Recycling: what the former ministers of Alberto Fernández do

An unwritten maxim in the doctrine of political leadership maintains that, in the face of a crisis, the sooner an official leaves the Government, the faster his figure will be recycled.

The front of all has taken this hypothesis to the extreme: it is that only a handful of ministers of the original establishment survive. For claims of Cristina Kirchnerorders of Alberto Fernandez or personal decisions, most have stepped aside and now have new activities.

Refugees in universities or with new public positions, each of the former officials continues with his political life after the administration, while the President juggles so that the bleeding of leaders does not continue.

Academics.

Former Economy Minister Martin Guzman He only returned to the public scene in mid-October, three months after having resigned. And she did it in a context that is comfortable for her, in his comfort zone. He gave a master class together with Nobel laureate in economics Joseph Stiglit, his mentor. He started at Columbia University, but the same cycle soon brought him to Argentina: “Strategies for economic development in an uncertain international scenario” is the dissertation presented at the National University of La Plata.

He presents himself as a “renegotiator” of the external debt and exhibits the parchment of having been the one who achieved the restructuring with bondholders and the International Monetary Fund. Of course, in each speech he defends his management: “There was no adjustment, the expansion of spending was maintained and neither wages nor pensions were lowered,” he says.

Like Guzmán, the former Minister of Production Matias Kulfas he also took refuge in the academy. It is that on October 18, a few hours after Loyalty Day, he gave a conference at the University of San Martín to present a postgraduate course of which he will be the director: the Doctorate in Economic Sciences of that house of studies.

Despite the fact that he left office involved in a controversy with Kirchnerism, in which he denounced acts of corruption and later regretted what he said, Kulfas wrote a message to Cristina. It was on September 1, when he expressed his solidarity to the vice president for the attack he suffered.

Gines Gonzales Garcia he was the first minister to resign in the wake of a scandal. The “VIP Vaccine” set up during the pandemic ejected him from his position and forced him to overcome a first instance of depression. Despite his age, he had agreed to become a minister to finish his career in bronze, but having allowed many friends to get in line to receive the first doses against Covid marginalized him.

In any case, with the passage of time he began to show himself in public again. He was caught on numerous trips abroad and received insults that he did not respond to. For a long time, however, he has been receiving recognition again, despite the fact that the cause that investigates him is still active: at the end of September, for example, he was honored as a “public health servant” at the University of La Plata.

Away.

Since he resigned from the Ministry of Education, on September 20, 2021, Nicholas Trotta He has been one of the most critical former government officials. The last crusade was a few days ago, against the cut in his area: “Education always more, it can never be an instrument of budget reduction,” he indicated through social networks.

On several occasions, Trotta protested because he considered that the front of all “It doesn’t act like a coalition.” And he even went so far as to directly point to the President as being responsible for this situation: “The ministers do not deploy their decisions because there are no clear indications and because Alberto contradicts them,” he said earlier this month in an interview with Radio Rivadavia.

The first to leave the cabinet had been Maria Eugenia Bielsa. Whoever was Minister of Territorial Development lasted less than a year in her position. It took more than a second for him to reappear in the public sphere: at the beginning of 2022 he lent himself to work for the recomposition of the unity of Peronism in his province, Santa Fe. But his enthusiasm was short-lived: immersed in a crack that was difficult to overcome between Omar Perotti, the governor, and Agustín Rossi, the eternal candidate, the former official stopped participating in the meetings proposed by the leader of the Justicialist Party, Ricardo Olivera. She is not even active on her networks.

After a year out of public management, Felipe Solá is preparing to return. Still far from Alberto Fernández, who led him to a messy exit from the Foreign Ministry (he warned him santiago cafiero by phone that he would be his successor), the former Foreign Minister was getting closer to Cristina, even with successive meetings at the Instituto Patria. And the conditions would already be given to assume a new position: to occupy the Argentine bank in the directory of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI) based in Honduras. Nothing bad.

For the last officials to leave the Casa Rosada, the future is still uncertain. Elisabeth Gomez Alcorta She takes refuge in her Sovereign feminist group to continue her activities and Claudio Moroni prefers a low profile, after the wear and tear caused by the negotiation with the tire workers union.

For Juan Zabaleta and Jorge Ferraresi there was no doubt about the steps to follow. Before the election year begins, they returned to their small payments: Hurlingham and Avellaneda. There is no time to lose.

Recycled.

The list of “Officials who do not work”, the phrase that the vice president popularized and that erased five ministers with a stroke of the pen, included the then head of the Health portfolio, Sabina Frederic. The former official returned to her role as a Conicet investigator and a month later she got a new conchabo: president of the White Helmets.

louis basterra He was barely a week out of work. It is that the then Minister of Agriculture was ejected from La Rosada in September 2021, after the harsh defeat of the ruling party in the primaries of that year, he found refuge in Formosa and with his mentor, Gildo Insfrán. At the end of that month he was already sworn in as head of the Education portfolio of that province, a position he currently holds.

Another who left after Cristina’s famous letter was the Minister of Science Robert Salvarezza. He was automatically appointed president of Y-Tec, YPF’s science-based company.

Before that he had already left and returned Agustin Rossi. The Minister of Defense tried to disembark in Santa Fe and, after failing, he was appointed director of the AFI. Daniel Arroyo was luckier in the midterm elections: he resigned from the Ministry of Development to campaign and was elected deputy.

Marcela LosardoAlberto’s friend and partner had left her post after the onslaught K in March 2021. Seven months later she already presented her credentials to be Argentine ambassador to UNESCO.

For its part, santiago cafiero he is the only one who, despite having changed roles, remains in the front line. The President had to remove him from the Cabinet Headquarters but was able to accommodate him in the Foreign Ministry.

Two who were there for a short time, but who already have new partners are Silvina Batakis and Daniel Scioli. The former Minister of Economy, who lasted less than a month in office, remained in the portfolio when Sergio Massa took office. The former governor returned to the position he held before the national adventure: ambassador to Brazil.

Alberto Fernández resists new changes. He does not want anyone else in the Cabinet to let go of his hand in the face of 2023. In fact, he negotiates with Juan Manzur, who wants to return to Tucumán, the possibility of continuing to accompany him. On the other hand, officials have to look at the long term: they want to jump in time so as not to be part of a possible electoral shipwreck.

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