After several days of calls, discussions and some kind refusal, the Government announced on Monday afternoon the new ministers who will make up the Cabinet: the national deputy Victoria Tolosa Paz will take over as head of the Ministry of Social Development; the leader of the Buenos Aires PJ “Kelly” Olmos will lead the Labor portfolio; and the Puntana official Ayelen Mazzina will lead the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity. They will assume their positions next Thursday at noon, at the Casa Rosada.
Candidate “of the President” in the days prior to the definition, Tolosa Paz was the first confirmed, after noon. The other two designations surprised, since their names were not among the candidates to fill the vacancies that were discussed over the weekend, and they came to fill positions for which there were no candidates left over. “At this point, we settle for reaching eleven and completing the team”, mocked at THE NATION from an important Casa Rosada office, after the announcement was known.
The brief statement from the Casa Rosada highlights that the president Alberto Fernández summoned “three women of different ages, geographical origin and extensive experience in their reference issues to be part of his cabinet in order to deepen the breadth of views and efficiency in management”. And he gives details of the three chosen. In the case of Tolosa Paz, in addition to her current position, which she accepted after heading the list of deputies last year, she recalls that she was president of the National Council for the Coordination of Social Policies and highlights that she is “dedicated to social policies for more than twenty years”.
In reference to Raquel “Kelly” Kismer Olmos, defines her as an economist, and recalls that she is the current vice president of the Bank for Investment and Foreign Trade (BICE). In her extensive career, Olmos was a councilor and legislator of the City of Buenos Aires, as well as Secretary of Municipal Affairs of the Nation (2007-2009). She doesn’t remember, by the way, her time as running mate of animator Gerardo Sofovichin that election of 2003, and in representation of the menemismo.
In silence since the beginning of the weekend, the President prepared from the Quinta de Olivos the announcement of the successors of the three outgoing ministers: Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta (Women, Gender and Diversity), Claudio Moroni (Work) and Juan Zabaleta (Social Development).
Surrounded by his inner circle, Fernández made Tolosa Paz return from San Luis on Sunday, who was at a meeting of Peronist women, and before noon he entered Olivos to see the President. He according to him was able to rebuild THE NATION From sources in the Casa Rosada, Fernández offered the legislator the position of Zabaleta there. “He is an Albertista and has already worked in the Social Policy Council”They stand out in government. Collaborators from Tolosa Paz imitated her boss: they also stopped their long weekend vacations and returned to Buenos Aires.
Tolosa Paz was then confirmed as the new minister, beyond negotiations that tried to locate there the provincial deputy and mayor licensed by Admiral Brown, Mariano Cascallaresclose to the Buenos Aires chief of staff Martin Insaurralde. When leaving Tolosa Paz leaves his bench, the massista will take over in his place Michaela Moran. “It is important who arrives can manage the tensions in that ministry”, commented sources from Social Development, where antagonistic sectors such as La Cámpora and the Evita Movement.
In the case of the Ministry of Labor, and before the appointment of Olmos, in the Government they spoke of a “continuity” of the work of Moroni, one of those pointed out by the vice president Cristina Kirchnerthrough your Secretary of Labor, Marcelo Bellotti. Hard-core Kirchnerism insisted that Charles Takenthe Minister of Labor with a record of permanence (twelve years in a row as minister of Néstor and Cristina Kirchner) was the one indicated, although the current ambassador in Mexico would have rejected the offer in a first poll.
With the resignation of Gómez Alcorta, on Friday, rumors began about his replacement. to the name of Maria Christina Perceval -close to Cristina Kirchner and current official of that portfolio- joined, in the last few hours, the Malena Galmarinihead of AySA and wife of the Minister of Economy, Serge Massa. From the massismo they denied the versions, although the discussions continued until the name of Mazzina came up.
The resignation of Gómez Alcorta, angry at the judicial eviction operation that the federal security forces carried out in Villa Mascardi, was the trigger for a series of changes that the President planned for later. “That resignation accelerated the times”, they recognized from an important official dispatch.
According to high official sources, Gómez Alcorta verbally anticipated the President that he would resign on Thursday night, after the screening of the film Argentina, 1985in Escobar. In her resignation letter, the already former minister pointed to the operation headed by the Minister of Security, Hannibal Fernandezwho continues to have the support of the President and last night stated: “The security forces have fulfilled their role in an exemplary manner and carried out the measures, causing the least possible damage.”
The slam of Gómez Alcorta’s door precipitated the departures of Zabaleta and Moroni, who for different reasons had already told the President that they would not accompany him until the end of his term. In the case of Zabaleta, for months the mayor of Hurlingham -on leave- wants to return to his territory, today dominated by La Cámpora, and eventually run for re-election next year. “The idea is to agree on the exit with all sectors,” they told Zabaleta, who after participating in the small table that advised the President was building bridges with hard Christianity. Moroni, one of the President’s loyalists who was still resisting within the cabinet, left for health reasons, and at the same time worn out by different recent conflicts added to the incessant attack by those loyal to the Vice President.