Few hours had passed since santiago cafiero insulted in English Jorge Lanata when the chancellor published an opinion column in a militant web newspaper. “The country unites us”, he titled it paradoxically. Although he was not speaking to the people in general, but to his own government coalition that threatens day by day to finish cracking.
That’s how he is Foreign Minister: a man capable of provoking an affront to a journalist who criticized him and then imploring that “there is no rupture of our political space.” coffee he asks for restraint, but he has no peace.
Agitated. The last one was a week of fury for the chancellor. A speech delivered in broken English at Expo 2020 Dubai, held in the United Arab Emirates, exposed him. Confidence man of Alberto Fernandez he read, with great difficulty, a letter whose objective was to show the Argentine goodness to the world. She ended up putting him in the center of the scene.
“I had a speech in Spanish and when I got there there was no simultaneous translation, so I decided to do it in English,” he argued later. And he confusedly added: “It was part of being humble and somehow showing what our diplomatic mission is; which is not pleasing to the pronunciation of those who have bankrupted the country”. The chancellor could have read in Spanish and avoided all these inconveniences, but he chose poorly. It was not the first time.
The former chief of staff He speaks English, although his pronunciation is obviously not fluent. He has complete meetings in Anglo-Saxon language and took care to clarify that he had studied languages, although his level was not adequate for the circumstance that touched him.
Beyond the translation, the decision to insult a journalist for his criticism was the straw that overflowed the camel’s back. “Cream it’s a dickhead,” he said. And the opposition jumped on his neck: “It’s a shame for the country. He must resign today ”, requested the head of the PRO block in Deputies, Cristian Ritondo. “In the midst of a crisis, Cafiero plays smart. Pathetic”, considered the ally of “Lilita” Carrió, Paula Oliveto. “The President must ask him to step aside,” completed the radical Rodrigo de Loredo.
It was not the only reason why the opposition asked for his resignation, in recent days: on Monday 21, PRO deputies, accompanied by Javier Milei, asked for the minister’s impeachment for “poor performance in his duties.” They accuse him of not having activated the red alerts for the arrest of one of the Iranians accused of the attack against the AMIA. In the Chancellery They deny that this happened.
The truth is coffee he is not occupying that ministry because of his ability to represent the country before foreign governments. She was the right hand of Alberto Fernández from the beginning of the administration. And he still is. In his office, like when he worked at the Casa Rosada, the Albertists continue to meet.
“He would have been a good private secretary to the President. One with power to manage his schedule. But he is not prepared to be chancellor”, protests a career diplomat from the Palacio San Martín, where there was anger over what happened. They consider it a serious protocol error, but they also assure that the ministry has its own body of translators, who could have been useful.
Anyway, in the Chancellery They are used to political leaders arriving like paratroopers in an environment that, many times, is foreign to them. In fact, since the recovery of democracy, only two foreign ministers had diplomatic careers: Susana Ruiz Cerruti, during Raúl Alfonsín’s administration, and Jorge Faurie, during Mauricio Macri’s mandate.
Internal dispute. On Monday the 21st, when the speech in English and the insult to Lanata continued to be at the center of the media scene, coffee I had already turned the page. At dinner that night at the Quinta de Olivos, together with the President and the ministers Gabriel Katopodis, Jorge Ferraresi, plus some deputies, there was less talk of the outburst than of the way of not leaving this Kirchnerist advance so wounded towards the Government itself.
Cafiero had already asked for mercy through the open letter in which he implored not to “divorce our political force.” But it had had no effect. That is why they changed their strategy: the president would go out to confront. In an interview with El Destape, hours after dinner, he shot: “I listen to everyone, but I am the President and that must be understood. I value Máximo and Cristina, what I say is how a government works. There is no presidency collegiate.” Bomb.
coffee he is a great adviser Alberto Fernandez. That is why many blame him for the unforced errors that the President commits. Like his tour of Russia, where he opened the doors of Argentina to Vladimir Putin, days before he provoked the invasion of Ukraine. Or the unsuccessful juggling that he performed to maintain neutrality, despite going against the world.
The chancellor’s curriculum vitae makes this clear. With a degree in Political Science from the UBA, he was barely a councilor in San Isidro and a third-line official in Buenos Aires, before jumping into the big leagues. In fact, his CV, which occupies less than a page, refers to his social militancy, but also reveals his lack of formal training for what the position he holds requires. From working in a family bookstore to chancellor. A jump so big, it trips him over and over again.
