Máximo Kirchner perfectly executed one of the pieces of advice from the Godfather, Michael Corleone: “Keep friends close and enemies closer.” That’s why He gave Axel Kicillof a bear hug, invited the Buenos Aires governor to a PJ summit and achieved a photo of unity that had not been seen in a long time.. Although differences arise everywhere.
Máximo’s, and also Cristina’s, gaze is on the 2025 electoral calendar. And they need Kicillof to make a quick decision on the matter: they want him not to split the election, to give greater possibilities to the Peronist candidates for the Chamber of Deputies. They suggest that it is better for him to polarize with Javier Milei. Those around them are not convinced: they watched carefully how Santa Fe has already chosen an agenda well distanced from the Nation, to avoid a possible carryover effect of La Libertad Avanza and a flight of votes towards the ruling party. Nothing is defined.
2025 plans.
The meeting called by Máximo in the Los Robles municipal reserve, in Moreno, lasted around four hours. It wasn’t friendly. Evidence of this is the photo that was taken at the beginning of the meeting. The PJ militancy paid attention to all the details they could to read what was happening, beyond the incipient unity they were trying to show: in the center of the scene, Cristina, the boss, in case there was any doubt. On one side Sergio Massa and his son, the organizers of the meeting. To the other, separated by the local mayor, Kicillof with a grim expression and with his face almost covered by his own thermos. “They didn’t even share the mate,” said a Buenos Aires leader ironically. seeing that each one had their own infusion prepared.
The objective of the organizers was to initiate a kind of catharsis, in the midst of so many tensions. Microphone on, agenda open. But the specter of the midterm elections was the main focus of the meeting. Kicillof has the key to that chest: he can decide to distance himself and play his own game or take a risk and lend a hand to Cristina and the national PJ. To make matters worse, it will be the first time that deputies are elected with a single paper ballot. Nobody knows what the result may be.
Máximo has Massa as an ally. The former presidential candidate says out loud that he does not want to be an intermediary in the fight between the leader of La Cámpora and the governor. But he acts as such: he talks to both, trying to bridge the wide differences between the two leaders. A task that he has carried out tirelessly for several years: during the administration of Alberto Fernández, When he was still president of the Chamber of Deputies, he also had to act as a negotiator. That intention to keep Peronism united first led him to take office as Minister of Economy and later earned him a presidential candidacy.
In Moreno, the meeting served for the leaders to reproach each other face to face instead of through the media, but what many doubt is that the catharsis has loosened spirits. There was tension before, during and also after the event. Kicillof claimed bench. Cristina, in turn, answered: “Let’s see, let’s see. Who said I don’t support him? I had him as a minister when half of the cabinet insulted me. “You don’t have to lose your memory,” he said..
“No one doubts that Cristina put a lot of effort into it. Axel appreciates it. But The question is whether he continues to do it.” They reproached Kicillof’s small table after listening to the defense of the new president of the party.
Candidates.
Beyond your intentions, Máximo cannot loosen Kicillof. The governor cited problems in the agenda and missed the inauguration ceremony of Cristina as president of the PJ. And the former president took advantage. In the middle of his speech, he made an elevation shot: “The political leaders of our party, who I often see converted into electoral activists, have to become political activists again,” he criticized.
In order not to burn the ships, Kicillof gave a formal, cold greeting through Twitter. “I congratulate @CFKArgentina and the new authorities in the face of this new challenge of unity and reconstruction of Justicialism,” he wrote. Nothing else.
Cristina’s claim about electoral concern could be a boomerang. The thing is that in the Province they point to Máximo and talk about the rumors that spread about his own candidacy. It is a message that emerged in recent days and that proposes him as a candidate for councilor of La Matanza. Just a trial balloon that shows a new attempt by La Cámpora to gain power in the territory.
Cristina’s case is also eloquent. Unlike the other leaders, who will have to work to get a place on the lists, the former president is already seen within the PJ as a candidate. Maintaining expectation until the last moment will be the best way to organize the troops under your command. In the end, he will decide whether to play or not.
Opposition.
Although his main concern is internally, Máximo takes advantage of his few public appearances to criticize Milei. “Stop encouraging violence,” he asked in a La Cámpora publication.
The last crossing was as a result of the request for the removal of immunity from Entre Ríos senator Edgardo Kueider, a Peronist who jumped into the ranks of the ruling party. Beyond the fact of corruption, after being arrested with undeclared money in Paraguay, what they are fighting for is a seat in the Senate. The Government’s reaction was immediate: Kirchnerism went for Kueider, Casa Rosada will go for all the deputies and senators with open causes. The first name that emerged was Máximo, who is awaiting a resolution of an appeal before the Court to find out whether or not he will go to oral trial.
The son of the former president also hits the PRO. The last time, it was after the attempt to convert Clean File into law and, therefore, Cristina can no longer be a candidate. Pointing to Macri and the “judicial party,” he said: “The experience of these powers is that Cristina won in 2019 despite the stories of the political editorialists in the newspapers and the homogeneous discourse on television that between 2016 and 2019 was that she “It was finished, finished, that people don’t want it and it can’t win.”
But their greatest claims are not towards the outside, but rather within the PJ. He reproaches Kicillof and his entourage for the complete change of thought. “They went from needing Cristina to seeing all her flaws after the defeat on the 23rd,” he protests. And he does not give in to his claims to gain power in the Province.
“Everyone here has my number,” Máximo urged those present at the Moreno meeting.. He was one of the last speakers and had grown tired of hearing how various interlocutors pointed him out, without naming him, as the person responsible for all the evils of Buenos Aires Peronism.
It’s just that his plan doesn’t have too many secrets. Máximo must prevent Kicillof from escaping from the bear hug he gave him. If he rebels and splits the elections through a decree, the chances of national Peronism, the one managed by Cristina, being victorious in the Province are reduced. For his part, the governor sees in ’25 a last opportunity to establish himself as the PJ’s natural candidate for the presidency. With no re-election possible, he must win a mid-term victory to put pressure on the Kirchners.
Máximo’s success depends on Kicillof’s failure, or at least his inability to detach himself from Kirchnerism. That’s why, despite the differences, he makes an effort to have him close.
