On the routes of Buenos Aires you can already see the campaign posters of Joaquin de la Torre. The man who wants to be a candidate for governor hand in hand with Patricia Bullrich he chose slogans that leave no doubt about where he is located: “We must put order”, “Defending Christian values” and “Enough of all” are some of the phrases that accompany the posters with his face. And, like a good part of the politicians with aspirations in this 2023, he took advantage of January to tour the coast: “When they classify me as part of the hard wing they are trying to cancel me,” he said in a dialogue with NEWS in Pinamar.
When Of the tower He talks about his proposals and returns again and again to the same issues: the need to shrink the State, to review the functioning of social plans, to attend to security and the social conditions of early childhood.
The political career of Of the tower It’s several decades old. In the ’90s he was appointed adviser in the Senate of Felipe Solá, at that time Buenos Aires lieutenant governor. In 2002 he took over as substitute director of CEAMSE. In 2003 he won the Justicialista Party internship as a candidate for mayor of San Miguel, but he failed to reach the municipality and in the following years he served as a congressman of the national PJ.
In 2007, he finally became mayor at the hands of the Party for Victory, a position in which he held for two terms. in the trajectory of Of the tower there was more than one jump. The first came in 2013 when, together with a group of mayors, they formed the Renovating Frontthe party with which Sergio Massa He was catapulted as a national leader. The man from San Miguel was recognized, in those years, as a key shipowner in the Buenos Aires territory. However, in 2021 he took the turn that landed him in the space where he is today, when he made the list of Together as a candidate for provincial senator.
News: They say that you are part of the “hard wing” of Together for Change.
Joaquin de la Torre: Labels must be taken from where they are given. For many years, politics has had a very progressive look and progressivism is politically correct. But I don’t consider myself the hard wing of the right, I consider myself a person with common sense. Everything I think and what I say comes from reading reality, from having walked. If dealing with early childhood is right-wing, well I’m right-wing. There are no left or right issues. It seems that dealing with security is right wing. Another frequent theme is that of social programs, which when they arose generated a virtuous circle, but after four years that virtuous circle became a vicious circle. It was said that the plans were for life and the compensation for work was no longer required.
News: Who suggested that social plans were for life?
Of the tower: It is posed.
News: In the formal?
Of the tower: Not formally, but in reality they are forever. People who are part of a social program have the feeling that this right is forever. We made that person lose his dignity because dignity is given because every person feels that his support gets it with his effort.
News: What do you mean when you talk about “politically correct”?
Of the tower: It has to do with the general perspective, with believing that the State should solve all the problems of the people, with the fact that the creation of ministries solves something, with the idea that security is a right-wing issue and a lot of other different perspectives on values such as the defense of life. That is progressivism, which is the son of the left of the ’60s.
News: After so many decades in politics, having gone through so many positions and with that look at the State, isn’t there some self-criticism to make as part of the ruling class?
Of the tower: Of course.
News: Which is it?
Of the tower: Well, I was mayor and I had no national responsibilities. What I can do is look at myself in front of the residents of San Miguel and ask them what happened in these 16 years of driving. People have a more than positive view of the project that I led and that Jaime (Méndez) is now leading. This is the important thing: I came to politics because I want to change people’s lives. Doing politics does not mean that I always endorse what politics does. I didn’t come here to watch your back with a corporate attitude to the rest of politics.
In October the name of Of the tower toured all the portals when he accompanied a tour of the Buenos Aires suburbs to eduardo bolsonaro. During that visit, the son of the former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaroalso shared a dinner with the leader, Miguel Pichetto, Ramiro Marra, Carolina Piparo, Nahuel Sotelo, Dina Rezinovsky and Francisco Sanchez. From those meetings arose all kinds of speculations about his links with references outside of Together for Change as javier milei.
News: In Together for Change there is a sector that says that miley it is a limit. However, you show a lot of closeness.
Of the tower: In the first place, the same ones who say that honey it is a limit they say that espert it has to be inside. What is the ideological difference between them? None. What happens is that miley criticize some and espert He doesn’t criticize them, so they let him in. If the problem is ideological, neither of them should be considered. But if the problem is personal, well… you like Espert more and I like Milei more. Secondly, I believe that Mieli has to be outside the coalition because, furthermore, he did not ask to be inside.
I only spoke to Milei once in my life, on February 15 of last year. And I remember the date because it was the day after the anniversary of the death of Carlos Menem. We had passed each other in the Church and he asked me for a favor so we met. That was all beyond what can be said.
For Of the tower All problems lead to Kirchnerism. However, in his political trajectory the distance from him is recent and until very recently he could have been presented as an authentic Peronist mayor.
News: From your time in the Renovation Front, what was your relationship with Massa?
Of the tower: I grew a lot politically with the Frente Renovador and a large part of that growth has to do with the places Sergio gave me at that time, so I don’t want to be ungrateful. My relationship with him is good although today it is distant. The last time I saw him was over a year ago. I appreciate his family, yes. But Sergio chose a path and I had realized it some time before he ended up choosing it and, therefore, I chose another. He believes that the solution goes one way and I think it goes the other. But that is not going to tarnish the value I have for him and the affection I have for his family.
News: Do you value something of your management as Minister of Economy?
Of the tower: Sergio had to deactivate 150 bombs. He goes deactivating some. Hopefully he never believes that he has already deactivated all of them because what Argentina needs is a Sergio Massa concentrated on his task.
