Julian Dominguez juggles. Unlike other officials who take the place of enemies of the portfolio they represent (Martín Soria versus Justice or Roberto Feletti against businessmen), the Minister of Agriculture seeks to preserve the relationship with the countryside, despite the fact that the Government he has it noted.
That way, Dominguez He is in charge of announcing the increase in withholdings, but then he manifests himself in favor of the producers because of how their inputs are increased. A blow and a caress. After the tractor hit against the Government, which caught him in the middle of a tour of Israel, the minister replied that “there are no technical reasons” for the protest, but added that “if there is a claim, we will listen to it.” He balances so as not to break. And that from the Casa Rosada they gave him sufficient reasons to do so.
Tractorazo
Behind the massive mobilization of producers on Saturday the 23rd, which demonstrated the sector’s discontent with Alberto Fernández, there was a mitigating factor that had Domínguez’s signature: the Liaison Table did not participate. An element that served the Government to find defense arguments: “It was organized by a sector of the countryside that is a political arm of Together for Change,” he counterattacked the Minister of Productive Development, Matías Kulfas. “This is a political march,” she added. spokesperson Gabriela Cerruti. The other officials continued along that line.
Julián Domínguez admitted that the dialogue with the Liaison Table “is weekly and constant.” In this way, he opened an internal wound: for not having been part of the game, the entity that brings together the producers will have to ratify his capacity to represent the field. Without abandoning his diplomatic style, the minister created an inconvenience for the demonstrators.
Domínguez’s first official response was to clarify that the “unexpected income”, the new tax projected by the Government, was not going to reach the countryside. And he completed: “It is not up to me to analyze the reasons for the protest. If there is a claim, we will listen to it, as we have always done”.
In meetings with the sector, the minister constantly tries to make common cause with the producers. He asks that the relationship between them be strong “so that they do not put their hand in us from the outside”. It does not refer to another country, but to another ministry. “If Economy intervenes, it closes exports without understanding what it is doing. Decisions must be made from Agriculture ”, he repeats to the rural entities.
Man of experience in the matter, Domínguez is head of the Agriculture portfolio for the second time: the first was between 2009 and 2011. In September 2021 he replaced Luis Basterra in office, so that the Government had more fluid contact with the field. Although sometimes some important detail is often overlooked.
The last blooper happened in March, when he presented the withholding increases at a press conference. He assured that the rate of biodiesel was not modified, but a collaborator corrected him. Still without a microphone, the voice of his secretary was heard: “Sorry, minister, but go up a point.” “Up a percentage point. Perfect”, clarified, unauthorized, the minister.
Enemies at home. Domínguez has dialogue with opposition leaders and even with the most critical journalists of the K administration, to whom other officials do not answer for fear of reprisals. He has always been characterized as a tightrope walker.
However, that does not mean that he has some stones in his shoes. Many of the interventions of other officials are transformed into internal problems. For example, when Feletti assured that the producers “speculate to buy apartments in Miami and 4×4.” “If we continue like this, the Liaison Table will decide what we eat and what we don’t,” he bullied them. It was Domínguez who had to go out to calm the waters.
The one who defined him was one of his old enemies. Aníbal Fernández had a strong rivalry with him for many years, although in the last time they recomposed the relationship. For the Security Minister, Domínguez’s greatest virtue is having a “political figure.” “He knows how to discuss and reach conclusions, even if no one leaves satisfied,” he said about the juggling minister.
Not even the declared war between the Government and the countryside put him in check when it came to remaining in office. He moves with agility, even between the different Peronisms: he was an official of Carlos Menem, Eduardo Duhalde, Cristina Kirchner and Alberto Fernández.
From his tour of Israel, Dominguez an agreement is brought to export more meat. But in addition, and despite the distance, he managed to reduce the firepower of a march that promised to be a great headache for the Government. The minister brought out his greatest virtue: balance in the midst of chaos.
