One way or another, Gerardo Morales it is sought after to be at the center of the media scene. Despite the fact that the presidential elections are a year and a half away, the governor of Jujuy has already revealed her aspirations and is playing all or nothing. He fights with whoever crosses him, weaves alliances and plots his future. The goal is far away, but he believes it is time to start building his Front of Fronts.
In the last days, Morales passed through Córdoba and Santa Fe, two key provinces in its federal assembly. And in all the meetings he had there were two agendas: a public, institutional and management one. Other private and political. The bagel.
But the advance party in Jujuy puts some tension, both in radicalism and in Together for Change. Some believe that the candidacy to which he aspires must still be won, because in the centenary party there are other figures who share his intentions, although others consider that his movements will be good for the UCR: “We have to position ourselves against the PRO. So that the same thing that happened during the macrismo does not happen to us ”, they defend it.
MORALES, THE FEDERAL
The arrival of Morales in Córdoba it was more akin to a presidential summit than the radical could hope for. Together with Governor Juan Schiaretti he walked on a red carpet, escorted by local grenadiers, the so-called Busts Federales, who raised their weapons as they passed. A welcome with honors.
Before the time of the assembly, the public declarations would arrive, such as the nationalization of the fight for transport subsidies against the AMBA, the search for equity in electricity rates and the signing of a tourist cooperation agreement.
Then the attempt to leave open a channel for dialogue to advance on a front that could dispute the election of the national government. There is a particularity, which they themselves point out to the two governors: they point to Morales as “the most
Peronist of the radicals”. TO Schiaretti They criticize that he usually feels more comfortable with opponents than with some leaders of his party. That was demonstrated in the good harmony between the two.
The next day, Morales had already disembarked in Santa Fe. First I would go to Rosario, to meet Mayor Pablo Javkin, one of the swordsmen of the Progressive Front. Once again, the agenda was divided. There was a work meeting, in which more leaders of Together for Change participated, but what did not come out is that hours later the governor and the local president met alone to talk.
The Front of Fronts, which Morales could now refound, had a precedent in Santa Fe: a project that foundered with the death of Miguel Lifschitz. Together for Change and the former socialist governor had already begun talks to unite against Peronism. It could not be.
The agenda of the president of radicalism included a meeting with socialist deputies who listened to him attentively. “We know that he is campaigning, but we feel it is a good gesture,” one of the participants revealed to NEWS. Morales insisted on maintaining the dialogue for 2023.
The tour of Santa Fe lands would end with the radical summit in the capital of the province. The first of the year at the national level. There were several attempts there: first, to begin to heal the internal bleeding caused by the split of the Martín Lousteau bloc. Then build as an option for what is to come. They believe there is a chance to build a radical government this time. Or at least get a symmetric power distribution. We’ll see.
DIFFERENCES WITH LARRETA
Imposing as a candidate is not easy. It also requires certain gestures of rebellion that Morales is willing to make. He has already shown some of them, like his crosses with one of the numbers set for the next election: Horacio Rodríguez Larreta.
He has targeted the head of the Buenos Aires government for months. He believes that he seeks to control the UCR and accuses him of being responsible for the fact that the legislative bloc of his party has fractured: that he instigates Lousteau to generate headaches. “A radical passes by on the street and he offers him a little charge”, he got angry about that.
“I am fed up with this porteño and pedantic minority”, he lashed out at him in December after several crosses that included from the Lousteau offensive to the attacks against Facundo Manes. Although they later met face to face, the tension between Morales and Larreta continues.
The hard wing of the PRO also has it between eyebrows. It is that they consider him too contemplative with Alberto Fernández. They even questioned it because the radical president was the first to speak out in favor of supporting the agreement with the IMF. “I would like to see him argue harder with the government than with Larreta”, rebuked the president of the PRO block in Deputies, Cristian Ritondo.
Morales was not silent. “Let them come to Jujuy to see how the pigeons fight against Kirchnerism,” he sentenced them. And he added: “I don’t see the claws of those hawks. They are not going to come to me to run”.
The president of the UCR continues with his federal seduction operation. His first objective is to position radicalism in the coalition. The second, earn a place as a candidate. He got an advantage: he fights from the center of the ring and does not allow himself to be cornered.
