Last week, the face and name of Federico Alesandri appeared on the walls of the capital Córdoba. The four-time mayor of Embalse, at just 43 years old, will now take a big step: he is a candidate for governor of the province for the Frente de Todos.
“We are part of a space, the Cordovan Peronist Front, which is made up of leaders and colleagues from the entire province. Many of us have management responsibility at the local and legislative level, and others have a marked history within Justicialismo. For me it is an honor to be a candidate and it is an enormous responsibility in this challenge. We are walking and making ourselves known, ”he explained in voice and vote.
It is not easy today to be a candidate for the Frente de Todos in Córdoba, a province that shows sympathy for Together for Change and for Schiaretti. What led you to follow that political line?
–Politics, at all levels, has a crisis of representation. And this crisis has to do with the lack of convictions of the leaders. The same happens in Cordoba. For this reason, when there are convictions, when there is a program, when there is militancy, when politics has the possibility, as De la Sota said, of being close to the people and solving their problems, without a doubt the parties will be able to gain muscle. Here it is not regarding labeling a space as more or less “Kirchnerista”. I am deeply justicialista. But I also always had the breadth of criteria to walk, convene and listen to different sectors. From the Frente de Todos, in the elections, we are going to generate one of the best political expectations. Today, building politically is very valuable. When there is territorial capillarity, when politics is close to the people, and beyond any platform, what we must tend to is to meet the people of Cordoba. It’s been a long time since Cordoba, every time we cross paths, it’s to attack us. And politics must generate the encounter. This province is a power in the federal scheme, with a vast industrial cord, with a highly technological agri-food complex that involves so many regions, and with tourism… Everything is more than interesting, but we cannot develop any of these issues if politics does not provoke the encounter. Today, Córdoba, being a power, has the highest levels of unemployment and poverty. And politics must lower those indices.
-In that meeting that you propose, and being you Peronists, what happens that there was no agreement with Schiaretti and his political force?
–Because our limit is Macri. I come from a city, perhaps like few others, in which the national State has a lot of influence. I suffered as mayor during the Macri years. I don’t have a personal problem with it. What I want to highlight is what macrismo and its politics meant in Argentina. The energy complex, which is very important in Embalse, was decimated; and the hotels of the Nation, for social tourism and workers, he abandoned them. It didn’t just fail on some of those policies. Because not only did we lose job opportunities, but those decisions, which were made in other parts of the country, wanted to erase history and identity. The same happened with the industrial and agri-food sectors. It was much more financial speculation than real work and investment.
– What relationship do you see today between Macri and Schiaretti?
-The relationship between them is optimal… I am part of a Front of All that has also had problems. And that in some things we have screwed up. But it should be noted that we came from the economic pandemic of macrismo, and then came the Covid that crossed the world. Despite all this, it was a government that was able to improve macro parameters. Today exports, industry, the countryside have parameters of movement and economic dynamics that have improved, including public works, which have lowered unemployment and poverty. But we know that it is not enough. And that we must improve the salary yield.
The Gill case
–The mayor Martín Gill gave signs that he might join the schiarettismo. What do you think will happen to him? Is he going to leave the Frente de Todos?
I think so, that you already have an agreement with the provincial government. But the best answer can be given by him. I don’t like to talk regarding anyone. What is difficult to explain to society… When he spoke of coherence, of convictions, that from political programs it is possible to be better, what we cannot is to be permanently seeing what position to handle. And it is difficult to explain that someone who comes from being one of the prominent figures of the national government, is now part of a political space that has permanently denigrated the Nation. We are convinced that we have to carry out an electoral proposal. In each meeting that we have held, since the second half of last year, all the lines of the Frente de Todos decided to compete with their own candidates in 2023. That is our effort.
‘Are you disappointed by Gill’s attitude?’
-No no. Gill does not disappoint me. I insist: there must be convictions in politics, coherence between what we say and what we do. And if today Martín, who had a very important role in the national government, falls into the ranks of the provincial government… Well, he will have to render an account. I do not conceive it because if there is someone critical, even at exaggerated levels, it was the government of Córdoba.
–In 2019 the Frente de Todos was regarding to present a candidate for governor. But an order from Cristina Kirchner lowered it. Is it decided in Buenos Aires what they do in Córdoba?
-No. Without a doubt, we are part of a national movement, but we are walking Córdoba and we have made the decision, all the leaders of the Frente de Todos, to compete with their own list. In my case, I work to erect a candidacy for governor and in the case of Olga Riutort, for the mayor of Córdoba.
–Does Buenos Aires have a lot of influence?
– Without a doubt, it influences. But I don’t see any intention, or discussion, at the national level to raise the list.
The candidate for President
–Who has to be the candidate for president of the Frente de Todos?
-It will be resolved. Undoubtedly, from the capacity of the leaders, as well as in 2019 the best solution to be able to govern Argentina, I am sure that each one knows their strengths and weaknesses. And we are going to retain the national government.
Would you like Cristina?
–Alberto, Sergio Massa or Cristina. Undoubtedly, she has plenty of conditions to return to being an electoral option. Same as our current president. She is going to make the best decision.