It was three people. Four, if you count the President himself. Among Alberto FernandezThe chancellor santiago cafierothe adviser John Manuel Olmos and the Secretary General of the Presidency Julius Vitobello the new ministers of Labor and Social Development were decided. For the portfolio of Women, Gender and Diversity, the round of consultations and analysis also reached the spokesperson Gabriela Ceruti and to the Legal and Technical Secretary, Vilma Ibarra. The entire State, the entire political structure of Peronism, was reduced to this for the President: just a handful of people who share the peculiarity of not having the ability to attract votes.
In the Quinta de Olivos, in the middle of the long weekend, the president put together the new map of the Cabinet purely and exclusively with his innermost circle. They were sensitive ministries, areas that encompass the lives of millions of people in the midst of an economic crisis and whose direction had been highly questioned by a large part of the ruling party, but the President he did not have a single dialogue with Cristina Kirchner or with Sergio Massa nor with other actors in the space. The decision, which for some enthusiasts was a show of strength and political authority, caused a sting in the rest of the ruling party, in the middle of the final stretch towards the 2023 elections. It is clear: the Front belongs to no one, and the president does not shows power, but bare loneliness.
For our country
The day is in tune with the season, and the sun floods Colón Park, the grassy esplanade behind the Casa Rosada. In general, the assumptions of new ministers are days of revelry, the culmination of years of effort and work, but in the noon event on Thursday the 13th, the officials, politicians and businessmen present can hardly hide the situation. It has some logic: the oath of Victoria Tolosa Paz in Social Development, Rachel Olmos at work and Ayelen Mazzina in Women and Diversity it is the fourth event for the assumption of officials since the resignation of Matías Kulfas in June.
One swears per month, an equation that demonstrates by itself the fragility of the Government and that makes many of the attendees today have few expectations. “Is that Alberto does not realize that he is President, thinks he runs a call center, deciding everything by phone and with three people, ”risks an official, who at the time referred to Fernández and today is disappointed. Another complements: “I came because I am a friend of ‘Kelly’ Olmos and because she invited me, but the truth is that I would prefer not to be here.” When the act began, each one of the ministers received more applause than Alberto himself. Symptomatic.
The swearing-in was the culmination of a hectic few days in space. For Alberto they were much more than complicated: the decision to Elizabeth Gomez Alcorta abandoning the Women’s portfolio hit her below the waterline. The minister had been ruminating for a long time about the possibility of leaving office, for reasons that ranged from the barrage of criticism she had received when she “tolerated” the assumption of Juan Luis Manzur – whom she had denounced in 2019 because as governor of Tucumán he had denied a legal abortion to an abused 11-year-old girl – for the growing distance with Cristina Kirchner and with that space, and for the resignation of several of her secretaries who had left criticizing her. When the Mapuche women were detained in the South, Gómez Alcorta pressed for her release before the President, and when she did not obtain results, she went out to testify in the media to redouble the bet.
With no margin and no desire to continue, the minister submitted a resignation that hit Fernández in one of the places that hurts him the most. Alberto -who today thinks more about the place where history will save him than about the elections- is convinced that one of the great achievements for which the future will remember him will be for decisions such as legalizing abortion and handing over the DNI binary. This resignation, in the midst of controversy over the mistreatment of Mapuche women, hurt him and he tried to convince Alcorta several times. The meeting of the President in Neuquén with representatives of that community, on October 11, was the way he found to try to “protect” his symbolic legacy. His replacement Mazzina, comes from having the same position in the San Luis of Alberto Rodríguez Sáa, in what is a nod from the President to a possible ally. At the end of September the president went to that province, and witnesses say that on that trip both joked with a formula: Alberto-Alberto. That humor is nothing more than chimera.
They
With Gómez Alcorta’s resignation in hand, the President rushed through the other two resignations he had on his desk. Since the beginning of the year John Zabaleta He had been asking to leave the Ministry of Social Development to return to Hurlingham. He had taken leave from the mayor in 2021 to assume that portfolio, and in the interim he had become a staunch albertist. He was, in fact, one of those who loudly asked to break with Kirchnerism during the stampede of resignations K. His resignation and his return to the small payment to protect him from the landing of La Cámpora -with which he has a terrible relationship- is something more than symptomatic: the front-line soldier leaves the ship before it sinks.
Tolosa Paz was Alberto’s first choice, who had long wanted to add her to the Cabinet. She did not have much trouble convincing her, despite the fact that several in the inner circle of the former deputy were not in favor of the idea of taking on such a complex ministry. Social Development is a good staging of the Frente de Todos: it is subdivided – each portfolio belongs to each of the legs of the ruling party – and manages an increasingly complex reality. Tolosa Paz also comes to office after a period of tension with La Campora -there are old troubles there for La Plata, the city that she and the K organization aspired and aspire to govern- and distance with Massa. In the Chamber she had little dialogue with Máximo and with the Tigrense. How the wife of Enrique “Pepe” Albistur, the former secretary of Media K and Alberto’s intimate, will manage to carry out this mess, is unknown. “But she has tremendous faith, she is dying to,” said a man he trusted.
Olmos, on the other hand, struck a more sensitive chord. For that portfolio there were several names in dance, from Peronist lawyers with more experience in this world. The name of Carlos Tomada, today ambassador to Mexico and Minister of Labor throughout K’s administration, circulated, but he made it known that no proposal ever came to him. The appearance of “Kelly”, a history of Buenos Aires Peronism but who has no experience in the field, caused trouble in several bands. In addition, he exposed the growing influence of Juan Manuel Olmos in the President. The head of advisers shares a last name and a friendship with the new official – but no family ties – and it was he who pressed. This appointment did not sit well with the environment of the Minister of Economy. “How is Sergio not going to be at least consulted? Both Labor and Development are areas with which we have to have a lot of ties, he has to be on the subject”, they said from that ministry.
storm clouds
Fernandez’s solitary decision also reveals what the President plans between now and the end of his term. Without dialogue with Cristina, and without asking Massa for permission, Alberto tries to get to the 2023 elections on his own, and as he can. Those who speak with him assure that, in his private heart, he has already released the idea of re-election , although he cannot express it for avoid political spillovers. Instead, the president aims to arrive with a minimum of his own power in order to “enthrone” one of his candidates in the hope that he will later owe him something. It is an idea as risky as appointing three ministers without consulting anyone.
