Neuquén in the world
“While others, at the national level, are fighting, we are advancing on all fronts,” one of Figueroa’s direct collaborators told this reporter. The governor Figueroa was on the agenda of the representatives of the governments of China, the United States, Chile and Brazil. All in the span of three weeks.
The Neuquén’s last action was centered in Rio de Janeiro, where he attended with his Rio Negro counterpart, Alberto Weretilneck to the FII Priority Summit, organized by the Future Investment Initiative Institute, an international institute that fights for the quality of the environment, the preservation of life and social inclusion.
Weretilneck Figueroa Lula.jpg
The provincial leaders arrived in Rio specially invited by the president of Brazil, Luis Inacio Lula da Silva. The photo with the center-left Brazilian president invaded the newsrooms of the Argentine media, the same day that the Senate of the Nation was engaged in a heated debate for and against the Base Law.
The disguised law passed through the Senate, along with the package of fiscal measures. Now we will have to see what happens in the lower house of the National Congress, the last stop that will define the fate of Javier Milei’s government.
Distance and contrasts
Neuquén is different from the ruling politics at the national level. It is betting on the arrival of new investments, guaranteeing a fully functioning State with full respect for the conditions agreed upon previously, through contracts and special laws.
While Figueroa presented before the international forum in Rio, two delegations showed Neuquén’s potential in North America. one headed by the Undersecretary of Energy, Fabricio Gulino; together with the energy portfolio advisor, Alejandro Monteiro; They were in Canada; while the head of the Treasury portfolio, Guillermo Köenig, did the same in Washington and Houston.
“Neuquén awakens the interest of countries that intend to land in the province with investments that are not only in the energy niche. There are also requests for conditions to invest in tourism, science and technology; and in the environment,” commented our senior government source.
Beyond speculation about the dollars to come, the image achieved by Neuquén at an international level is consolidated.
The local political leadership reached a level of adulthood that at the national level continues to be conspicuous by its absence. Except for the representatives of the left and Kirchnerism, the rest, with certain nuances, agree in the defense of the achievements achieved.
The discussion of the 2027 provincial candidates is left for later, so as not to alter the harmony achieved, but that is no guarantee that some are already guarding the weapons with which they will fight.
The cry of the “Cacique”
But further down the line in time there are situations that arise and worry. As is the case of the stoppage of activities affecting production decided by the workers enrolled in the Private Oil Workers Union of Neuquén, Rio Negro and La Pampa.
The general secretary, Marcelo Rucci, communicated this by note to the authorities of the national labor agency.
The oil “chieftain” denounced the non-compliance of the representatives of the oil companies operating in Vaca Muerta with the procedure and the lack of responses to the required points during the last mandatory conciliation period dictated by said portfolio.
Marcelo Rucci Oilers Assembly
The dialogue process established by the national labor authority was dictated during the month of April, given the imminent oil strike announced by the union.
According to Rucci, “the representatives of the companies laughed in our faces, they did not bring a single proposal that would improve the conditions of the workers that we are demanding.”
Rucci communicated the oil strike, warning that “on Tuesday, in Vaca Muerta, everything will rot.”
A union trident that brings them
During the week, the oil boss was the protagonist of a meeting with the general secretary of ATE Neuquén, Carlos Quintriqueo; and the reference of the UOCRA Neuquén, Juan Carlos Levi.
The union trident explores the possibility of putting its eggs in a new political basket, renouncing old belongings, privileging its belonging and representation in the workers.
Both Rucci and Quintriqueo; They understand that “traditional politics lack the muscular strength to stop the voracity of the business sector and the governments in power.”
They give as an example what happened in the lower house and the senate of the nation regarding the contents of the new labor law and the possible regression and implementation of the income tax on workers’ salaries.
Quintriqueo’s warning
Like Rucci, Quintriqueo warned the provincial government to carry out a work stoppage. The cause is the possible discount of the day discounted to public workers who had adhered to the strike of activities promoted by ATE, within the framework of a national protest in rejection of the approval of the Bases Law.
march against the law bases neuquen (2).jpg
Sebastian Fariña Petersen
The union leaders of the most combative unions in the province defined the agenda of issues and priorities in defense of their constituents, but they intend to take a step further by disembarking into the political “quarrel” with their own space.
All the movements and gestures today are thinking about 2025. A time that seems far away, but not that far away.
