Horacio Rodriguez Larreta he’s leaving behind his Steve Jobs look of black T-shirts and jeans. In recent weeks he has been seen wearing a suit more times than usual. The Fundación Libertad dinner and the Clarín event last week at Malba are two examples, but she had also opted for a more formal look on a visit to the Book Fair, at an event of the Chamber of Trade of the United States in Argentina and also in a press conference that he gave with the minister of City Education, Soledad Acuña.
The aesthetic change is tied to his need to transform himself, once and for all, into a presidential candidate with chances in the eyes of the establishment.
tensions. Those who are in a hurry and anxious are those around Rodríguez Larreta, who is at a crossroads: his entourage is pressuring him to “accelerate time” due to the change in the opposition scenario with the revaluation that Macri achieved of his figure in the last two months. He no longer serves the Larreta strategy of doing the plank and “taking refuge in management”, as his own had been maintaining. Macri’s flirtation with a possible candidacy next year made his inner circle nervous, which sees the head of government as blurred. “We must change the strategy urgently,” summed up an official with an office on Uspallata Street.
The last week there were meetings everywhere and the candidate began to travel more to the interior of the country. In the coming weeks, these tours of the interior could be reinforced. It is what those who want to expect Rodriguez Larreta more protagonist, with greater leadership and surrounded by leaders with more political scope than many of those who now surround him. Along these lines, Larreta received suggestions from different places in the red circle to incorporate two people into his team.. One is the economist Carlos Melconian and the other, Emilio Monzó.
Melconian was participating in the Llao Llao Hotel Forum in Bariloche, where he gave his vision of where the economy should go in a next government. The economist says that this plan is “apolitical” and that anyone can use it. Rodríguez Larreta took note of the suggestion and even retorted that in a possible government of his, the Minister of Economy would be Melconian.
Emilio Monzó is embarking on bringing together different center leaders whom he already met a few weeks ago at the house of Juan Manuel Urtubey in San Isidro. there they were Florencio Randazzo, Rogelio Frigerio, Juan Schiaretti, Gerardo Morales and Graciela Camañoand is already coordinating the second meeting.
The dialogue between Monzó and larretismo it’s constant. Two weeks ago she had a burrata mozzarella on tomatoes for lunch at the Selquet restaurant with Edgardo Cenzón, who is collaborating with the organization and financing of the Larreta Presidente campaign. They had Diet Coke and water. Cenzón, who lives in Uruguay, travels to Buenos Aires every month to hold meetings with different businessmen and leaders and has the mission of convincing Monzó to make the leap. Monzó says that he has not yet joined Larretismo and in Larretismo they say that he is already working for them, but outside. Something like: “he is with us, but he doesn’t know it yet”. Queer.
Fireproof. At a dinner that took place two weeks ago, Rodríguez Larreta received the blessing of the establishment that had been asking him for more attitude as a candidate and more toughness against the ruling party. It was at the Fundación Libertad and the stars of the night, in addition to the mayor of Buenos Aires, were Mauricio Macri and the Peruvian writer Mario Vargas Llosa, a harsh critic of Peronism.
The head of the Buenos Aires government read a firm and harsh speech with Kirchnerism, which was well received by the diners and that the presidential candidate hurried because the organizers had warned him in advance that he had five minutes of exposure and not 15, as he they had promised. “It seemed that he was reading in the accelerated audio version of WhatsApp,” joked one of his collaborators, who rushed out of the room with the boss, before Macri congratulated him on his words in front of a demanding audience. “You were very good,” the former president told Larreta.
The former president got on a plane to the United States a couple of days later, according to reports, much less appreciative of his successor in the City than he was at that dinner. The link between the two is disturbing.
The last communicational move of Larretismo is that the officials of the Buenos Aires Government have more presence in the media. One of those who gave the most interviews in the last month was the Minister of Security, Marcelo D’Alessandro, who until a few months ago had almost no presence. Added to the list of those who will speak more from now on are the Chief of Staff Felipe Miguel, the Minister of Education Soledad Acuña and the Minister of Health Fernán Quirós, with a good image.
The road to 2023 will be bumpy for Rodríguez Larreta. He will have to define who he intends as successor for the City and also arrive in the best possible position to be competitive in the presidential election, even if that means recalculating his strategy. He is already giving the first signs: in the coming weeks he will be seen as more federal. We will have to see how natural it comes out or if he is very imposed. Separating Larreta from the City will be a difficult challenge.
