Alberto Fernández had everything organized to leave the country on December 18, but things happened. On the day before the transfer of command, it was known that by decree he had determined that he could have custody of the former president throughout the world, like Mauricio Macri, but when Patricia Bullrich took office in the Ministry of Security, the official tweeted that she would take away that benefit. The tweet was deleted a few hours later, but the outgoing president entered a cloud of uncertainty that forced him to suspend an activity that was scheduled for next week in Turin, Italy, where he would participate in a climate change summit. In Fernández’s original itinerary it was planned that, after a few days in the Piedmont region, he would reunite with his family in Spain, where he planned to teach a master’s degree in political communication. Fabiola and her son Francisco have already been living there for three weeks. Their dog Dylan was also going to be moved.
When everything seemed organized, the controversy over his custody made him cancel the trip. “A trip and a conference do not change my life,” he defended himself on Twitter. Now, Alberto’s flight to Madrid was put on standby, but it is not defined what he will do with the rest of the plans for 2024. The original plan was to teach Political Communication classes in the Institute’s Master in Marketing, Communication and Political Consulting Aleph, a school located in the town of Pozuelo de Alarcón, which belongs to the Community of Madrid and is about 30 minutes from Plaza Mayor. This same school has other Argentines as teachers, among whom Cristina’s former chief of staff, Juan Manuel Abal Medina, consultant Carlos Fara and former interim president Eduardo Duhalde stand out.
Fernández also has an informal proposal to be the head of the General Secretariat that organizes the Ibero-American Summits of heads of State. He will also take advantage of his stay in Europe to visit Pope Francis in Rome and have the occasional coffee with Spanish President Pedro Sánchez, whom he considers his friend. In this way, a kind of diaspora of the three main leaders of the outgoing government that directed the destinies of the country in the last four years began. Fernández will be in Spain, Massa between the United States and Europe, and Cristina Kirchner, in principle, will rest in the South, her internal exile.
Uprooting. The other exile, although part-time, is Sergio Massa, who is preparing his 2024 with different projects. On the one hand, he has the offer of the American investment fund Greylock Capital, which has just created a subfund called Renaissance Fund to invest in Latin America. Massa would have a role within that scheme, in which, according to what he told those close to him, the idea is to be the interlocutor in all Latin American countries, except Argentina. We will have to see if it complies. No one is denied a call or a meeting. The fund was created to invest in infrastructure for mining, gas, oil and industrial projects. The owner of Greylock Capital, Hans Humes, had had glowing words for Massa, whom he had known since 2017. He said that if the Unión Por la Patria candidate won it would be the ideal scenario” and had argued that a Peronist was “much better.” centrist who embarks on the necessary reforms than a polarizing figure.” In the end his bet failed, but, far from abandoning him, he decided to hire him. There would also be a proposal on the table for an English fund that would include sports investments. But this would already be ruled out by Massa, although it serves to improve his negotiation with his friend Humes. In the world of investments, the Tigrense has a closer and more familiar contact: his brother-in-law Ezequiel Bidau, former treasurer of the Tigre soccer club, works at ACP Group, a company specialized in investments based in Miami, with offices in Buenos Aires, Montevideo, Santiago de Chile, Lima, Dallas and New York. There he will have an ally. In academic matters, he is also looking to close some master classes at universities in Europe or the United States, but nothing that will keep him out of the country for more than a couple of weeks.
The former Minister of Economy already said that he will dedicate work to his foundation that would be called Encuentro, of which there are still no records. The headquarters would be at Avenida del Libertador 850, in Retiro, where his personal office operates today. In Tigre, the Massas have an active participation in the NGO Compromiso con Tigre, with which Malena Galmarini carries out recurring activities. Finally, Massa has just closed an agreement with Editorial Planeta to write a book about her time at the Ministry of Economy, including the intimacy of the electoral campaign.
To the south. Former vice president Cristina Kirchner will also have a few months to rest and observe the future of the current situation. She plans to spend at least one of the two parties (or both) in Río Gallegos with her grandchildren. Cristina has already gone through this situation of leaving power and secluding herself in the South, with the difference that this time she was much better off as leader of the opposition. Her outgoing vice president shared a video on her social media of her arriving at Instituto Patria and saying “home again.” From there she started Unidad Ciudadana, the seal with which she was elected senator in 2017, and from that same place she intends to direct the parliamentary strategy in the blocks of the two chambers of Congress and collaborate with the efforts of the province of Buenos Aires. Aires and the municipalities governed by La Cámpora. Of the three former heads of the old Frente de Todos, she is the most active.
In terms of former officials, the former Minister of Social Development and former mayor of Hurlingham, Juan “Juanchi” Zabaleta, will set up a mechanical workshop specialized in alignment and balancing. It is not planned to include washing.
Vilma Ibarra, the former Legal and Technical Secretary, will return to private activity and will join the law firm of her brother Aníbal, who specializes in criminal law. She will bring her specialty in administrative litigation law.
One of the officials closest to Alberto Fernández, Julio Vitobello, outgoing Secretary General of the Presidency, would be beginning the retirement procedures. On Tuesday the 12th he was seen at the General Auditor’s Office of the Nation, where he participated in the inauguration of Juan Manuel Olmos as the new president of that organization. The unionist Víctor Santa María was also present, among other references of Buenos Aires Peronism. Olmos will shelter in that organization the outgoing Secretary of the Treasury, Raúl Rigo, and the also recently resigned general director of the DGI Virginia García, former sister-in-law of Máximo Kirchner and aunt of his children.
In his inauguration speech, Olmos thanked Cristina for being the person who had the idea for him to go there. He also remembered Massa, for supporting the proposal. And finally he named Alberto Fernández, but only to exercise the formality of proposing him to Congress. It happens that the presidency of the AGN must be held by the largest opposition party and the proposal note for the holder has to be sent by the president of the party, who is Alberto.
Flatter. Aníbal Fernández is already preparing his summer on the beaches of Cariló, where he has rested for more than twenty years. The rumors that arise from La Plata are that he would have tried to stay with the Ministry of Security that Sergio Berni was leaving. But he would not have been successful, as a result of his fight with La Cámpora.
Former spokesperson Gabriela Cerruti showed on her Instagram account that she read books again lying in her Paraguayan hammock in the garden of her house, surrounded by cacti, aloe vera, orchids and with a thermos full of water to drink mate.
The plain is not the same for everyone. Some will travel the world, others will return to practice their profession and some will retire, but, in parallel, Peronism will seek to reorganize itself thinking about the legislative elections of 2025. Some will return from this diaspora to accompany and others will watch from the outside.
