Following the first round of the mid term elections (primaries) on Sunday, where the government lost votes very badly and described even by Cristina Fernandez as a disaster, all hell has let loose in the government.
Up to eleven cabinet members have resigned, apparently at the behest of Cristina, she herself has written a very long letter criticising the president and others close to him in what can only be described as a soft coup d'état.
And no matter which way you wish to spin it, this is now all about her, her relationship with the people who support her and her clear and unambiguous message that she and she alone is the one who holds the reigns of power.
Alberto Fernandez has been castrated and is now nothing more than a president in name only. A lame duck if you like.
Here is her letter in full, translated by Google into English. The Spanish version is in the link.
QuoteDisplay MoreAs always ... honestly
Once again I address my compatriots as I have done on other occasions. It's not the first time. Almost a year ago, on October 26, 2020, I was addressing Argentines with the document “October 27. Ten years without him and one of the electoral triumph: feelings and certainties ”.
There he shelled reflections about the institutional functioning, and what I consider to be the central problem of the Argentine economy and the need to approach it from a broad agreement of the different political forces.
Today, I reread those lines of unusual actuality in which I also mentioned that decisions in the Argentine Executive Power are always made by the President of the Nation and in which I said without euphemisms or press-off operations, that there were officials who did not they worked.
I also remember the act that took place in the Unique Stadium of La Plata on December 18, 2020, in which many colleagues from the Frente de Todos participated together with the President of the Nation, when I stated verbatim: “… but be careful, I do not want that growth - the economic growth of the year 2021 that the comrade who had preceded me in the use of the word correctly predicted - to have only three or four alive. For this, it seems to me that salaries and pensions must be aligned, obviously, prices, especially those of food and fees. " On that occasion I also pointed out: “that's why I say to all those who are afraid or who are not encouraged, please… there are other occupations besides being a minister, minister, legislator or legislator. Go and find another job, but we need people in the chairs to act as minister, minister, legislator or legislator ... they are to definitely defend the interests of the people ”.
As I am not a liar and much less a hypocrite (I never say in public what I do not hold in private and vice versa), I must mention that during the year 2021 I had 19 work meetings in Olivos with the President of the Nation. See you there and not at the Casa Rosada at my suggestion and with the intention of avoiding any kind of speculation and media operation of institutional wear and tear.
In the first 18 meetings, the last one on 09/07/2021, I always raised the President with what constituted a delicate social situation for me and which resulted, among other things, in salary arrears, lack of price control -especially in food and remedies- and lack of work, without ignoring, obviously, the impact of the two pandemics: the macrista first and the health one 99 days after taking office. Likewise, I always stressed the lack of effectiveness in different areas of government.
I also pointed out that I believed that a wrong fiscal adjustment policy was being carried out that was having a negative impact on economic activity and, therefore, on society as a whole and that, undoubtedly, this was going to have electoral consequences. I did not say it once ... I got tired of saying it ... and not only to the President of the Nation. The answer was always that it was not like that, that it was wrong and that, according to the polls, we were going to win the elections “very well”. My answer, invariably, was "I don't read polls ... I read economics and politics and I try to see reality." A reality that told me that in 2015 we lost the presidential elections in the second round and by a small difference, with the highest salary in dollars in Latin America -which represented more than double the current salary-, with inflation that was less than half that the current one and with a candidate, Mauricio Macri, who said that he was not going to get what he already had from anyone, but that they were only going to change the things that were wrong.
I was, I am and I will be a Peronist. That's why I thought we couldn't win. And he said it not only to the President. Many colleagues and many colleagues listened to my fears.
On Sunday, September 12 of this year, Peronism suffered an electoral defeat in unprecedented legislative elections. As I write these lines, I have the television turned on but muted and I read a graph: “Alberto jaqueado por Cristina”. No, its not me. As much as they try to hide it, it is the result of choice and reality. It is even more serious: in the Province of Buenos Aires, an inexcusable thermometer of the social and economic temperature of our country, last Sunday we were left with 440,172 votes from those obtained by Unidad Ciudadana in 2017 with our candidacy for the Senate of the Nation ... with Peronism divided, with no national or provincial government to support and with the government of Mauricio Macri and his judicial table persecuting and imprisoning former officials and owners of opposition media left and right.
