Since December there will not be a Rodríguez Saá sitting in the main chair of this province, something that happened only in six years of the forties since the return of democracy. The two exceptions were the brothers' dolphins. María Alicia Lemme completed the period from 2001 to 2003, under the shadow of Adolfo who returned to the province after his week as president. Claudio Poggi, the only one elected without the surname, took office in 2011 anointed by the clan.
Alberto with 73 years, Adolfo with 75, the hegemony of the duo that controlled San Luis since 1983 and was unbeatable in the electoral plane will give way to another scheme of power by the natural passage of time although perhaps mainly by the fierce fight between the brothers, which disintegrated society and led to this Sunday none appearing on the ballots.
Adolfo intended to be a candidate, at least that's what he said, but he failed to regain his place in the provincial PJ and decided to step down to switch to Poggi's side. He placed postulants and their faces in the sublemma Unidos, within Cambia San Luis. Alberto had kicked him out of the party, in an episode with scandal that included the seizure and eviction of the building.
The 40 years of the Rodríguez Saá family in San Luis were part of the discussion in the campaign, segmented in different ways according to the gaze of each sector. Adolfo pondered the first 20, his five terms as president, with the benefits of industrial promotion and the push of public works and housing construction.
The current senator and former president at the end of 2001 contrasted it with the last two terms of Alberto, in which poverty grew (the latest INDEC data gave 45.2% in Greater San Luis) and social assistance, with some 72,54 beneficiaries who charge $ <>,<>, insufficient to guarantee basic needs with current inflation levels.
Alberto designated as candidate Jorge Fernández, former judge of the Superior Court of Justice and former mayor of Tilisarao, a town in the north of 11 mi inhabitants, with a low level of knowledge. The governor sought to present it as a renewal ("The coming change," was the slogan) and to point to Adolfo and Poggi as central actors in the political process of the last four decades.
Zigzagging on the national stage, the positions were crossed in the province. Alberto abandoned his closeness to Kirchnerism and staged it with the departure of Senator Eugenia Catalfamo from the ruling bloc. Close to Adolfo they remarked that the governor's arming included La Cámpora and the permanence of Ayelén Mazzina in the Cabinet of Alberto Fernández. In turn, Adolfo was on the side of the candidate backed by Together for Change but in the Senate he remains in one of the two benches led by Cristina Kirchner.
The brothers have not spoken to each other for four years. The versions about the motivations of the fight include personal issues, bidding for business and family jealousy between Gisela Vartalitis – Adolfo's wife, a high profile – Albertito – the governor's son, a minister, who refused to be a candidate – and Zulema, the sister of both who sided with the governor.
The competition between Alberto and Adolfo was exposed after the national legislative elections of 2017. Both tried to take credit for the comeback between the PASO and the generals. In turn, the current governor was on the ballot as an alternate senator, with the idea of castling two years later. Those plans were not fulfilled and in 2019 for the first time the brothers faced each other at the polls, this time as candidates. In this electoral turn, with the governor already without the possibility of re-election, Alberto again closed the way to Adolfo and bet on Fernández.
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