Federico Mayol
08/04/2021 20:24
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 08/04/2021 20:26
In Olivos, in his last hours of isolation as long as the PCR test that he plans to carry out this Thursday morning is negative, Alberto Fernández finishes defining the replacement of Agustín Rossi, already fully committed to
the Santa Fe inmate
who has him as one of the candidates for senator.
"He
already has the name in his head,
" they assured this Wednesday from the President's surroundings without further details, in line with the dance of names that circulated this week.
In the last hours, however,
Julián Domínguez
, former minister, former president of the Chamber of Deputies and failed candidate for Buenos Aires governor slipped in - he lost to Aníbal Fernández in the 2015 intern -, among the leaders who sound to occupy the Ministry of Defense, as published by La Nación.
Near Fernández they
did not give any confirmation
. The head of state, they say, did not even call him. But they stressed that the former official had more than one conversation with him in these months, and that the president always took him into consideration to add him, if necessary, to the cabinet. It is, for now, one of the candidates.
He thus joined those who sounded in these days at Casa Rosada: from Sabina Fréderic -subsequently dismissed- and the mayor
Alejandro Granados
, to
Daniel Scioli
and
Gustavo Béliz
. The speculation of Granados was fueled because that was the place he had assigned in the case that Scioli became President, in 2015. The Béliz thing is recurrent: the Secretary of Strategic Affairs had already been mentioned when Minister Marcela Losardo left , but the President preferred to preserve it for the privacy of the day to day.
The truth is that since last Friday, when he said goodbye to his team covered in applause,
Rossi left the day-to-day management of the ministry, did not lower any more directives to his collaborators
and dedicated himself full time to the Santa Fe intern, the most intriguing and complex in the governing coalition.
The minister faces not only Governor Omar Perotti and Vice President Cristina Kirchner, who blessed Marcelo Lewandowski and María de los Ángeles Sacnun as the candidates of that province for the Senate.
Also to the President himself, who officially ruled in favor of that ballot after he threw the official through the
C5N
screen
, while he was going to the
TN
studios
.
"On Friday, at least, the replacement could be announced,"
presidential aides abounded.
Internally, the possibility that the minister might be succeeded by a ministry official, such as his cousin,
Sergio Rossi
, secretary of Strategy and Military Affairs, that is, the virtual vice minister, was also considered.
Or the chance that the President respects that place for a member of the National Current of Militancy, the political group led by the Santa Fe within the Frente de Todos along with other leaders such as Daniel Filmus or Cristina Álvarez Rodríguez.
It is, as it transcends, a not so viable option.
The departure of Rossi is also joined by Daniel Arroyo, a pre-candidate for national deputy for the Province -signed in 12th position-, whose successor is already confirmed: it is
Juan Zabaleta
, the mayor of Hurlingham, engaged since the weekend in reordering the municipal administration and the distribution of power with La Cámpora, and in finalizing details of its landing in the Ministry of Social Development.
For now,
Fernández does not yet have an official agenda this Thursday
and is still analyzing waiting for the campaign to pass to advance in a deeper restructuring of the cabinet.
Getting rid of Rossi was not, in that sense, among his immediate plans.
Yes on Friday, when you plan to welcome
Jake Sullivan
, the top adviser on the White House National Security Council.
In other words, the most relevant visit of the Joe Biden administration to Argentina.
A transcendent even realized that
the head of state kept the name of the new defense minister for the visit of the US official
, who will arrive in the country at this time with his colleague Juan González.
It makes sense: Defense is one of the areas with the strongest ties and interests with the United States administration. In fact, from Casa Rosada they confirmed to this newspaper that the official meeting on Friday with Sullivan, in which Béliz,
Santiago Cafiero
and a handful of ministers such as Martín Guzmán will participate, will be attended by Francisco Cafiero, secretary of International Defense Affairs, representing the ministry in question.