Alberto Fernández's measures to stop the police revolt break the dialogue with the moderate opposition

The president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández (c), along with the governor of the province of Buenos Aires, Axel Kicillof (i) and the vice-governor, Manuela Magario (r), after his speech.ESTEBAN COLLAZO / EFE

The uprising of the Buenos Aires Police had an unexpected consequence: it destroyed relations between the Government and the most open-minded sector of the opposition in Argentina.

In an emergency decision, President Alberto Fernández decided to withdraw funds from the city of Buenos Aires, led by the opposition Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, to pay for a salary increase for the police in the province, controlled by the Peronists.

Rodríguez Larreta reacted with an appeal to the Supreme Court.

The truce that the president and the head of the Buenos Aires government had maintained since the beginning of the pandemic was blown up.

The police revolt was a serious factor of instability for the province of Buenos Aires, the largest Peronist fiefdom in the country, with a governor, Axel Kicillof, who enjoys the protection of the all-powerful vice president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

The president, whose official residence in Olivos had been surrounded by angry and armed agents, acted without delay.

In a televised speech, he announced that he was reducing the contribution to the capital by 1% and was allocating that money, some 35,000 million pesos (437 million dollars), to a Fiscal Strengthening Fund for the province.

The emergency decree was published in the early hours of Thursday and a few hours later Governor Kicillof improved the salaries of the Buenos Aires Police.

Alberto Fernández explained that in 2016, when the autonomous city of Buenos Aires created its own police force, then-President Mauricio Macri increased the state contribution by 2.1% in order to cover the costs of the new force.

That 2.1%, according to Fernández, was too generous.

“We noticed that there was a 1% surplus.

I have discussed this topic many times with Rodríguez Larreta, I am sure that no one can be surprised ”.

Rodríguez Larreta, however, was surprised to receive the news minutes before the presidential speech.

He was, according to his collaborators, furious and hurt.

He interpreted that his cooperation with the Casa Rosada since the beginning of the pandemic, in March, had been betrayed.

His spokesmen announced an appeal to the Supreme Court.

It is impossible not to interpret the president's decision as a success for the vice president and former president.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had long been determined to break the relations between Alberto Fernández and Rodríguez Larreta to restore the extreme polarization and the "rift" that characterizes Argentine politics.

In that Manichean ecosystem she feels comfortable.

For the "tough" opposition, led by former president Mauricio Macri herself, it was also convenient to erode the figure of Rodríguez Larreta, in their opinion too dialogue-oriented.

Macri's silence drew attention during the day.

Republican Proposal, the party founded by Macri and now chaired by Patricia Bullrich, did react: through a statement, it described the presidential decision as "unconstitutional, unfair and arrogant" and added that it meant "the closure of the dialogue."

"The decision does nothing but widen the crack," said Eduardo Macchiavelli, secretary of the Environment in the city and general secretary of the PRO.

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has long been sending messages about the supposed disproportion between the much money that the city of Buenos Aires receives and the misery in which the province lives.

There is no such disproportion.

So far this year, the province has received 22,800 pesos per inhabitant from the state, compared to the 23,300 per inhabitant assigned to the city.

The small difference has been covered by the extraordinary contributions made during the pandemic, almost half of which have benefited the province.

In comparison, Tierra del Fuego has received 109,000 pesos per inhabitant, and Catamarca, 85,300.

The province of Buenos Aires, the most populated in the country and the one with the greatest social differences, accumulates problems these days.

Land seizures and increased crime add to high structural unemployment and the economic damage caused by the pandemic.

After receiving the funds withdrawn to the city, the provincial governor, Axel Kicillof, raised the minimum salary of the police, which receives more than a third of the 90,000 officers in office, up to 44,000 pesos per month.

At the real exchange rate, it is $ 338.

It also raised overtime to 120 pesos (less than a dollar).

The protest by the Buenos Aires Police seemed to subside quickly, although the absence of union leaders made it impossible to calculate the degree of acceptance of the salary increase.