Ignacio Ortelli
07/23/2020 - 17:16
- Clarín.com
- Politics
Immediate Response Force . That was the name with which the Ministry of Security of the Nation baptized a new elite group made up of federal troops, created with the aim of preventing and fighting crime in the hottest spots of Greater Buenos Aires. The announcement was made last week, although, due to the prior of the opening of the quarantine ordered by Alberto Fernández , it went unnoticed and did not have the repercussion that according to the increase in insecurity it would have in another context. Not for the Buenos Aires Minister of Security, Sergio Berni , who despite having found out through the official press release that released Sabina Frederic's portfolio, chose not to stir the waters. Not out of empathy, but because he lined up behind Governor Axel Kicillof's request , who had asked him "calm" after the Puente La Noria scandal.
Berni's public appearances from July 1 to Wednesday did not diminish, but did change his tone. That turn was due not only to the governor's request: Clarín was able to confirm through different sources that Berni passed by the Quinta de Olivos during those hours (although he would not have met with the President), and from there his statements included praise for the coordination with Frederic and, more surprising still, a strong defense to the head of state, with whom he has an even more distant relationship .
With the same order not to publicly confront him that Kicillof had given him, this Wednesday Berni first tried to cover the discussion he had starred with Frederic. In tune with the governor, he spoke on Rivadavia radio and, despite the fact that the intersection was fresh - it had been minutes before - he solemnly stuck to his boss' line: "The meeting with Frederic was fine. It was work already Starting tonight we will start working in the province with federal forces, "he said. Then, he reinforced the message with a tweet with the traced phrase. It was a communication strategy led by Kicillof , who had set the meeting to finish polishing details and for the ministers to take the picture of peace, after four months without seeing themselves alone.
The idea of anticipating and making clear that from the Province they were not going to publicly feed the differences has to do with the perception that Frederic had not come with the serenity of other times. "He came to break the meeting, " transmits one of the participants in the summit, reporting an attitude of revenge that exceeds the minister. This is emphatically denied from the Nation. But the hypothesis has to do with the firm position that Frederic maintained at all times and the review of the dialogue that ignited the fight.
Apparently, despite the fact that there was no lack of tension, in Puente 12 there was no longer any discussion that the Province was going to define the places where it advised to deploy the federal forces and that it would be the Ministry of National Security that would keep the minute-by-minute control of these troops; when the talk was denatured by a technicality . Oiled, of course, by the lousy personal relationship between the ministers.
It is that Berni raised the need to contribute in the drawing up of the Operation and Service Orders, the instrument that supports - and supports in writing - each deployment operation of the federal forces. That was not well received from the Nation and ultimately unleashed the exchange. "No, the Operation Orders are made by us. That does not correspond to you, you cannot handle the Gendarmerie," was Frederic's harsh response.
"I don't want that!", Raised the tone, obfuscated, the Buenosairean minister. And he took off his chinstrap and rested his hands on the table, which was interpreted as a challenge by Frederic, who replied: " Are you going to draw? Or do you do this because I'm a woman? "
Berni responded with an irony that accounts for the insurmountable differences they have and the impact on reality that this derives. " If a security minister does not know how to distinguish between a mask and a weapon, we are in trouble . You do not understand anything," he closed.
From the Buenosairean government they relativized the hard exchange and, on the contrary, they made a positive balance of the meeting and emphasized that the objective of advancing in the coordination of work in the territory had been achieved. At the same time, as if to publicly install the end of the intern, they distributed the photo in which Berni and Frederic posed after four months without meeting alone . Kicillof - and his chief of staff, Carlos Bianco - did not even tell his family what had happened.
So, with all these condiments, when the news was leaked, first through La Política Online and then expanded by Clarín, the suspicion took shape that the Casa Rosada tried to corner Berni to force Kicillof to take a definition .
It is that from the Province they warn that after the scandal in the control operation with the federal troops, Berni had "aligned" so as not to compromise Kicillof or Frederic or Alberto Fernández. "The purpose of the leak was to leave him as gender-violent and problematic , when he had been doing the opposite," they point out.
In fact, in recent days, Kicillof had seen to it that his chief of staff came out to back him. "There was never any thought of making changes in Security . We are very happy with Minister Berni," he said on Del Plata radio, about the versions that spoke of the governor planning to replace him. After the crossing on Wednesday, the government reaffirmed that it maintains its full support for the official, despite the differences in styles.
More: they are convinced that the leak arose from the national government, although they do not dare to define whether it started from Balcarce 50 or from the Ministry of National Security. And, just as in the provincial Cabinet they questioned Berni's slip in La Noria, they condemn the "operation" in the media.
And they argue that, if the intention was to force Berni's departure, they achieved the opposite effect: " They don't realize that they only strengthen him that way ," they indicate. "Do you think Axel is going to run it through the press? They are amateurs, because they left all their fingers stuck together", they complete.
The reference has to do with the fact that hours later, when the scandal had already exploded, Eduardo Villalba, Frederic's number 2, gave an interview to deny the fact and said that "there were no disagreements of any kind." From Gelly and Obes they shore up that line of discourse and insist on denying the fact: "How are we going to filter something that did not happen?"
"It was clear that the data had not left the Province and they wanted to fix it. Afternoon," they reinforced from La Plata. And Berni made sure to expose it: after Villalba denied it, he finally admitted the exchange of "chicanas" with the minister.
In the midst of so much tension, while the minister, as Héctor Gambini stated in his column , could make the decision to leave "after the quarantine", the claims of some mayors to Kicillof multiply the questions and pose a dilemma to the president. A front-line official who seeks to build bridges and oil the link between the government and municipalities lowers his tone: "It is the only politically correct place that Axel can be kicked in public."