I remember that, when we lost the legislative elections in the Province of Buenos Aires in 2009, with Néstor as a candidate for National Deputy -after the 125 and the global crisis of 2008-, whom Alberto rightly considers the best president of democracy On the Monday following the elections, he not only resigned from the Justicialista Party, but I, as President of the Nation, asked for the resignation of whoever was my Chief of Cabinet, among others. And beware!… We had lost in the Province of Buenos Aires but we had won at the national level. Nestor Kirchner must be remembered in the full and unedited version.
However, now, the day after such a political catastrophe, one listened to some officials and it seemed that nothing had happened in this country, feigning normality and, above all, screwing to armchairs. Do you seriously believe that it is not necessary, after such a defeat, to publicly present the resignations and to make known the attitude of the civil servants to facilitate the reorganization of his government for the President?
On Tuesday the 14th, my last meeting with the President of the Nation took place again in Olivos. 48 hours had passed without him communicating with me and it seemed prudent to call him and tell him that I had to speak with him. Deliberately let 48 hours pass to see if I called (I must say that of the 19 meetings, most were at my initiative). There I told him that it was necessary to relaunch his government and I proposed names such as Governor Juan Manzur for the Chief of Cabinet. I know that my proposal will surprise, it is public and notorious the differences that I have had with who was my Minister of Health since 2009, when I had to remove who was then my Minister of Health due to the failure to address the pandemic influenza A (H1N1). Juan remained in his position until he resigned to contest the candidacy for Governor of the Province of Tucumán in 2015, a position he obtained and revalidated by popular vote not only through his re-election, but also in the election last Sunday.
Although in reality, no one should be surprised by my proposal: on May 18, 2019, I proposed Alberto Fernández to all Argentines as a candidate for President of the Nation.
Why am I counting this? Because I will not continue to tolerate the press operations that are carried out on me and on our political space through the presidential environment through its spokesperson: Alberto Fernández wanted Dr. Eduardo De Pedro to be his Chief of Staff and I was the one who disagreed. Mal could now promote him to that position.
Regarding the category of officials who do not work ... the presidential spokesman would escape that classification. It is a rare case: a presidential spokesman whose voice nobody knows. Or does it have some other function that we do not know about? The one to do operations in off for example? True mystery.
For the same reason, I contacted the Minister of Economy when it was falsely reported that in the meeting I had with the President of the Nation, I had asked for his resignation. The operations are permanent and eventually only end up wearing down the government. It is incredible that they do not notice it. It's a shame so much self-harm.
I sincerely trust that with the same strength and conviction that he faced with the pandemic, the President will not only relaunch his government, but will also sit down with his Minister of Economy to look at the budget numbers. Last year, when it was presented, it was established that the fiscal deficit would be 4.5% of GDP without a pandemic as of March 2021 - a situation that was not verified as it is public and notorious. Each point of GDP today is around $ 420 billion. As of August of this year, four months after the end of the year and with just a few days before the elections, the accumulated deficit executed this year was 2.1% of GDP. According to the budget forecast, 2.4% of GDP remains to be executed ... more than double what was executed and with only four months remaining to end the year ... with a pandemic and a very delicate social situation. I am not proposing anything crazy or radical. On the contrary, I am simply collecting what in this global context of pandemic is happening throughout the world, from the United States, through Europe and in our region as well: the State mitigating the tragic consequences of the pandemic.
I have been President for two consecutive terms. In 2008 we had to go through the biggest global crisis after the Great Depression of the year '30. We withstand permanent exchange rate runs - with much less reserves in the Central Bank than at present - and the siege of the Vulture Funds. I know that governing is not easy, and Argentina even less so. I have even suffered a vice president who was declared an opponent of our government. Argentine men and women rest easy ... that will never happen to me.
I am also convinced that it will be impossible to solve the problems left by the low-wage macrism, high inflation, vertiginous indebtedness with private creditors and the return of the IMF with a loan of 44 billion dollars, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc ... by voting for macrismo or voting on their ideas.
When I made the decision, and I do so in the first person singular because it was really like that, of proposing Alberto Fernández as a candidate for President of all Argentines, I did so with the conviction that it was the best for my country. I only ask the President to honor that decision ... but above all else, taking his words and convictions as well, what is more important than anything: that he honor the will of the Argentine people.
