Nobody tells him directly, but both in the PRO and in the radicalism a claim is repeated towards Mauricio Macri: They protest because they do not know if he is speaking as a former president and leader of an opposition space or as a candidate for president. His role confuses, his protagonism exasperates and each of his opinions are put into debate. They target him from the ruling party, but also from his coalition: everyone is against him.
“People are not stupid,” Macri exploded at the end of the team plenary Government of the PRO, on Tuesday, June 7. And he added: “If we say that we are going to make a serious change and in the previous one we kill each other, who is going to believe us?” It was an attempt to close the gap with the radicals, after a week of fury, but also to warn his followers that the path of internal confrontation is not the right one.
BATTLES
The last confrontation was with the UCR. Although this time, it was Macri himself who lit the flame of discord: at a conference in São Paulo he made reference to populism and added to the list of Juan Domingo Perón and Evita Hipólito Yrigoyen, the first radical president. He barely mentioned it, but it was enough for the reaction.
Gerardo Morales, the radical boss, dedicated a letter to him repudiating his expressions. “The crack is not the way,” he accused even though it was not the first time they had crossed paths. And then he dedicated a speculation to him that is repeated in the UCR committees: “If your intention is to break JxC to seek an agreement with sectors of the extreme anti-democratic right, it is best to say it concretely.”
Unlike other times, where the battle had become personal between Macri and Morales, this time a part of radicalism sentenced him. “It was an imprudence of engineer Macri. His statements did not seem good to me because we aim for unity, ”he told him. Gaston Manes. The former president left them the possibility of discussing power on a platter: in short, what they are looking for from the centenary party is to be competitive in 2023 with their own candidate. Any excuse will be used for that purpose.
Macri had tried to tone down the discussion. He protested Morales’ “excessive” response in a torrent of tweets and highlighted: “I always valued the ideas of radicalism in their different nuances.”
According to the leaders of Together, deep down the discussion between radicals and macristas has to do with the dispute to lead the space and the search for where to expand the coalition. In fact, it is not the first time that the president of the UCR runs Macri to the right, that is, towards the deputy Javier Milei. Despite the fact that the former president criticizes the liberal for the “violence of his language” and because he “simplifies the proposals he makes”, his allies distrust his intentions.
Margarita Stolbizer joined the perception of the UCR: “Macri is more comfortable near Milei. She was meeting with him while he was insulting Maria Eugenia Vidal and Horacio Rodriguez Larreta”, he chicaned him. To the intentions of unit of Together, the flirtation of the former president can cost dearly.
INTERNAL
The limbo in which Macri wanders it generates short circuits also in your party. The PRO candidates oscillate between the possibility that the former president will accompany them in 2023 or be his rival. Too many unknowns.
For this reason, one day they appear close to Macri and the other they throw some hint at him. A constant push and pull. This is what Patricia Bullrich does, who on Tuesday the 7th invited him to the presentation of her technical teams and the group of “territory” leaders who represented the 24 provinces.
In the act that he carried out in the Olivos Yacht Club, the president of the PRO exhibited which would be the first laws that she would enact if she were elected. “The important thing is to prepare ourselves with all the details and get to the government with everything ready,” Macri seconded her. The former president confessed to his closest circle that, if he does not stand for election again, he wants to be the godfather of the PRO candidate: “I am going to elect the one with the best team,” he warned the candidates.
Having Macri on his side is a major concern for both Bullrich as for Larreta. It is that, beyond the ceiling that his negative image could represent, going against the wishes of the former president in a yellow intern would be problematic. And then, in the general elections, he is the only one who can guarantee a battalion of prosecutors in key districts, such as the province of Buenos Aires. Without that structure, there is no way to compete against Peronism.
However, each one deals with making differences, in case macri He decides to stand as a candidate. Hours before they met in Olivos, Bullrich It differed from the macrista management: “I am going to deploy all the measures on the first day, not like in our government, in which we were showing things separately. No. We are going to make a total deployment. So I hope to earn their trust as soon as possible.”
Also Larreta He usually distances himself from the former president, with whom he once again had a cordial relationship after many disagreements. “I will make my decision when I have to make it. The discussions that take place when more than one aspires to a position are defined by the people. There is no fight there, there we go to a STEP, ”she said in statements with CNN. A little over a year before the primaries, no one is getting out of the fight.
with Carrió the current relationship is good. They frequently talk on the phone about the issues on the agenda, but the former president knows that “Lilith” you can always surprise him with some strong statement against him. “It’s part of his style. One day he throws a dart, but in the end the figure of Mauricio always stands out, ”they say about the former president.
DISOBEDIENT
The last consultant that Macri approached the space made one thing clear: if they do not forget the differences between “hawks” and “doves” it will be impossible to concentrate on the ruling party, Guillermo Raffo told them. The goal is to look at the Casa Rosada, where the rivals to beat are.
It is that, according to what the councilors repeat, the internal cracks do nothing more than relate Together to the Front of All: from the outside, they all seem the same. That opens up a possibility for Milei, which is touted as the renewal (see box).
Raffo’s advice was unsuccessful: the interns did not stop.
In the environment of the former president, they consider that any definition of those who feel candidates for 2023 It is within the rules of the game. They ensure that the statements they make Bullrich or Larreta to differentiate themselves minimally from Macri they do not offend. On the contrary, he continues to show himself close to them. He does have a grudge against Morales, whom the former president reproaches for having given him everything during his administration (from works to political support in the case miracle room) so that now he responds in that wild way.
For their part, those who want a quick definition of Macri will have to keep waiting. He does not get out of the presidential fight because he never got on and everything indicates that only when he finishes the summer 2023 there will be a formal decisionl. Until then, he will continue to concentrate the darts of the ruling party, but also of a large part of the opposition. They all point at him.
