In the central bank They exploded when they heard it. In the midst of the economic crisis and the shortage of dollars, the government spokeswoman revealed that the minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, was going to make an announcement “by the end of this week”, in his own words. “You cannot anticipate that exchange measures are being studied,” they protested. The anticipatory effect of Gabriela Ceruti was what they expected: the markets did not read the message well and the dollar continued its upward trend.
The spokesperson’s daily conferences set the agenda. Faced with the silence of many ministers, Cerruti remained in the center of the Government’s scene. It is an easy object of criticism from the opposition but also from the ruling party, although in its environment they minimize the issue: they assure that their relationship with front-line officials is not resentful.
CONTROVERSY. The office of Cerruti It goes beyond paper and screens with information that comes from each of the ministries. For this reason, a forceful response was heard in the corridors of Casa Rosada when they claimed some excess in his concepts: “I say what he remembers to say,” he replied to his interlocutor. “We are all living day to day. Let’s understand the complexity of the moment ”, he asked later.
The distrust generated by his figure in part of the ruling party reduces his authority when it comes to communicating. For example, in mid-July he denied a meeting between Alberto Fernandez and Cristina Kirchner hours later the official Twitter account of the Senate confirmed. They left her off side.
Criticism of the spokeswoman does not stop. Even journalists related to the Frente de Todos, such as Diego Brancatelli, made her feel angry: “Dear Gabriela, it is time to end that speech. They are wrong. The blue dollar fully impacts Argentines. Don’t be fools,” she wrote in her tweet after Cerruti said the informal exchange rate was a marginal issue. On the other side of the crack, the definitions are even more blunt: “It is arrogant, rude, limited, useless and generally achieves exactly the opposite of what is proposed,” director Juan José Campanella told him.
The cabinet’s silence exposes her: since October, when the President summoned her as spokesperson, Cerruti has become an easy target for all criticism.
