Soap opera over? The private meeting between Alberto Fernández, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and Sergio Massa

On Wednesday, July 6, at 8pm, President Alberto Fernández received his two partners in the ruling Frente de Todos coalition. In a private meeting, they began to unblock internal conflicts and agree on new rules for the remaining year-and-a-half of the Peronist leader’s government.

This time, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner did not stay for dinner. The birthday celebration of her daughter, Florencia, was waiting for her. 

The reunion between the three leaders of Frente de Todos was the first meeting shared by the president, the vice-president and the head of the lower house Chamber of Deputies this year.

Fernández, Fernández de Kirchner and Massa had spoken over the weekend to agree on who would replace Martín Guzmán as the head of the economy portfolio, but they had done so separately.

According to what Perfil was able to reconstruct, the meeting served as the beginning of an effort to put internal differences within the ruling coalition behind them.

However, although it took place in the Quinta de Olivos presidential residence, the government’s official spokesperson, Gabriela Cerruti, denied the meeting had taken place to Perfil.

Rapprochement

The first rapprochement between the three leaders who shared the formula in 2019 came on Sunday. It was during a telephone conversation that they agreed on the name of Silvina Batakis as Argentina’s new economy minister.

The following day, Alberto Fernández and Cristina Fernández de Kirchner met again at Olivos for a dinner in which total secrecy prevailed. 

While rumours of new cabinet changes continue to circulate and the lack of clarity over the government's course in economic matters is clear, this latest meeting between the three partners of the Frente de Todos did take place, sources confirm. 

Some expect Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to take on a more moderate discourse at her public events, as will the president, who is due to speak from Tucumán on Saturday to mark Argentina’s Independence Day.