Alberto Fernández: "It's not true that we don't have a plan, it's true that we don't tell it"

Guido Carelli Lynch

02/05/2020 - 14:50

• Clarín.com
• Politics

President Alberto Fernández rejected Wednesday the questions of those who warn that his government does not have an economic program and that this is crucial to reach an agreement with private creditors, mainly with the IMF.

"It is not true that we have no plan, it is true that we do not tell it. And we do not tell it because we are in full negotiation. It would be to discover the cards. We are playing poker and not with boys," explained the Head of State when answering questions the students during the master class he gave at the Institute of Political Studies in Paris (Sciense PO Paris).

Then, Fernández limited himself to saying that "the plan is to put the Argentine economy into operation" and stressed that this is why he met with businessmen in each of the countries he visited since he assumed the Presidency last December.

"Nor do I want the solution to be the eternal help to the most needy sectors. I need these sectors to generate their own source of income," he said.

Asked about the decision of Buenos Aires Governor Axel Kicillof to pay the private creditors of the province to the frustrated negotiations to restructure that debt, Fernández said he agreed with that will but clarified that this does not indicate that Argentina is in a position to meet its commitments .

"There are times when a governor faces dilemmas. What message am I giving? The Argentine debt is unsustainable to pay and impossible to pay on these terms. We did not want anyone to think that we are conditioning that discussion process. We agree to pay, but it does not mean that it is in a position to pay, Argentina is prevented from fulfilling its obligations. Argentina needs to reorder that debt, "he added.

In addition, in the midst of the time trial against the IMF, Fernández reiterated that Argentina is "besieged by a large debt that has been taken irresponsibly in a very short time."

"And the problem is not that a lot of debt was taken in a very short time. The problem is that they also promised to pay it very quickly and that is an impossible equation ," Fernandez said.

And he lamented that "sometimes, in the name of the freedom of the markets, in the name of the economic opening, the people are condemned to what my people are condemned today, that of Argentina."

On the contrary, the Head of State warned that "what capitalism needs is people who develop and consume" and remarked that "if that does not exist, capitalism puts itself in crisis."

"When capitalism stops investing to generate employment, produce, give work, allow social development and in exchange for that speculates financially, capitalism fails. Inexorably capitalism fails," he said.

The chief executive repudiated financial speculation. "What is needed is to talk to us with the truth and see what we start doing to change this reality," he appealed.

"Now it turns out that capitalism tells me that to fix society I have to take out the rights. It is to think about it, something is not right. We became strong giving rights to those who work, we became strong giving health to the old and now we have to remove all that. Something is wrong, "he refused.

In this regard, he considered that "a government that takes away rights from its people is a government that pushes back its society" and proposed that "the secret is to see how we continue to guarantee rights to our people, so that they continue to find possibilities for development."

"You have to do it rationally, sensibly. It's not about printing and spending money. It's about doing it right, correcting the tax systems so that those who have more put more money in favor of those who have less," he said.