Santiago Cafiero says that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner will not be "a conventional vice-president," given the "legacy, power and prestige" she holds as a former president.
Hours before Alberto Fernández was sworn-in as president on Tuesday, his future Cabinet chief said in an interview that the former president would shape the role to herself, rather than follow in the footsteps of previous vice-presidents.
“Cristina isn’t a conventional vice president: she has a legacy, power and prestige of her own,” said Santiago Cafiero in an interview with Net TV's Corea del Centro programme.
“There’s love for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, so to think that she should adapt to a traditional role of vice=president is unfair because it doesn’t recognise her attributes,” he said.
Cafiero, a key figure for Fernández, reiterated that the former president she was a principal part of building the victorious Frente de Todos electoral coalition.
“She wasn’t a vice-president for whom they looked. It was the opposite. She was part of a strategy was designed by her and Alberto together to tactically put in place the following of Alberto Fernández,” he said.
Cafiero’s interview was filled with glowing words about the value Fernández de Kirchner brought to the campaign and will continue to bring to the Casa Rosada. He said she carried “a lot of weight” on the campaign that both the country and the government “needs her.”
But he was sure to leave no doubt about who is leading Argentina moving forward.
“The president is Alberto,” Cafiero said.
Speaking about the economy, he referred to the selection of economy minister Martin Guzman as a “revelation.”
“The role of Martin is central because he has studied and he knows what are the models that function and what are those that don’t. He’s going to take a social viewpoint on the economy,” Cafiero said.
He also said there’s no margin for unfair economic development, reiterating the message of the campaign that growth must come first from “recuperating” the “internal market” because “nobody invests in a country that doesn’t spend.”
To that end, Cafiero touted the successes of Peronism, saying that without it, the country would lack some of its greatest social achievements like equal marriage and public universities.
“All the scaffolding of our social politics are a product of peronist governments [...] Peronism never broke, it oscillated but it never fell below 40 percent,” he said.
– TIMES/PERFIL
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