"You won’t be seeing her in a de luxe restaurant eating grapes" – the opening phrase of a leader in weekly contact with Argentina’s former vice-president [and president] Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, who sought to underline the distance separating her from Alberto Fernández, who recently returned to the news due to his extravagant way of welcoming in the new year in Spain.
Beyond that anecdote, Fernández de Kirchner understands that there will be no political respite in the summer of 2024 given President Javier Milei’s idea of advancing with all his reforms in the immediate term. While indifferent to the current jockeying within Peronism, the former head of state has laid down the law when analysing the pincer movement between the mega-decree and the omnibus law, as proposed by the government.
According to individuals in her entourage, Fernández de Kirchner "continues thinking that an alliance of all sectors must be sought to halt the steamrollering of the separation of powers – but she is also quite clear about Peronism being in a new process and the need to see how it pans out."
The ex-president recently smiled on the statements of her son, Unión por la Patria national deputy Máximo Kirchner aimed against Mauricio Macri.
CFK has notified Peronist governors and Sergio Massa’s Frente Renovador that the more horizontal politics which has been preached so much without being put into practice might need to come together this time, perhaps because she is conscious that her central role has faded somewhat after the failed experiment of her government with Alberto Fernández.
Where the CGT is concerned, the former president understands the strategy of not plunging straight into a general strike but instead mounting a half-day strike with a march on Congress. Despite distrusting the traditional labour umbrella grouping, she understands that there are not many more alternatives for resistance.
Senate Majority Leader José Mayans (Unión por la Patria-Formosa) recently revealed that he spoke to Fernández de Kirchner after the ‘Cadena Nacional’ nationwide broadcast in which Javier Milei explained his mega-decree.
"I spoke to Cristina last night and she is very worried about all this. In the first place, for the country’s sovereignty because it is completely the inverse of all we proclaimed when declaring independence," remarked the senator.
With regard to the lower house Chamber of Deputies, the ex-president is keeping up to date with the committees, which were formed late on Tuesday, via her aligned Senators Anabel Fernández Sagasti and Juliana Di Tulio. She has made it clear to her inner circle that the Bicameral Commission must be urgently formed to halt the emergency decree in Congress.
"She’s convinced that Parliament will halt it," those close to her say. The senators to chair the seven key committees to analyse the reforms have been selected.
Critique and new channels
"Alberto is thought to have lost his nerve with Vicentin [the agro-giant that was target of a botched nationalisation attempt in 2020]," suggested another aide of Fernández de Kirchner’s when consulted by Perfil for her take on the reforms.
The former president’s last appearance at public rally after leaving office was during the inauguration of re-elected Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof on December 11.
Did Fernández de Kirchner expect President Milei to hit the ground running? Even if no major opinions about the first days of the libertarian have yet been leaked, every emphasis has been placed on starting to be a shadow opposition.
"The defeat has taken the discussion back to the start, nobody can say who should speak and who shouldn’t, it would be stupid to think that way," was the sincere opinion of one Peronist Senate operator, who spoke on the condition of non-attribution.
The former vice-president has opened up two new channels of communication in the past week via two of the best-known messaging apps: WhatsApp and Telegram.
"We’ve opened up new unique channels in Telegram and WhatsApp to be in contact," informed the ex-president via her official profile in the social network X (ex-Twitter), leaving the links for both channels so that her followers can tune in and – eventually – keep up with her activities when she returns to the political scene.
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