[Politics] Midnight calls and the final trigger: The back room of Alberto Fernández's decision not to run for re-election

[[Ty]M@g0k1l3r]

"The heck it's worth being alive!". Alberto Fernández emulated the scene of Héctor Alterio in "Caballos Salvajes" in an act in Mar del Plata. After that nostalgic appointment - typical of the President - the head of state returned to the Quinta de Olivos in Tango 03. When he was left alone in the official residence, late at night, he began to pick up the phone to talk to his close collaborators. of the. He called the chief of staff, Agustín Rossi; the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julio Vitobello; the Deputy Chief of Staff, Juan Manuel Olmos; Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero and spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti. With some, he even stayed chatting until after midnight. He told everyone that he was going to get down from re-election and that he wanted to announce it this morning.

Just then, Fernández's communication team began to make the 7-minute and 42-second video with the President's voice-over and multiple archive images. "We worked all night to get him out early today," said someone from the presidential staff. This morning, when Fernández published the tweet, several of his collaborators, the "albertistas", had come to Olivos to accompany him. One of them transmitted: "We saw him calm, convinced that he was doing the right thing. Even if doing the right thing is not what is best for him." Seven difficult months of a vulnerable economy await Fernández, without a projection of political continuity and with a legion of detractors of his management in his own government coalition. The opportunity As reported by La Nación, Fernández's intimate circle had perceived for several days that the President would give up running for re-election. Not because the President transmitted them directly, as a decision made 100%. But in everyday conversations it was revealed that he had given up playing and everyone knew it. "It was clear that he was macerating the decision, but a very internal process was missing from him. He did not say that he was going to get off, but it was intuited that it was going to be like that. Yesterday at midnight we talked and he told me that he believed that this was the moment ", an important national official told this medium. A relevant minister who was with Fernández in the last hours, stated: "Alberto was waiting for the opportunity, he was measuring. I think he finally decided that he needs to go through the months that remain more detached from the electoral and more focused on the management".

 

 

 

Beyond his personal definition, Fernández had been, for months, obsessed with two issues in the preparation of the electoral strategy: avoiding Cristina Kirchner's "finger" in the preparation of the lists and making sure that -if he was not a candidate - There would be a candidate from the ruling party who defends the national management during the campaign. That is why he has been insisting that the inmate of the Frente de Todos must be settled at the polls. Although there are interlocutors from the different groups of the ruling party who are working on a "regulation" for eventual internal competition, given the economic catastrophe and financial instability that the Government is going through, there are many leaders who do not rule out that a candidate from Unity for Peronism.

But beyond the electoral strategy, the events of the last days pushed the President to make his decision official now. The political noises with Sergio Massa - who left Olivos yesterday without knowing what the President would do - and the skyrocketing dollar put the government in a situation of enormous vulnerability. On the other hand, the black week for the Government had the finishing touch this afternoon with a new meeting of the PJ, where the same scene could be repeated as two months ago at the Matheu headquarters, with Kirchnerism pressing for the head of State will be lowered and a new open-air fight in the Front of All. In this context, any political noise at the top quickly impacts the markets. "Today's meeting could be something very rough, but there is also the economic and social situation. Alberto will be able to end better without the weight of a candidacy," said a minister close to the President. Another official who was in Olivos today stated: "Alberto could not go to the PJ today to discuss a candidacy that was not going to be, and even less at a time when the economy demands that he dedicate himself only to management." The question that remains is whether Fernández will support a candidate or declare himself dispensable. "He must concentrate on solving the problems of the Argentines. He takes charge of the electoral assembly," was the official message that the Casa Rosada transmitted today along with the tweet of the announcement. In the video, Fernández says: "We must democratize our space, let's give each militant the pen."

 

https://www.emol.com/noticias/Internacional/2023/04/21/1092925/alberto-fernandez-argentina.html