The appointed Minister of Economy, Silvina Batakis, will formally assume her position this afternoon, after the departure of Martín Guzmán from the Treasury Palace, she anticipated this Monday morning in statements made to the press upon entering the Government House by the head of Cabinet, Juan Manzur.
“Today the new Minister of Economy takes office, a woman with great experience, who has had enormous responsibilities throughout her professional life. In the course of the afternoon, she would be taking charge of the Economy area,” said the coordinating minister.
The spokeswoman for the Presidency, Gabriela Cerruti, confirmed on Sunday night the appointment of Silvina Batakis as Minister of Economy and defined her as “a renowned economist who fulfilled that function in the province of Buenos Aires between 2011 and 2015”, referring to to the second term of the then governor and current Minister of Productive Development, Daniel Scioli.
The appointment of Batakis was informed to Télam by official sources just after 9:40 p.m. on Sunday; Minutes later, Cerruti confirmed the news through his account on the social network Twitter.
President @alferdez appointed Silvina Batakis as head of the Ministry of Economy. Batakis is a renowned economist who fulfilled that role in the province of Buenos Aires between 2011 and 2015.
– Gabriela Cerruti (@gabicerru) July 4, 2022
“President Alberto Fernández appointed Silvina Batakis as head of the Ministry of Economy. Batakis is a renowned economist who fulfilled that role in the province of Buenos Aires between 2011 and 2015,” the spokeswoman posted.
Daniel Scioli, during his 2015 presidential campaign, had mentioned her as the one who would be his Minister of Economy if he were elected president. and, at this time, people very close to the Minister of Productive Development affirm that “he considers her a great professional, very educated, of great human quality and highly respected by all”.
Since 2019, she has worked as Secretary of Provinces in the Ministry of the Interior, in charge of Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro.
From there, in addition to managing a good part of the relationship between the National State and the Jurisdictions, he was the technical team that carried out the negotiations with the City Government for the funds destined for the transfer of Security.
In this sense, the Casa Rosada speaks of the “Batakis report” to designate the study on the costs of the aforementioned transfer of security powers to the Buenos Aires government.
The appointment came after a day crossed by calls and meetings that accelerated from Sunday morning and that had a key moment in a Telephone dialogue between the Head of State and Vice President Cristina Kirchner.
This exchange contributed so that all the sectors that make up the FdT were aware of the designations under analysis and the measures that could be taken in the coming hours.
for that contact The head of Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo, Estela de Carlotto, contributed her ownwho in the afternoon spoke with the president to manage it.
A day of definitions
On a day where secrecy prevailed, President Alberto Fernández met on Sunday at the Olivos Residence with his closest circle of officials to define the changes in the Government after Guzmán resigned from the Ministry of Economy, after which the appointment of Batakis to replace him.
At 11 in the morning, the green gate of Quinta de Olivos, located between Carlos Villate and Hernán Winemberg streets, opened to receive the president of the Chamber of Deputies, Serge Massawho arrived earlier than announced for the meeting with the president.
A group of journalists approached the black Hyundai truck that was transporting the leader of the Renovating Front to try to confirm his presence at the scene, but the high windows and tinted glass made it difficult to have a clear image and foreshadowed that the hermeticism
The same situation was repeated throughout the day on the arrival of each official, and even the Federal Police, who were guarding the entrance, as a precaution placed orange cones on the sidewalk to mark the slowdown of the vehicles in order to take care of the journalists.
After Massa, the arrivals of the Secretary General of the Presidency, Julius Vitobello; the spokeswoman Gabriela Cerruti and the Communication and Press officer Marcelo Martinand the Press Room, located on Villate, was enabled.
After 2:30 p.m., Massa left Quinta de Olivos through the Avenida Libertador tunnel and went to another meeting in Tigre. He returned, through the same place, at 5:00 p.m., without being spotted by the press.
Meanwhile, the Secretary for Strategic Affairs, Gustavo Belizand the Secretary of Communication and Press, Juan RossThey joined the meeting.
At the end of the afternoon, the Chief of Staff also arrived, John Manzurand the Legal and Technical Secretary, Vilma Ibarra.
Several neighbors and neighbors who passed by the place were surprised by the presence of the television cameras and stayed a few minutes to observe and then continue with their routine.
In some cases, passing vehicles honked their horns in protest, and in other cases, they put their fingers in a “V” in support of the government.
In the afternoon, a man arrived with a banner that said “Enough, we’ve come this far,” and continued until night holding the same slogan.
At night, a lonely woman with a saucepan joined the claim against the government, throwing complaints into the air as “communism out of Argentina.”
At the end of the day there was also an increase in police presence with a change of guards by the Federal Police, until Batakis’ name was finally known and the area returned to normal.