The K businessmen were a fundamental part of the power scheme devised by Néstor Kirchner. A kind of new national bourgeoisie with Patagonian anchorage that enjoyed its good ties with the President to do big business. But what about life for those entrepreneurs who, after Cristina Kirchner’s departure from power in 2015, suffered legal problems and, since then, have preferred to keep a low profile?
Houses. The best known of all is Lázaro Báez, who, since he obtained the benefit of house arrest, has been housed in a farm in San Vicente, guarded 24 hours a day and in the company of his current partner. Báez spends his days away from business, just looks at files, some television, runs on a treadmill to exercise and is informed daily of the successive auctions that his properties have been undergoing, due to the bankruptcy of Austral Construcciones . One of the houses that was auctioned off was a property that Néstor Kirchner had bought in 1981, and later sold it to Lázaro Báez in 2008 for around 300,000 dollars. Last week the sale value was 46 thousand dollars. Báez could not believe such decapitalization.
chubut. Cristóbal López spends more time than before in Rada Tilly, the seaside resort next to Comodoro Rivadavia, his place in the world. There he is usually seen having lunch at the Inn restaurant – which is about 150 meters from his house facing the sea – accompanied by a woman who, according to what they say in the small payment, would be his new partner. He almost never travels to Buenos Aires and, when he does, he no longer travels in private planes but uses regular Aerolíneas Argentinas flights. From the South, he preferred to focus on the provincial public works business that he has with his CPC company. He is focused on completing the “double trail” of the route that connects Comodoro Rivadavia with Caleta Olivia. But he also has other bids won that have not made much progress yet, such as the Centenario Stadium or the Comodoro Shopping Mall.
The link with local politics is almost nil. In his house he only receives some Peronist leaders because his relationship with the opposition is bad. He has among his adversaries, for example, the candidate for governor Ignacio Torres. And he doesn’t get along with Governor Mariano Arcioni either.
Bankers. The Eskenazi family was for Néstor Kirchner a fundamental piece in his power scheme. They are the owners of Banco de Santa Cruz, but their most important service for the late president was to lead the purchase of 25 percent of YPF. The patriarch of the family, Enrique, was the one who had the best relationship with Kirchner, but the audacious move to enter what is now a state oil company, which was then in Spanish hands, was led by Sebastián Eskenazi, the son. The holding company of the Eskenazi family is known as the Petersen Group and currently they maintain the same historical businesses, especially banks.
The only link they have left with YPF is the right to 30 percent of the trial in the United States against our country for the nationalization of the oil company during the administration of Cristina Kirchner. If he comes out against Argentina, the Eskenazi could keep a large millionaire sum, which could exceed 1,000 million dollars.
China. The fourth most emblematic businessman of the Kirchner years was Gerardo Ferreyra, who in those years, with the company Electroingeniería, did big business related to public works and was left with the construction of the Néstor Kirchner-Jorge Cepernic hydroelectric dam in Santa Cruz. Ferreyra became famous for having invested in the media. He had a channel called 360 TV and also owned Radio Del Plata.
But currently his links are focused on the deployment of China in Argentina. He is a kind of local lobbyist for Chinese capital, which is his partner in the construction of the dam in Santa Cruz. He is attentive to all the activities of the Argentine ambassador in China, Sabino Vaca Narvaja, but he also has time for militant activities in Buenos Aires. This week, for example, he was at the presentation of Victoria Donda’s book.
Undoubtedly, with Néstor Kirchner they were doing much better.
