The ambassador in Brazil, Daniel Scioliwill take over as head of the Ministry of Productive Development, replacing Matias Kulfas. The news was communicated last night by the spokesperson for the presidency, Gabriela Cerruti, at the end of a hectic day.
In Scioli’s entourage they admitted surprise at the appointment because the President only communicated with him late in the followingnoon and until then there had been nothing but rumours. Although from the Government House they clarified that he must first finish “resolving pending issues” in Brazil, close to the new official they confirmed that he will accept the offer. “He only asked for a few days to order his things,” they confided.
His oath of office will take place following the president’s trip to the Summit of the Americas, which will take place this week in Los Angeles, United States.
Former vice president, former governor of the province of Buenos Aires and former candidate for president, Scioli has been serving as ambassador to Brazil since August 2020, a few months following Fernández came to power.
Until now, the ambassador to Brazil has a good relationship with both Cristina Kirchner and President Fernández, whom he recently visited in the Olivos country house. That was one of the reasons why the name of him sounded quickly following Kulfas’ departure. It is a way to avoid more problems following the scandal that ended with the departure of the Ministry of Productive Development.
Scioli was seated the day before yesterday in one of the first rows of the act for the 100 years of YPF, in Tecnópolis, together with Julio Vitobello, Secretary General of the Presidency and a man of strict confidence of Fernández. Until then, nothing suggested what would happen in just 24 hours.
The rapid sequence began with the speech by Vice President Cristina Kirchner at the Tecnópolis event, where, in addition to criticizing Alberto Fernández, she suggested a very labile treatment of the Techint company in the tender for the construction of the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline.
First in radio statements, and then in an off that they attribute to his ministry, Kulfas stated that Kirchnerism had directed the work in favor of Techint and that this was the problem of the delay. The Secretary of Energy denounced that message in off the record and was endorsed by a message from the vice president, Cristina Kirchner, on his Twitter account, to which the President of the Nation himself joined shortly following, Alberto Fernandez. Minutes later it was learned that the president had asked Kulfas to resign, a man he trusted and who has accompanied him since the time of Grupo Callao.
Scioli is 65 years old, is the father of two daughters, and prior to his arrival in politics he worked as a motorboat. Between 2003 and 2007 he was vice president during the administration of Néstor Kirchner and between that year and 2015 he governed the territory of Buenos Aires. That year he was the PJ candidate for President of the Nation, with Carlos Zannini as running mate, with whom they lost in the ballotage once morest Mauricio Macri.
