Starting at 7 p.m., in the capital of Corrientes,
Javier Milei will give a press conference this Monday at the Club de la Libertad Foundation
, accompanied by whom he defined as the "procer" of liberalism in Argentina, Alberto Benegas Lynch (h ).
It will be the President's first visit to a province since he took office on December 10 and it will not have to do with a protocol activity but with a visit to a space in which he himself participated a decade ago, when he was a liberal economist who was beginning to make appearances in the media.
The curious thing about Milei's arrival in Corrientes is that the Government
has not yet confirmed how he will interact with Gustavo Valdés
, the provincial governor of the UCR, in the event that the head of state will lead.
Valdés is expected to attend, since he received the invitation from the club where the event is organized, and
would even meet him at the airport
, because Milei would travel on a special plane to the province and not on a scheduled flight.
"
He is going to declare him a guest of honor and will accompany him in the talk
," the provincial president assured this newspaper.
In Corrientes, a less pleasant company would be waiting for him: "They are organizing protests and a cacerolazo for 7 p.m. near the hall where the event is held," a local source added.
Consulted by
Clarín
, the President was blunt in his statement about the eventual presence of Valdés.
"If he wants to listen to me, it's up to him," declared Milei
, who also clarified that he will be the only speaker "in the section in which I participate."
Thus, the libertarian once again highlighted the
differences that he has with the provincial leaders
of the entire opposition, after the fall in Congress of the so-called Omnibus Law.
Milei's visit to Corrientes and the possibility of a photo with Valdés occur
in the midst of the unrest that exists in the provinces governed by Together for Change with the Casa Rosada
.
Waiting for a meeting this week, the 10 governors of the opposition coalition agree that the dialogue with the Government is finished and that it can only be activated if the President receives them privately.
Intern of governors of Juntos
However,
Valdés has not been one of the most energetic Changemite leaders
when it comes to rejecting national decisions.
He accompanied the questions on the DNU points that most affected the Government, but
he missed more than one meeting
: he was not in the governors' Zoom last week.
He had also not participated in another virtual summit that took place on Sunday, January 21, nor in that of the CFI, on the 28th of last month, in which 15 provinces sent representatives to a meeting with the Minister of the Interior Guillermo Francos.
Corrientes also did so, but Valdés was absent.
The radical governor Gustavo Valdés.
This does not imply that Valdés, for the most part, has expressed himself in harmony with the rest of the governors of Together for Change.
"He always played online like everyone else," say sources close to the provinces of Cambiomismo.
What's more: Corrientes, along with Mendoza, are the provinces that went directly to the Supreme Court of Justice complaining about the changes in Profits and VAT that Kirchnerism decided last November and harmed the provincial coffers.
Today, it is a claim that falls to the Milei government.
Beyond these particular issues, there was, however, a fact that differentiated Milei in relation to Valdés compared to other provinces.
In times of adjustment, Nación sent Corrientes $1,000 million in ATN to hold the provincial carnival
.
Another governor who may be at the headquarters of the Freedom Club this afternoon is
Leandro Zdero
, also a radical governor of Chaco, who was early at the headquarters of the Universidad del Nordeste with Valdés.
It was there where the man from Corrientes declared that he would go to the meeting with Milei.
"We have the invitation from the Freedom Club, we have participated several times, we are going to see what ideas they proclaim and we are going to listen to a dissertation that I think is always interesting," he reflected.
Although he belongs to radicalism and has a mandate until 2025,
Valdés knows that the liberal spaces in the province were key to the latest electoral performances
.
The Corrientes won in 2021 with almost 70% of the votes, while Milei won the last runoff with the support of local radicalism, after having lost the general elections with Sergio Massa, who had been the most voted candidate.
"If Valdés did not run on the Milei ticket, in Corrientes he would lose the runoff," say local sources who explain in this way that beyond the ideological differences that there may be, at the provincial level the partnership established between both parties was successful.
As an example of this affinity, the vice-governor of Corrientes since 2021 is Pedro Braillard Poccard, a leader with a long history, who was a national senator and accompanied Valdés in the formula.