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Loyal to Cristina Kirchner: who is who in the 'energy cabinet' that challenges Martín Guzmán

2021-05-05T00:43:04.796Z


With Federico Basualdo at the helm, these are civil servants who respond to Kirchnerism and to Cámpora.


Bernardo Vazquez

05/04/2021 11:03

  • Clarín.com

  • Politics

Updated 05/04/2021 11:14

The weakened coexistence between the Casa Rosada and the toughest sectors of Kirchnerism ended last Friday, after the Minister of Economy Martín Guzmán asked the resignation of Federico Basualdo, the undersecretary of electricity, in the middle of the debate on the increase in electricity rates.

The official's refusal to leave office fueled a conflict that continued to escalate since that day, after the total and direct support of La Cámpora and Cristina and Máximo Kirchner for him.

"Basualdo does not leave", was the descent of the line of Kirchnerism, openly confronted with Guzmán, exposed after having agreed with the Chief of Cabinet Santiago Cafiero and with President Alberto Fernández the departure of the official.

Four days after the outbreak, Basualdo continues in his position and Guzmán, at least temporarily, had to backtrack on the decision he had made last Friday.

The distance between Guzmán and Cristina has grown in recent months.

It is probably

within the energy sector where the influence of La Cámpora and the Instituto Patria is most noticeable

.

In the 17 months of Alberto Fernández's administration, the Ministry of Energy was the area where there were more movements of officials.

It is a strategic box, for resources and power, since from there

subsidies for electricity and gas are administered

, which represent more than

$ 565,000 million

in the 2021 budget

, 90% of the funds of the entire ministry.

Martínez, a K who adapted to the minister

The head of the

Ministry of Energy

, since August last year, is

Darío Martínez

.

Rionegrino by birth, Neuquén by adoption, came to office after the departure of Sergio Lanziani, sponsored by Máximo Kirchner, who approached him from the Chamber of Deputies, where he was part of the Energy Commission.

Like all Patagonian leaders, Martínez, 46, knows the energy territory and the first thing he did in his administration was to move the entire base of operations of the secretariat to Vaca Muerta, the Neuquén oil field that represents the country's largest energy commitment in the last decade.

His arrival coincided with the inclusion of Energy within the orbit of the Ministry of Economy led by Guzmán, leaving the Ministry of Productive Development of Matías Kulfas.

With Guzmán, Martínez was building a relationship from lowest to highest

, which was consolidated especially from the alignment of the secretary to the minister's plan to reduce spending on subsidies.

Guzmán's decision to fire Basualdo

left Martínez in an uncomfortable place, blurred

by a fight that exceeds him, between his boss, Guzmán.

and who in the internal organization chart is his subordinate, Basualdo.

Part of Kirchnerism, but exposed to that scenario, Martínez could see his project of competing for the governorship in Neuquén in 2023 jeopardized. Although the situation today shows him before a steep ledge that distances him from any medium-term project.

The Secretary of Energy Darío Martínez, with Alberto Fernández.

Basualdo

, as it was exposed in these days of tension,

is the virtual number two of the secretariat

. After his time as head of the National Energy Regulatory Entity (ENRE) until the middle of last year, there was speculation about his candidacy for the post of Secretary of Energy. But due to his low profile, and because of the Government's need not to appoint an official so extreme in his loyalty to Cristina to the position, he became head of one of the four undersecretaries within the energy portfolio.

Born in Mexico during his parents' exile, the 42-year-old civil servant responds directly to La Cámpora, to the point of having been a columnist repeatedly for El Cohete a la Luna, the ultrakirchnerista blog directed by journalist Horacio Verbitsky, from where during the macrista government wrote articles critical of the energy policy of those years.

His relationship with Martínez is limited to strictly work

, but he is far from showing closeness on a day-to-day basis to who is his boss.

Federico Basualdo, the undersecretary of Electric Power who refuses to leave his post.

