate of Together for Change.
In this sense, Cristina Kirchner is still committed to the Massa’s candidacy if her decision not to be a candidate is confirmed, despite the fact that there are all kinds of internal versions. A sector of its environment -very close- highlights, for example, that we still have to wait. Last Saturday, for example, a sector of Kirchnerism again asked for his nomination in Chaco, a revival of the first chapter of the clamor operation that took place in Avellaneda. By the way, they say that after Máximo Kirchner’s speech at that act, in which he asked Axel Kicillof and his cabinet for greater militant participation, they had to stop the governor because he was flying with anger.
Future. In this tsunami of internal, Massa’s candidacy is still valid. What’s more: it transcends that April will be key and that there are efforts to pave the way for a single formula within the Frente de Todos. Massa and Eduardo “Wado” by Pedro appear in that context as two leading actors. Another name that has been added these days is that of Pablo González, a pure strain from Santa Cruz who today presides over the state oil company YPF. During the last week of March, González traveled to El Calafate at Cristina’s request to talk about his political future.
Another who joined the race was Daniel Scioli, who had to return to Brazil when Massa disembarked with his team at the Ministry of Economy. If Massa shows up, does Scioli get off? The Tigrense did not like that Scioli has rushed to introduce himself. If Massa advances with his presidential dream he should leave office and leave his own dauphin in the Palacio de Hacienda. Alberto Fernández should take the oath in that case to his fourth Minister of Economy.
A few days after assuming Massa affirmed that his family, especially his children, did not want him to be a candidate for President. And in January of this year he referred to those who speculate that his career towards the Casa Rosada is tied to his results in the Ministry of Economy. “Don’t put me in any race”, he dispatched himself, and even accused the Secretary of Industry, José Ignacio De Mendiguren, of having fed those versions. “Sorry for reproaching you, Vasquito,” he told her. In parallel, his wife, Malena Galmarini, has already warned that she wants to be a candidate for mayor of Tigre and she is working for that. He will be a busy year in the Massa house.
