Cristina Kirchner surprised and appeared in the suburbs in an activity without prior announcements
“Nothing ends here. Today everything begins here.” On October 22, 2017, Cristina Kirchner came out to acknowledge the electoral defeat of Unidad Ciudadana against Cambiemos. Shortly before midnight she uttered that phrase that established her, once again and after two years, as the leader of most of Peronism. There were nine words seasoned with the epic of K’s speech.
Six years later, and after the surprise visit of the former vice president to La Matanza, the mayor of Quilmes, Mayra Mendoza, one of her most trusted leaders, recalled that definition in an Instagram post. He did it in a more concise way. Along with a photo of white and light blue sneakers, and another of CFK with Father “Tano” Angelotti, whom he visited in the suburbs, he wrote: “In 2017 he told us: This is where it all begins. Put it back together.”
The last sentence of that post belongs to the call that Máximo Kirchner made two weeks ago in La Plata, when he targeted Axel Kicillof and his political circle. An act full of messages to the Peronist internal that resonated strongly in the Buenos Aires territory and that unlocked a new level of questions in the power dispute between La Cámpora and the political structure of the Governor.
Was the incident with the Camporista mayor an expression of wish or an encrypted political message? Was it the signal of a starting point or a rallying cry to revitalize the leadership and leadership of CFK? Coming from an extremely trusted leader of the former president, the message opens the door to multiple interpretations, such as those that occurred in Peronism yesterday afternoon.
The publication that Mayra Mendoza made on her social networks
“She is going to be a candidate. That’s it,” said a suburban mayor, who quickly connected Cristina Kirchner’s arrival in the most populated municipality in the province of Buenos Aires with a future candidacy for national deputy. He saw in that movement an implicit message from the former president. A gesture that is easily decoded in politics.
Another community leader analyzed it with a critical tone. “What Cristina puts together is getting smaller and smaller. But it is still important because it moves the internal debate,” he said. A third mayor warned: “She is going to be a candidate until the end. In this way he orders and columns many. It maintains the expectation until the last minute.”
The truth is that CFK’s arrival in the suburbs is much more than a simple visit to the San José parish. There are nuances that contextualize this trip to one of the poorest places in the Buenos Aires suburbs. One of them is that Father Nicolás “Tano” Angelotti is a priest who carries out a pastoral task that the ecclesiastical leadership highlights and who does not have any type of connection with the mayor of Matanzas, Fernando Espinoza. There is no relationship.
The former president left a message to the neighbors she was with: “I will always be with you”
Cristina Kirchner did not warn that she was going to La Matanza. Nobody from the municipality knew. Nor did she meet with Espinoza, who abruptly lowered her profile after the sexual abuse case against her advanced, and who within the Buenos Aires inmate has greater empathy with Kicillof. Coincidences of the past, Espinoza is one of the Peronist leaders who are behind her on the day she recognizes defeat against the PRO candidates Gladys González and Esteban Bullrich.
The absence of Kicillof – who is in Mexico – is another of the nuances that give a framework to CFK’s political movement. In Buenos Aires Peronism, no one is unaware of the tense relationship that the former president and the Governor have today. Many understand that the visit to La Matanza at the same time that the economist was traveling was no coincidence.
“He marked the field for Axel,” stated an important mayor of the first electoral section. That is another of the sensations that permeate Peronism. It was a direct message to La Plata. Cristina Kirchner is present, active and with the intention of playing a transcendental role in the rearming of the political force. The personification of the flag that La Cámpora cares for like a sacred cloak: “Nothing without Cristina”
If Máximo Kirchner’s harsh speech in La Plata was a way of drawing a limit in the relationship with the Governor, the presence of the former vice president seems to be a clear sign that Axel will have to have her on his political board in the construction of the presidential race. Gestures that are decoded naturally in the arteries of political force.
The Buenos Aires governor traveled to Mexico for the inauguration of President Claudia Sheinbaum
Another nuance is that she visited the most populated municipality in the province of Buenos Aires and toured it alone accompanied by the village priest. The place where elections are won or lost. The electoral bastion of Peronism and, in the last twenty years, of Kirchnerism. There where the former president has great support. It was without other leaders. Without the mayor and without the Governor. She face to face with the neighbors.
From now on in Unión por la Patria (UP) they will begin to coexist with the idea that Cristina Kirchner can be a candidate for deputy next year. As was Néstor Kirchner in 2009. It would not be strange, within the K story, for the former president to compete for a place in the lower house and become the most relevant figure of the opposition in the next election. The idea will permanently revolve around the Peronist ecosystem.
In Peronism, those who look closely at political movements warn that the photo of Cristina Kirchner in La Matanza is the starting point of the electoral campaign. The beginning of a journey that will have her as the protagonist. With the pen in one hand and the marshal’s baton in the other. Whether they are exaggerated speculations or anticipated truths will only be known with the passage of time. The signal has already been given.
