Juan Alfaro (ALFA)
The PRO and another open-air internal
The week that passed Legislative Palace provincial had more than one news item that crossed the borders of the Province of Buenos Aires, to become national news.
The new bloody intern that stars in PRO in the open, had a fierce battle in the Legislature. In response to the “self-coup” (Patricia Bullirch He said it was a “coup d’état”, but good) and the emptying of the Council of the Buenos Aires PROthat Cristian Ritondo organized in order of Mauricio Macri“Pato” -in complicity with the media mayor of Tres de Febrero, Diego Valenzuela– He ordered the yellow blocks in Deputies and Senators to be broken.
The explosion was the cover of Buenos Aires and national digital media. Once again the PRO internal ones. “It is not a good time to fight,” “the quilombos come from above,” “This is how we end up as the tailgate of the libertarians,” were the reflections that yellow legislators confessed to CHRONOScoffee in between or in the legislative corridors.
The emergence of the block “Pro-Freedom”, left the “official” Pro somewhat weakened. In Deputies, they took five seats (not inconsiderable): Florencia Retamoso, Abigail Gomez, Oriana Colugnatti, Sofia Pomponio and Fernando Compagnoni. In the Senate the escape was only one: Daniela Reich, although in the Upper House, one vote is often worth ten. However, the “Blue Libertarians”as they are mockingly called in the halls of the Legislature, left without the coffers and power that the yellows negotiated with Alejandro Dichiara and Verónica Magario at the beginning of the year.
“They leave, but they don’t take anything,” said a yellow legislator, annoyed. The maneuver was completed with the resignation of Reich to the 2nd Vice Presidency of the Senate, the request for resignation Compagnoni to the chair he occupies in the Buenos Aires Judicial Council and the place he occupies in the board of directors of the Bank provincethe bullrichist Santiago Nardelli. “They are no longer in the original PRO block, they have to resign. “Those places are from the PRO block,” another legislator bellowed.
Everything rotted in the PRO and the political oracles announce that the war will continue and be open to the public. Strictly speaking, what is at stake is not the autonomy of the PRO or its survival in the face of the threat of Freedom Advances by Javier Milei. It is about who has the pen (if Milei accepts) to negotiate and place proper names in the National Government and, in any case, place places that can be entered in the 2015 legislative lists, in a hypothetical alliance with the libertarians. Paradoxes of politics, the fate of the PRO is quite similar to what that of the UCR was in times when the yellows had power.
The color fact, or not so much, is the dispute (which can become legal) over the use of the “PRO” brand.
Massism adds another displeasure with Kicillof
In order not to be left behind at the time of open internal elections, Unión por la Patria added another chapter of the differences that exist between the spaces that still make up it. The need of the other makes coexistence necessary, but that does not mean it is free from discontent.
It is that a move of the nascent “kicillofism” in the district of Roque Perezwhich governs Maximiliano Sciainiunleashed the anger of the entire Renovador Front, with threats of ruptures that were echoed in the Buenos Aires media.
Always active and controversial, the former mayor and advisor to the Government linked to Carlos Bianco, Juan Carlos “Chinchu” Gaspariniorchestrated – together with the local PRO – a controversial maneuver to retain the presidency of the Deliberative Council, with its undisguised “PJ Axel Driving” block. The move aroused the cheerful reaction of the Renovador Front. In order of Sergio Massathe now vice president of the Provincial Deputies and former national minister, Alexis Guerrera It was warned that if this move “was going to be repeated in other Councils” where the massismo governs, the card to break the blocks of the Buenos Aires ruling party will be on the table.
In the main Buenos Aires offices word spread that massist leaders sent him a WhatsApp to Axel Kicillof to complain about the controversy in Roque Pérez and the Governor’s response was: “I didn’t know anything, but I’m taking care of it.” Another piece of information, on Friday, May 31 – according to what he learned CHRONOS-, Sciaini participated in the event led by the Buenos Aires president in Pirovano (Bolívar) and took the opportunity to confront him and show him his displeasure. Kicillof He put a cold shoulder to the issue, reiterating that he had nothing to do with the move, but that he would “make decisions” so that the presidency of the Council once again belongs to the mayor.
However, in massism they still distrust Kicillof. For weeks now, they have been cautiously observing the movements of the mayors and Kicillofist leaders (Jorge Ferraresi, Mario Secco, Fabián Cagliardi and Jorge Paredi, among others) who – in advance – are promoting Axel’s presidential candidacy for 2027. “They are in a hurry, it is not time to discuss candidacies,” summarized in words a Massista shipowner from the Province. At the bottom, the Renewal Front knows that this discussion will happen sooner or later, but that the first fight will be the assembly of the legislative lists for 2025. Although, for now (always for now), massism only issued warnings, it is not the first discontent it has with the governor.
The De la Torre brothers and the aftermath of the withheld food scandal
The internal ones are not only a custom of “caste” or traditional politics. The echoes of the withheld food scandal that caused the bombastic departure of Pablo De la Torre of the Secretariat of Children and Family, dependent on the Ministry of Human Capital, which directs Sandra Pettovello They had their echo in the Buenos Aires Legislature.
It happens that the now libertarian Pablo is the brother of the senator Joaquin De la Torre, a man who knew how to wear the shirt of Kirchnerism, Massism, Vidalism and, until last week, Mileism. The former mayor of San Miguel, upset with the move that “exposed” his blood relative, sent word that he was abandoning the “libertarian” bloc that he is part of along with Carlos Curestis and Florence Arietto. Furthermore, he let it be known that he “ordered” that his bishop, the deputy, Juan José “Turco” Espera former San Miguel official, was leaving the block that leads Nahuel Sotelo.
However, CHRONOS could know that the Casa Rosada – in principle – wants to avoid more splinters against Pettovello and activated contacts with the De la Torre brothers so that they do not break the Buenos Aires blocks. From his bunker in San Miguel, they let it be known that to lower tensions the National Government must first deactivate the complaint against Pablo. Until the closing of this note, no minor fact, neither in the Deputies nor in the Senate was the document for the formation of a new block presented.
By Juan Alfaro (ALFA) | Director of Cronos News
