Guido Carelli Lynch
08/17/2021 3:48 PM
Clarín.com
Politics
Updated 08/17/2021 3:48 PM
The Minister of Public Works,
Gabriel Katopodis
, mayor in use of the license of San Martín, is the most applauded among all the national and provincial authorities that are preparing to honor the liberator.
The pro-government militancy celebrates him more than Governor Axel Kicillof and President Alberto Fernández.
He is the owner of the house.
There are drums and some chants, but they never cover the voice of the speakers. The ovation comes from the three streets that border the homonymous square, seat of the municipality. Each official tribe is located on different streets. On San Lorenzo, militants from Evita are accommodated, with flags and blue shirts. Above Belgrano are the loudest supporters of Katopodis and the acting mayor,
Fernando Moreira
. On Intendente Campos there are militants from Frente Patria Grande and Marea Popular. The
traffic is cut
and the police presence altogether shields near the square and the monument. On Campos there is
an empty place for rent
and even a newspaper kiosk with the legend
"I sell or exchange"
, two
symbols of the
economic
crisis
that the Government seeks to leave behind. Also a poster asks for a distance of two meters and the use of a chinstrap to avoid contagion. Although there is not much militancy, the first care is impossible.
The President and the Governor are the last to arrive with Katopodis and Chief of Staff
Santiago Cafiero
and the new Defense Minister
Jorge Taiana
, at 12:09, 39 minutes after the original call. He is followed, as always, by the Secretary General of the Presidency
Julio Vitobello
and the Secretary of Communication
Juan Pablo Biondi
. Criticism from the allies rests on them, making them responsible for Fernández's continuous stumbling blocks, including the photo of Fabiola Yañez's birthday in Olivos. The President
does not let go of their hand
.
Before the President speaks, the news is known that Fernández instructed the first lady and those attending her birthday to participate. Nobody gives details or talks to journalists about it. An important executive officer who arrives minutes before the event is not sure that the scandal over the photo will not be encapsulated in the crack or that it will not subtract votes from the Frente de Todos, as suggested by the president's main collaborators. “
The damage has already been done
. You have to wait ”, he recommends.
Presidential adviser
Alejandro Grimson
confuses one of the accesses until he follows in the footsteps of Culture Minister
Tristán Bauer
and candidate
Daniel Gollan
, who
manages
to criticize
Mauricio Macri
after his television statements on Monday. "
Macri is a pathological liar or a cynic,
" says the second national candidate for the Province.
The former Buenos Aires Minister of Health takes photos with the militants. A technician from his team records each movement with a tiny camera. A while later, the President will mention him from the podium as well as his partner on the list,
Victoria Tolosa Paz
, to whom he will once again award the creation of the Alimentar card implemented by former minister
Daniel Arroyo
.
The President and his entourage greet essential workers stationed in the plaza.
The municipality symphony orchestra performs the anthem.
A vaccinator, microphone in hand, thanks Fernández and Kicillof.
“
I want to thank you for taking care of us
.
For having been able to study and be part of a present state.
Thank you for bringing millions of vaccines to the country, ”the president and Kicillof embrace her.
The most effusive is Gollan.
All those present are there to honor San Martín.
A video about the General serves as a transition, although it once again compares the liberating epic with the vaccination campaign.
“
Today we have to cross a different mountain
.
When we lose heart, let's remember it, ”says an announcer.
When the governor takes the floor, he details that he reviewed milestones in the life of San Martín on the way to the event. "I do not know who could think of taking General San Martín out of the tickets and putting a little animal on it," says Kicillof in the first allusion to the previous government. It does not matter that, strictly speaking, San Martín disappeared from paper money in 2020 due to its low nominality. No animal replaced it. The President will repeat the mistake.
Kicillof remembers that San Martín bequeathed his crooked saber to
Juan Manuel de Rosas
. The irony of fate, behind him stands the school that bears the name of
Domingo Faustino Sarmiento
, a staunch enemy of the governor. He concludes with another allusion to his political adversaries. "Those who dig the crack have to remember that we all come out of the big problems," he says.
The President, this time, as in his last speeches, will conclude with an electoral key harangue and some
historical licenses
. In the middle of his historical review, he sneaks the complaint against the Macri administration for alleged
smuggling of weapons to Bolivia
, when he evokes the help of the Army of the North to Upper Peru, current Bolivian territory. "At that time we helped them, we
did not send bullets to repress them,
" he says, evoking Belgrano.
Fernández promises that the liberator will return to the banknotes and once again compares the crossing of the Andes with the vaccination campaign. He also complains about the press' treatment of the heroes of independence and refers to the economic power concentrated in Buenos Aires. In the middle, the ideology of the Government parallels that of the hero.
"We are reassured that
San Martín looked at the country the same as we do
, believing in Latin American unity, in joint effort; it would have been part of the Army that set up mobile units in the country to serve those who needed it. It would have said 'Let's be free , don't send Alberto to fix anything with the IMF, let him negotiate with dignity, let him negotiate so that Argentina has a future, so that Argentina is free, '”the president roars to applause, before going around the plaza to drink photos with the militancy while several trumpets sound the Peronist march.
A leader present at the event relativizes the partisan nature of the historic celebration by remembering the former president again. "Macri spoke to boys about (Hugo) Moyano's gang on a day of the flag," he evokes.