It was an operation, almost a commando group. The maneuver had been planned for a long time. In the first round they had given the then candidate a T-shirt from the group K, but now they wanted to go for more. When the rumor spread that Lula was about to arrive at the Intercontinental Hotel in São Paulo, the handful of envoys from La Cámpora arranged themselves strategically. It was not an easy task. The place was packed with people from all over Latin America, to the point that Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro had spent most of the day sitting on the floor, as if he were a public university student during a class. That’s why they split. One stationed himself at the door, and others in the front row. When Lula entered and stood in the center of the room, the cap that they had worn from Argentina began to pass from hand to hand from the person at the entrance to the middle of the room. Until it came to Cristina Britez, deputy for Misiones, who had been by chance in front of the target.
She yelled at him, he saw her, stretched out his hand and put on the hat with the slogan “Cristina 2023”. Mission accomplished: the camporismo had managed to put the election in the neighboring country and Lula in the internal one of the Front of All.
Links. Alberto Fernández thought it was impossible. He had the mailbox and was sitting in front of a PC, but the possibility did not enter his head: was he really going to send an email to the Pope? Was he seriously going to answer him about his request to publicly support Lula in the face of her arrest? It was the middle of 2018, and the future held several surprises for the man: Francis was going to tell him to visit him in the Vatican and the following year CFK was going to make him President.
Since then, many things have changed -such as the relationship with Francisco, which had very high points and has now been frozen-, but others have not. Alberto’s bond with Lula continues to be one of affection and mutual sympathy, and the Brazilian feels special gratitude for the defense that the Argentine made when he was in his worst political and personal moment. That is why the president had wanted to go to Brazil on the same Sunday as the elections. He had spoken the previous Thursday with Lula by phone, and the situation had him between excited and worried. A wise intervention from his circle of trust – “Alberto, see if Lula loses and we’re there” – made him come to his senses, but on Monday morning he was getting on a plane.
By the time Fernández set foot in Brazil, the episode of the camporista cap had already spread like wildfire in the ruling party. A part of the library interpreted the image linearly – he put on his cap because he wants Cristina as a candidate next year – while the one with the least sympathy K chewed up anger and said that they had “used” Lula in a moment of confusion widespread. Alberto’s environment was closer to this last reading, although with one particularity: despite the fact that they maintain that the Brazilian has a natural sympathy for Fernández, he also understands Cristina’s political dimension and, in the event that she or one of his dolphins is the candidate in 2023, he needs to have the bridges open.
Here is a fact that works beyond opinions, which went unnoticed in the midst of what was an intense year. At the worst moment of the relationship between Kirchnerism and Alberto, Lula openly played in favor of the latter. On January 26, when the debate on the approval in Congress of the agreement with the IMF was in full flame – four days later Máximo was going to announce his resignation as head of the bloc, in what was also the last time he spoke with the President-, the Brazilian signed a public letter in which he supported the project. It was a letter that included the accompaniment of Evo Morales, Fernando Lugo, Dilma Rousseff and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, once Latin American referents more associated with Kirchnerism. In fact, at the end of September, in the last stretch of the Brazilian campaign, a Brazilian media outlet published an alleged text in which Lula criticized Alberto for the agreement. It was a comment made by the PT leader in a private meeting, or so the note said. Whether the news was true or not is less important than the fact that Lula’s team quickly called the Casa Rosada to deny that version.
The reasoning that Alberto brings out, and that he repeated again on his last visit to Brazil, is that the leaders of the region -and also some Europeans, such as Macron, whom he simply calls “Emmanuel” and with whom he maintains daily dialogue- they support him. Another interpretation, more uncomfortable for Albertism, is that Latin Americans accommodate themselves to the context and, above all, to the one holding the pen. After all, Argentina is one of the most important countries in the region, in a situation in which Mercosur reached the highest level of trade since 2014 and promises to grow again next year. Time will tell if Alberto’s support is real or strategic.
Cool. The idea of the lunch was Lula’s, after the photos and greetings of rigor. The meal lasted several hours and left several items for analysis. The first is local: the President included De Pedro in the meeting, who was not originally among the guests. It was a gesture that several close to Alberto do not fully understand. His relationship with his Minister of the Interior went through clouds again, after his public challenge to the president about the advisability or not of suspending the PASO. Alberto wants to keep them, the K’s don’t. Several close to Fernández understand that he is too generous with “Wadito”, as he told him before the stampede of K resignations in 2021.
The food also floated the phrase from the Brazilian to the Argentine. “Alberto, from now on you and I will speak directly, without intermediaries.” Is the idea proof of that fluid link or that Bolsonaro’s successor is bothered by the internal space? Several of those who were on Lula’s last visit to the country, in December of last year -a trip that culminated in an act in Plaza de Mayo together with Cristina and Alberto, in which they threw darts at each other on stage- say that the answer is the second.
Either way, Lula is going to come to the country. At lunch she told Alberto that she would like to travel before her inauguration on January 1st. That day Fernández will be in Brazil, in what will be the first time since the government of Eduardo Duhalde in which an Argentine president attends the swearing-in of a Brazilian one. On January 24, the neighboring president will come for a meeting of CELAC, the Latin American organization that Alberto supported against all odds -Bolsonaro despised it- and that has now become relevant again. However, Lula pushes for another idea: both in his speech on the night of the victory and the next day he spoke of Unasur, the organization that was born in 2008 and that served as a bridge to the Latin American presidents of that decade, and that now the Brazilian wants to refloat.
Alberto looks forward to the visit. He feels validated by Lula’s push, and his appearance at the end of January – they also expect another one in June – will serve as a push in the midst of a toss-up on the lists. It will be a one-stop trip, from Brazil to the internal Front.
