A well-known brand in politics appears on the sleeves of the Barracas Central shirt: Gentech, the supplements company created by Martín Menem, today president of the Chamber of Deputies and a key figure in Karina Milei’s circle.
That the signature of the head of Deputies is a sponsor of the Tapia family club is not a minor detail. Barracas functions as an extension of the power of the president of the AFA. That is to say, if there is a link between Barracas Central and Gentech, there is also a link between Martín Menem and “Chiqui” Tapia.
There the business mixes with the political: Menem is the third authority of the State and, at the same time, owner of a company that does business within the AFA ecosystem. The presence of the logo on the shirt and on the stadium signage ends up being an uncomfortable reminder: the club of the president of the AFA and the libertarian leader who leads the Lower House share more than a coincidence on the field. It is a partnership of interests written for all to see.
The AFA president’s tentacles reach everywhere. Although Javier Milei and the Minister of Deregulation, Federico Sturzzenegger, have him in their sights, in the Government his two main interlocutors are the aforementioned Menem and Diego Santilli. He has known Santilli since the years when the current Minister of the Interior was head of the Public Space portfolio in the Buenos Aires Government and Tapia was in Ceamse, a public company of the City and Province of Buenos Aires that is responsible for the transportation and treatment of AMBA waste. Tapia was representing Moyano. They know Martín Menem from football. The food supplements company of the former president’s nephew, Gentech, is the second sponsor of Barracas Central.
In politics, Tapia has an unbeatable relationship with Axel Kicillof, the Buenos Aires governor, who appointed him as president of Ceamse representing the province of Buenos Aires, after Jorge Macri removed him from the vice presidency. This position at the same time allows him to have a relationship with all the mayors of the suburbs, with whom, for example, he met at the beginning of November to give a report on his management. Twenty mayors from the province of Buenos Aires attended.
