when football repairs the damage of politics, or almost

Source : Map

02/01/2023 09:00

In the midst of a political and economic crisis, from deep divisions within the ruling coalition and among the opposition, to the attempted assassination of Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, the national team of Argentina won the FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The joy that erupted following the coronation and the images of Messi and his teammates making their way through the crowds of 5 million people in Buenos Aires made people forget, if only for days, the painful situation that the Argentinians suffocated by unprecedented inflation and declining purchasing power.

At the start of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, local media polled citizens’ opinions on whether they would rather win the World Cup or solve the problem of inflation, which exceeded 90% last November. The answer is clear: “the World Cup first, chronic inflation can wait”.

Argentina therefore won the World Cup, a title they have not won since 1986, when the late Diego Armando Maradona lifted it in Mexico City. By the way, Messi achieved the title that was missing from his list.

The celebration of this consecration has relegated political differences to the background and partisan colors have disappeared to make way for those of Albiceleste, brandished throughout the country.

However, the euphoria of victory was once more disrupted by sharp differences between the president of the Argentine Football Federation and government authorities over the route of the national team’s motorcade.

While the world champions were supposed to pass by La Casa Rossa, seat of the presidency, to greet the crowds from the balcony of the building, as is tradition, nothing that was planned might be accomplished and the convertible bus had to shorten the tour for organizational problems. Players were loaded into helicopters that took them back from where they left. Buenos Aires quickly became a scene of chaos, looting, vandalism and clashes with police.

Then the glamor of the World Cup suddenly faded, bringing Argentinians back to their painful reality of high prices and a currency that continues to depreciate once morest the dollar. The value of the 1,000 peso note is only worth 2.89 dollars.

Even Peru, suffocated by political crises, managed to overcome inflation. Its 200 sol note is worth $52.33, while in Brazil, Argentina’s main trading partner, a 200 reais note is worth $38.41.

Even with figures that reflect a good recovery in terms of consumption, domestic tourism and industrial recovery, the reality is that Argentina, at the macroeconomic level, still does not see the end of the tunnel.

President Alberto Fernandez appointed Sergio Massa as the new Minister of Economy last August, with the main mission of restoring the exchange rate, inflation and reducing poverty.

Since taking office, the 50-year-old lawyer, who has good relations with opposition sectors and businessmen, has been able to establish a relationship of trust with the International Monetary Fund and push forward an agreement to reschedule Argentina’s debt and reinvigorate the Central Bank’s foreign exchange reserves.

But what is known in Argentina as the “fracture” within the ruling coalition, the “Front de tous”, between those close to President Alberto Fernandez and those of his vice-president, remains one of the real obstacles to a lasting solution to Argentina’s chronic ailments.

The attempted assassination of Vice-President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is the most significant political event of this year and continues to focus the attention of the local and international press. The crisis caused by this assassination attempt was exacerbated by the sentencing of Cristina de Kirchner to six years in prison for corruption and a lifetime ban from holding any position of responsibility. A sentence which, although it cannot be applied because of his parliamentary immunity, threatens his ambitions to run for the presidency of the country.

In the followingmath, the Argentine vice-president hinted at the possibility of her running once more for the presidency of the country she led for two terms (2007-2011) and (2011-2015), a project that seems doomed to failure if justice upholds this conviction.

This is how Argentina begins 2023, an electoral year par excellence where Argentines will choose either to follow the path of the left taken by most of the countries of the region or to make the exception and allow the right to take over the power in one of the most influential countries in the region.