After more than a year licking his wounds, former Buenos Aires City mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta has announced a return to frontline politics.
Rodríguez Larreta, 59, made his announcement in a post on social media, saying he will run for office in this midterms “as a lawmaker, as a deputy or as a senator.”
Should he stand in the October elections, it would be Rodríguez Larreta’s first run for office since his failed presidential run of 2023.
Long-tipped as a frontrunner to win the race for the Casa Rosada, Rodríguez Larreta eventually suffered a stinging defeat at the ballot box, failing to win his party’s primary and losing the nomination to rival Patricia Bullrich.
The former City mayor has mostly remained out of the spotlight since, though he has aired criticism of President Javier Milei and his approach to politics, specifically his “verbal violence.”
Last week, Milei accused the former mayor of paying “corrupt” journalists. The President has presented no evidence for his claims and Rodríguez Larreta – who categorically denies the allegation – has vowed to sue.
While he gave away little about his future plans, the ex-mayor’s announcement hinted that his ambitions lie in the City. Rodríguez Larreta unleashed friendly fire at Jorge Macri, his party colleague and successor as City mayor.
“We want to work together again: get involved, listen, commit ourselves and make Buenos Aires, once again, an inspiration for the world,” he said, going on to describe the nation’s capital as “degraded.”
“I will be there, as a legislator, as a deputy or as a senator, to debate the city we deserve. The city we built together. The same one that today is degraded,” Rodríguez Larreta continued.
Underlining his point, the former mayor said that local residents were complaining that “Buenos Aires is not what it used to be.”
“The great achievements of our administration are being diluted: the city is dirty, without maintenance, the potholes are back, there are no [public] works and there are no answers for residents. Prisoners for federal crimes are escaping from police stations, generating insecurity. Everyone tells me that,” he said.
Rodríguez Larreta went on to differentiate himself from his party colleagues, describing PRO as a party that has “lost its identity” and become servile to Milei’s government.
“Knowing who we are, why we are here, why we do what we do and what we are for and against. The day you lose your identity, you lose everything,” he reflected. For this reason, he reaffirmed that he “was” and is “against handing over PRO” to President Milei.
“That is why I was not part of the current leadership of the party. PRO should have exercised its role as opposition in a constructive way. That's what we were voted for. We have always been against fanaticism, messianic leadership and ideological extremism. We have always been against aggression and insults,” he added.
Responding to the former mayor’s criticism, the Buenos Aires City government condemned the remarks as “aggressive.”
“It is unfair. We are surprised by the aggressiveness of the attack because many people in his team work with us,” said Laura Alonso, the current mayor’s top spokesperson.
“We govern the City, Jorge Macri was elected with strong support. We know the challenges we face, such as security, urban planning, economic development, education,” said Alonso. “The rest are political discussions that do not concern us too much when you have to govern.”
– TIMES/NA
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