Coronavirus in Argentina: Alberto Fernández prepares the announcement of the quarantine extension for Thursday, before leaving for La Pampa and Neuquén

Pablo Ibáñez

06/03/2020 - 10:36

• Clarín.com
• Politics

At 18, in Olivos' fifth, Alberto Fernández will receive Horacio Rodríguez Larreta. It will be another bilateral between the president and the head of government to adjust the details and the format of the extension of the quarantine until June 21.

The appointment could be joined by Axel Kicillof who on Tuesday dressed Larreta in Bolivar 1, the seat of the Buenos Aires government. From this talk came the shared - and obvious - criterion of continuity although there are nuances about the level of openness.

The extension will be with "very subtle, almost symbolic changes" for the AMBA and, according to the Olivos roadmap, the announcement is scheduled for Thursday night . Why would it be anticipated? Because on Friday Fernández travels to La Pampa and Neuquén, as part of the tours of the interior of the country that began, three weeks ago, with a raid through Santiago del Estero and Tucumán, and continued last week in Formosa and Misiones.

Olivos' intention is that the extension message, with a photo shared between Fernández, Larreta and Kicillof, be made before the trip. "Unless there are pending adjustments and it is delayed until Saturday, the intention is that it will be tomorrow (Thursday) night," an official source confided to Clarin.

Nor is the classic ritual of teleconferencing with governors contemplated. The reason seems simple: the pandemic was highly concentrated in the AMBA, with a focal peak in Chaco, so the emergencies focus on what Larreta and Kicillof agree on.

Via the president, the chief of Cabinet Santiago Cafiero and the interior minister Eduardo "Wado" De Pedro, the government has a fluid link with the governors. "Teleconferences were to get to know the panorama in each province. Now we have monitoring and there is permanent dialogue," they explain in Casa Rosada and hammer on an idea: in much of the country, the level of openness is very advanced.

At these times, Cafiero will analyze, by case, the request made by the governor of Santa Fe Omar Perotti to authorize the opening of bars and restaurants with occupancy of up to 50% in the province and also family gatherings of up to 10 people.

"The new normal: if that works well in a city like Rosario, similar to AMBA but without community circulation, we can start thinking about a similar opening stage by the end of June," an official confided. 

In Casa Rosada they talk about an extension with slight, almost symbolic openings, in some sectors of the suburbs and Capital while they explore variants for an idea that still has no form: it is what they call "oxygenation measures", referred to alleviating the weight of the quarantine for families and children.

With a quarantine that is intended to be two quarantines -for 80 days-, in the government they admit that there is a level of saturation and fatigue. Sergio Berni said it in his barricaded tone, but all national officials repeat it.

The trap is that this exhaustion occurs in the middle of the peak of cases, which reached the record this Tuesday with 904 confirmed.

What are oxygenation measures? Weekend outings or some recreational activity. In CABA they slip that they could ask that running be allowed but in Nación they warn that the process must be gradual.

From La Plata, they warn that the permits for the departure of parents with children to make purchases will be maintained, although they acknowledge that tours and "relief" measures are in fact allowed.

Kicillof will talk this Thursday with the mayors of the southern suburbs, where the focus of COVID-19 is more intense. It already did, on Monday, with those from the north and west.

He also maneuvered towards a more moderate position: the summit with Larreta, in addition to looking for points of agreement and away from the climate of tension, was to operate in a key that moves him away from the role of "in love with the quarantine".

In the ruling party, both in Olivos and in La Plata, they coined a slogan: "We are not pro quarantine, we are anti-death," they repeat.

Kicillof turns towards the center, towards the health-economy balance, when he dismisses the Buenos Aires officials - such as the Deputy Minister of Health Nicolás Kreplak - who ask to toughen up and return to Phase 2.

Faced with these positions, which are not autonomous sparks, Kicillof is moderate and while warning of the risks, he leaves the door open for flexibilities. The summit and photo with Larreta, on Tuesday, had that logic.

The head of the Buenos Aires government seems to make a similar move: he circulates the possibility of wider openings to, in the end, drop less than expected.

There are gestures. He sent José Luis Giusti, the Minister of Economic Development, to the summit at Casa Rosada on Monday, who on the map of the Buenos Aires cabinet is one of the promoters of the opening of shops.

In that meeting, Buenos Aires and Buenos Aires residents compared variants: some spoke of a process of opening up industries and the others of commercial flexibility, although they agree that they are two different phenomena: industries involve a certain number of people, workers, while the business, in addition to the employees, "moves" customers that it is impossible to determine in what quantity.

In this context, Larreta and Kicillof maintain a fluid dialogue. "This week I spoke more with Axel than with my wife," the head of the government told an official in Olivos, waiting for the announcement of another extension of the quarantine after a saga of going back to Kicillof about the exceptions.

The head of government was half exaggerating: his dialogue with the Buenosairean governor is permanent, sometimes by chat, much by phone, some hand in hand because Kicillof settled with his family and pets in La Plata and hardly traveled to Capital, the city where he lived until December 9, except for occasional meetings.

On Tuesday I had one: the people from Buenos Aires participated in the event with Alberto Fernández, Santa Fe Omar Perotti and Entre Ríos Gustavo Bordet to sign the adhesion to the Argentina Construye program for housing programs.

Back from Navarro, Kicillof crossed messages with Larreta and told him that by mid-afternoon he would be at Casa Rosada. They agreed to meet face to face there. The governor participated in the act in the Women's Hall and then crossed Plaza de Mayo to Bolivar 1.

They met for just over an hour, crossed criteria, confirmed that they have similar approaches but different demands and situations. They agreed to publish at the same time a tweet - almost twin: the same text except that Larreta wrote "quarantine" and Kicillof "preventive and compulsory social isolation" .

They will see each other today and tomorrow.

PDL