2023-07-22 22:00:00
“HELLO”, he wrote –in capital letters– Sergio Massa at 8:25 p.m. on June 23, when he created the WhatsApp group while he was meeting with the vice president to inform a small circle how the unit list and the names of the presidential formula should be announced. Since then, and until 72 hours ago, he divided his time as minister and candidate, but the agreement with the International Monetary Fund forced him to leave his dual role and put a stop to the campaign.
The launch of the presidential formula will have to wait. It was scheduled for Thursday the 20th in La Plata, but a few days before the head of the Palacio de Hacienda notified the campaign manager, Eduardo “Wado” De Pedro, that the negotiation with the international organization was going to occupy his entire agenda. This act was lowered and some tours were loweredsuch as a visit to a factory in Zárate, where Sergio Berni’s wife and deputy, Agustina Propato, fights hand-to-hand with the mayor Osvaldo Cáffaro, who wants re-election.
Sergio Massa had to devote full time to the discussion with the Fund and reduce the campaign activity that he resumed yesterday in a reduced way with a visit to a textile factory in Villa Soldati and a tour of the Florencio Varela Industrial Park. The photos in the middle of the campaign had to be taken and the management might no longer be an excuse, since the prohibition to participate in public acts likely to promote the capture of suffrage governs. Not even in those minutes in which he occupied the role of candidate might he ignore the economic team. The chats with the Secretary of Agriculture, Juan José Bahilo, and with the head of the General Directorate of Customs (DGA), Guillermo Michel, multiplied yesterday. He was also in permanent contact with the head of advisers of the Ministry of Economy, Leonardo Madcur; and with the Secretary of the Treasury, Raúl Rigo, for the negotiation that Massa thought to close yesterday with the IMF but that was delayed once more.
In the Government they assure that the agreement with the IMF is close, although it is delayed
“We are close, always at the last moment the Fund wants to get you something else”, an official who follows the negotiations explained to PROFILE. And he acknowledges that “the access key is held by the Americans.” As he explained to PROFILE, the postponement of the agreement has to do with his own inmates and with a United States Treasury that continues to be tough. “But we are going to fix it, we are very close,” he insisted.
The head of state, Alberto Fernández, detailed yesterday that in the last hours he spoke with the head of the organization, Kristalina Georgieva, to advance the agreement. The president insisted on following the logic of debt sustainability and that payments do not stop the development of the country.
The agency decided to wait for the economic announcements from Buenos Aires to announce a new agreement, but the Argentine government will say that these are measures that the administration should take and that they have nothing to do with an imposition that came from Washington. The role of minister and candidate means that Sergio Massa must say that he wants to get rid of the IMF, as Néstor Kirchner did, while he waits for an agreement that will give him relief and dollars for his candidacy.
“We are wasting a lot of time,” complains a mayor of the Conurbano that he does not see that the electoral campaign advances. Another community chief reassures him: “We are invisible to the electorate until the last week of the election.” Massa is unperturbed, the voters are on vacation and he also believes that there is still time for the candidate to show the best version of himself.
The chat that Massa created to define the discursive line of the campaign is still active, but with few interventions from the candidate. On the other hand, there are plenty of links and videos with opposition fights.
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