Cristina Kirchner dedicates a hard letter to Fernández 4:16
(CNN Spanish) -
"This man, who thanks to Cristina (Fernández de Kirchner) and all of us is sitting there in the Rivadavia chair, has no merit of his own to be sitting there," said Kirchner deputy Fernanda Vallejos in a private audio that went viral on social networks in the last hours.
"He is a squatter because he has no votes, he has no legitimacy. Nobody wants him," he said, referring to the president of Argentina, Alberto Fernández.
The deputy apologized on her Twitter account.
He alleged that he had "inappropriate" expressions in the context of "the anguish that the result of Sunday generated for many and many of us."
But he did not deny his words, which made clear the internal conflict that is being settled in the Frente de Todos, the government coalition in Argentina, which broke out after the hard electoral setback in the primary elections on Sunday, in which he lost in 18 the 24 districts of the country.
Elections in Argentina: the government suffers a hard setback in the primaries
His sayings come a day after five ministers and several hard-core Kirchner officials, mostly from the La Cámpora group, put their resignations at the disposal of the president, threatening the unity of the governing coalition.
Thus, the support within the national cabinet was evidenced and how the power of a government is distributed that, from its inception, has the particularity of having a very strong vice president, who elected its candidate for president.
And today, in times of difficulties, Kirchnerism asserts it.
advertising
Decisive hours in the government of Argentina 9:02
Chronology of the scandal
"Something we will not have done well so that people do not accompany us as we expected them to accompany us," Fernández said Sunday night as he accepted the electoral defeat.
The president of Argentina alluded to the mistakes made and promised to correct them.
Since then, a series of appearances and announcements of economic measures began to restore the purchasing power of part of the population.
But he did not propose changes in his cabinet.
According to official statistics, Argentina has annual inflation above 50% and unemployment is 10.2%.
In addition, the country is facing the consequences of the covid-19 pandemic and the long months of quarantine that caused the closure of many shops and factories.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Economy, Martín Guzmán, tries to close the long agreement with the International Monetary Fund to restructure the debt with that multilateral organization, which also arouses suspicions in Kirchnerism.
"Economic policy in March of last year should have been subordinated to health policy, not to the reduction of the fiscal deficit and to comply with the mandate of the IMF," says deputy Vallejos in her audio, in which she criticizes Guzmán, the chief Cabinet Santiago Cafiero, and several officials close to the president.
Rupture in the Government?
The analysis of Marcelo Longobardi 8:06
On Wednesday, a day before the government announced new economic measures, and after appearing at an event with Guzmán, the internal crisis erupted when officials began to offer their resignations and put the president at a crossroads: reject them and give in to their pressures;
or let them go and risk losing the support of your government's main political force.
The first to publicly place his position at the order of the president was the Minister of the Interior, Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro, in charge of the political management of the government and one of the closest to the vice president, who in a letter wrote: "Listening to his words on Sunday night where he raised the need to interpret the verdict expressed by the Argentine people, I have considered that the best way to collaborate with that task is by putting my resignation at their disposal. "
(Credit: Juan Mabromata / AFP via Getty Images)
He was seconded by those responsible for the Justice portfolios, Martín Soria;
of Territorial Development, Jorge Ferraresi;
of Science, Roberto Salvarezza;
of the Environment, Juan Cabandié;
and Culture, Tristán Bauer.
Among the officials at other levels who did the same are Fernanda Raverta, director of the social security agency, Anses, and Luana Volnovich, in charge of the retiree health service, PAMI.
Both agencies manage one of the largest government budgets.
Knowing these intentions, another part of the government team approached the Government House to meet with the President and the Chief of Cabinet: Foreign Minister Felipe Solá, the Ministers of Social Development, Juan Zabaleta;
of Economy, Martín Guzmán;
of Public Works, Gabriel Katopodis;
of Production, Matías Kulfas;
of Security, Sabina Frederic and of Work, Claudio Moroni.
Also the Deputy Chief of Staff, Cecilia Todesca and the Legal and Technical Secretary, Vilma Ibarra.
Thus, after almost a day of silence, the president reacted publicly this Thursday through his Twitter account: "This is not the time to raise disputes," Fernández said this Thursday at noon, trying to put cold cloths on this crisis politics, perhaps the most serious since his arrival at the Casa Rosada at the end of 2019.
“The arrogance and arrogance do not nest in me.
Government management will continue to develop in the way that I deem appropriate.
That is why I was chosen, ”the president continued in a series of tweets, with which he also thanked governors, mayors and social organizations for their support.
CFK's response
Hours later, the vice president published an extensive letter on her website where she maintains that "Peronism suffered an electoral defeat in unprecedented legislative elections" and reports that she has not spoken to the president since Tuesday.
He also affirms that he repeatedly stated that the "delicate social situation", which "resulted, among other things, in wage arrears, lack of control of prices (...) and lack of work", as well as "the lack of effectiveness in different government areas "was to have" electoral consequences. ''
But he assures that it was not listened to and that after "such a political catastrophe" he considers that the cabinet must be renewed.
"Do you really believe that it is not necessary, after such a defeat, to publicly present the resignations and to make known the attitude of the officials to facilitate the President's reorganization of his government?"
In his letter, he asks the president to "relaunch his government", change the Chief of Staff and together with the Minister of Economy "look at the budget numbers."
Despite the harshness of her letter, the vice president recalled her two presidential terms and stated: "I have suffered a vice president who is openly opposed to our government. Argentines rest easy ... that will never happen with me."
So far, Fernández has not accepted any resignation. And the crisis has not yet been resolved.