The furious reappearance in the media Mauricio Macriwith almost half a dozen reports on TV and social networks in a matter of days, turned on the internal alert: Will the former president finally be a candidate in 2023? This was interpreted, for example, by the governor of Jujuy and head of radicalism, Gerardo Morales, who spoke of a “Macri in its purest form” and ready for the competition. The former president says no.
“Today Mauricio is not a candidate. He is working for the same thing, to continue consolidating the unity of space and guarantee the victory of Together for Change in the next election. Why so much activity? Because he sees a moment in which concepts have to be defined”, he assured Clarion one of the advisers who works daily with Macri.
“We are just two full-time advisers, we are not hiring polls, we are not trying to reposition his image, he is not taking any steps related to a presidential candidacy,” he adds. “But…”continues, and repeats the slogan that has already spread throughout the PRO: “If for some circumstance, which is not seen today, he is the best candidate, that would have to be seen. It will be his decision.”
“The scenario changes week by week, Cristina now said that everything can explode in a month. Everything is very dynamic”, they reopen a door and, perhaps to raise the price, they close: “Today it is clear that Mauricio wins in an internal. And baggy. But she’s not thinking about that.”
The former president is in Europe today, in a bridge championship and then he will go to Qatar for his role in FIFA. He also plans to travel to the United States, to teach at a university. It will be back only for April 9.
And if it’s not Macri, is he going to support someone in the PRO? “No, he is not going to bless anyone and that has also been made clear. Neither Horacio (Rodríguez Larreta) nor Patricia (Bullrich). Neither should María Eugenia (Vidal) be ruled out as a candidate, who is moving. He wants to guarantee that there is competition and that it is with respect and peace.”
The relationship with Larreta and the concern of the Buenos Aires chief
Macri’s relationship with the head of government had its lowest point during the start (and for several months) of the pandemic. The former president, they say in his environment, rejected Larreta’s closeness with Alberto Fernández and Axel Kicillof. “He talked about it and told him. ‘You know how they are, they’re going to screw you up’. And they ended up taking the money from the co-participation.”
Today, however, the link was again “very good”. This is also how they describe the former president’s relationship “with Patricia.” A way to make it clear that it is not run towards either side.
An official who knows Macri and Larreta very well contributes his look: “Mauricio’s doubts have to do with whether Horacio wants to be president just to be, as happens with Alberto, or to change the things that need to be changed.”
That doubt about the capacity of the head of government (or what he can convey as a presidential candidate) is what worries everyone in Larreta. How to go from being a tried and tested manager to a national applicant that generates expectations. “Horacio is a great head of government. And he is going to have the best program to tell the people. We have to see if they believe that he can have the firmness to carry it out,” adds an official who works for that objective.
“It is logical that Mauricio has doubts, as he could have in the City, where he was somehow his student. And Horacio has to convince him as he did in the City. But those who say that he is not firm do not know him. He was firm to continue with the classes, to move forward safely. And internally he is much tougher than most think “, defends a very close collaborator.
The reconversion of “Larreta mayor” to “Larreta presidential” began to include even clothing. “When he received Spanish officials here, a while ago, he did it in a T-shirt, as he usually wears. But notice that now in Madrid, when he was with the mayor, he was in a suit and tie. That, which may seem silly, for us is important”, added another leader.
The trio with Santilli and Jorge Macri
as counted Clarionpart of the reconversion of the national campaign of the head of government was the “reincorporation” of Diego Santilli, his former deputy chief who won the legislative elections in the province of Buenos Aires. The idea of both is to reach an agreement with the mayors and the sector of Cristian Ritondo and that all come together behind Santilli’s candidacy for PASO for governor of Buenos Aires. Unthinkable that there are two macrista representatives for that intern: there is always the risk that, by dividing, a radical ends up winning “in the middle.”
The same logic runs for the PRO’s own presidential internal. If Larreta and Bullrich face each other, there would be a risk that “a Manes” would win, for example. But the discussion about how to settle the yellow dispute is open: there is talk of a previous macrista internal, of deciding it through polls (difficult) or of a macro agreement with distribution for all. In any case, it is also not ruled out that the PASO includes cross formulas. Two variants of a PRO and a radical together.
Regarding the Larretista scheme, a third very active link is Jorge Macri, intendant of license in Vicente López and porteño civil servant. There are those who speculate that his closeness to the head of government could oil some type of support from the former president for Larreta. Difficult for anyone to admit, even in private.
What is beginning to spread with more force in the Uspallata offices is a possible Buenos Aires candidacy of Jorge Macri. Formally, he also maintains a latent Buenos Aires candidacy, but in relaxed talks, he even gets excited about a capital formula with Fernán Quirós. The Buenos Aires Minister of Health is another of the cards that Larreta keeps for that fight.
from the opposite side, many assume that Martin Lousteau will be there, the radical senator who also advances in permanent dialogue with Larreta. At some point, it was even speculated that the head of government could try to clear the way for him in the City in exchange for radical reciprocity at the national level. Ideas of other times.