Bernal and Manín, same profile as Basualdo

Perhaps

the most openly Kirchnerist official within the energy cabinet is Federico Bernal

, the Enargas controller since March 2020. The 47-year-old Bernal is an official who is also referred to by Vice President Cristina Kirchner.

He was Cristina's advisor in the Senate, from 2017 to 2019 and had previously worked in the Federal Planning Ministry led by Julio De Vido.

His first decision, in the ENRE, was to

criminally denounce Juan José Aranguren for his management at the head of Energy,

then the ministry, during the macrismo.

His name was another that sounded strong when Lanziani left office and Martínez was elected, who prevailed as a more "moderate" option.

Active tweeter, in the last hours it was asked in that social network if the fight Basualdo vs.

Guzmán "is what really interests Argentines in public services."

Is this really what interests the Argentine people in terms of public services?

pic.twitter.com/3HYmXr3eEy

- Federico Bernal Hermitte (@FBernalH) May 3, 2021

The other regulatory entity, that of Electricity, is in charge of

Soledad Manín

since Basualdo became Secretary of Electric Energy.

The 39-year-old official had been working under Basualdo at the

ENRE

and was promoted.

His ties to politics go back almost to his birth.

She is the sister of Laura Manín, undersecretary of administrative management in the Ministry of the Interior headed by Eduardo de Pedro.

Their father, Manuel Manín, was mayor of Lobos for the PJ, from 1991 to 1995.

Full control over YPF

If the kirchnerismo already had influence within

YPF

since the beginning of the management of Alberto Fernandez, the landing of

Pablo González as president of the company

definitively confirmed that

La Campora and aligned dolphins Max and Cristina took control of the oil

state .

González

replaced Guillermo Nielsen

, the economist who had led the company and who had the backing of Alberto Fernández, last January.

Throughout 2020, Nielsen was expected to step aside, in a context of constant pressure from La Cámpora, which controlled the key positions of the structure, with

Santiago "Patucho" Álvarez

, vice president of Corporate Affairs as the main reference.

Pablo González, head of YPF since January of this year.

The

52-year-old

González

, from

Santa Cruz

, is a

true penguin

of the first hour. Néstor Kirchner's main advisor in his years in the Santa Cruz governorate, he became deputy governor of that province from 2015 to 2019, before being also elected as a national deputy, a position he held until Cristina Kirchner summoned him to take charge of a company González

is in charge of a company that foresees investments for this year for US $ 2,700 million

.

Before González's arrival, in April 2020,

Sergio Affronti

, who had previously been CFO and had worked in the company during the Miguel Galuccio stage,

had assumed

as

CEO

, the man Cristina Kirchner appointed as the owner when she was expropriated. to Repsol in 2012.

The second lines, in tune

The weight of hard Kirchnerism in the sector is also seen in the second lines. An official loyal to Cristina also controls

Yacyretá

. He is

Ignacio Barrios Arrechea

, a 47-year-old lumber businessman from Misiones and the son of Ricardo Barrios Arrechea, who was provincial governor from 1983 to 1989. Radical from the cradle, he approached Kirchnerism in Cristina's presidency, and took a selfie with her. He has been in charge of the electric dam since last June.

Two other strategic chairs in the sector managed by officials related to Kirchnerism are

IEASA

and

NASA

. The former Enarsa has been chaired since February by

Agustín Geréz

, a young lawyer who served as

legal advisor to the former Ministry of Planning of Julio De Vido

, from 2008 to 2013, and who later became part of the company he heads today, a the one that returned again in the current government, to replace Enrique Cirnigliaro, who had arrived from Santa Cruz, with the permission of Alicia Kirchner.

In the case of

Nucleoeléctrica Argentina

, the company that manages the Atucha I and II nuclear power plants and Embalse Río Tercero,

José Luis Antúnez

recently assumed as president

, who had already led the state company from 2005 to 2015, during the mandate of Néstor Kirchner and the next two from Cristina.


Source: clarin

All news articles on 2021-05-05

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