The controversy surrounding the elimination of the trust fund managed by officials reporting to
Juan Grabois
was activated after a
Clarín
note that revealed that the so-called FISU had recorded expenditures of $130 million in travel expenses and commissions alone last year.
However, that
figure represents a tiny percentage of all the power that
the social leader managed in the four years of Alberto Fernández's government, either directly through the
Secretariat of Socio-Urban Integration
or through
discretionary transfers to cooperatives
that organization, the CTEP, controls.
In total, measured in the average official dollar in the periods of 2020, 2021, 2022 and 2023,
Grabois directly or indirectly managed US$244 million
.
The data accessed by this media comes from the Open Budget site, dependent on the Ministry of Economy, and from sources in the social area, which report how the transfers were made through items outside the budget.
Socio-Urban Integration was a Secretariat within the defunct Ministry of Social Development that in the four years of Alberto Fernández's management was headed by
Ramona Fernanda Miño
, a social leader from the town of La Cava, in San Isidro, who responds politically to Grabois. .
Far from having the resources of the central programs, such as the Potenciar Trabajo and the Alimentar Card, which depended on the Evita Movement and La Cámpora, the SISU had
the third most relevant budget within the ministry
led by Daniel Arroyo, Juan Zabaleta and Victoria Tolosa Paz, respectively.
And their funds were growing at a dizzying rate, above inflation forecasts.
Grabois, with Fernanda Miño, a leader he trusted most, who managed Socio-Urban Integration.
In 2020 it had resources of $226 million, which, taken at an average dollar of $70.59 according to Banco Nación, represented US$3.2 million.
In 2021, an election year, the figure rose spectacularly: to a dollar of $95.15, $2,763 million were transferred, which meant US$29 million.
In 2022, the figure rose exponentially again: an average dollar of $131.89 was transferred to $11,258 million, that is, more than US$85.3 million.
In 2023, meanwhile, at an average dollar of $295.2, $35,196 million were transferred to the SISU, which was equivalent to US$119.2 million.
The accumulated amount climbs to US$ 236.7 million.
Discretionary transfers
But those were not the only resources that Grabois or officials loyal to him managed.
Throughout Alberto Fernández's mandate, a large number of cooperatives received discretionary funds.
Most of them reported to specific political affiliations and, in the case of the CTEP leader, one under his orbit was the one that received the most money.
This is the
El Amanecer de los Cartoneros Civil Association
, which in the first half of 2023 alone received $218,752,697, or US$1,032,272.
In previous years, it had obtained similar funds: in dollar terms they were US$ 2,665,679 in 2020;
US$ 1,714,893 in 2021 and US$ 1,853,956 in 2022. Overall, there were
US$ 7,266,800
collected by the cooperative in four years.
The data for the second half of last year remains to be calculated, but it is estimated that they were at similar numbers.
In addition, Grabois is part of other cooperatives and associations that are grouped together in the so-called UTEP, and that are led by historical leaders of the picketing sector such as Emilio Pérsico, Fernando "Chino" Navarro and Esteban "Gringo" Castro.
Through the Evita Movement, they were the ones who controlled most of the social plans that were paid to beneficiaries of Potenciar Trabajo.
In the case of Pérsico, with a controversy included: he was at the same time the Secretary of Social Economy, that is, the one who transferred those funds to the social movement that he himself heads.