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The shock of Javier Milei, the urgent calls, and a special request from Cristina Kirchner - Clarin
November 26, 2023
Javier Milei discovered that his life became a hurricane on Sunday at ten past eight at night when Sergio Massa acknowledged defeat before the official data was released. In a few minutes, more than a thousand messages accumulated on his cell phone. He has the same number that very few years ago - less than five - was exchanged between radio producers who didn't really know what he did or what that economist with the bulging eyes and strange hairstyle that they had discovered on television was up to. Milei tried to answer the messages quickly, in dozens, some with emojis, others with heartfelt phrases or, simply, with the sticker of himself raising both thumbs and pressing his lips outward. But when I put the phone away and activated it again, the WhatsApp number grew again to over a thousand, with requests from those same radio producers, greetings from former Chacarita colleagues, and messages from collaborators of international figures who suddenly became interested. to talk to him: from IMF technicians and Donald Trump to presidents like Emmanuel Macron or the Korean Yoon Suk-yeol.
He knew all this, or intuited it, 24 hours later, on holiday Monday, when his advisors told him that he had missed important messages and calls. They gave him a second, encrypted phone, whose number very few people now have and which notifies him of urgent issues. It was his first change since he became president-elect.
This is, as any political fan has seen, his most insignificant change. In the first days of the transition, heading towards December 10, the libertarian rehearsed a spectacular pirouette in the air . He went from being the one who shouted in the campaign and promised to enter the Central Bank with a chainsaw or the one who was going to get rid of the political caste forever, to exhibiting a pragmatism that could even be disconcerting a sector of his voters and part of your own team. Genius, improvisation, or fear of falling into the void? It will be seen if it is a lasting turn or if the Milei that brought him here will soon return.
The first shock was the resignation of Emilio Ocampo from a position that, of course, he did not yet have, although he had been anointed as the founding stone of the La Libertad Avanza project. Ocampo was angry because he detected that the plan to close the Central Bank if it did not falter, would have to wait a long time. The same as dollarization. Demian Reidel had to be called urgently to replace Ocampo. When he was offered the position, Reidel was traveling to the United States. He had to change flight tickets to return to Argentina. He was received by who will be Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse, at the Four Seasons. They gave it as confirmed, but yesterday at 3 pm Reidel gave up. Another shake. And more urgent calls, now to look for Reidel's replacement.
There were, and there are, other noises in the militia troops. Carolina Píparo was announced as the future head of the ANSeS on Monday the 20th (she even said through her networks that she had agreed to a meeting for the 27th with Fernanda Raverta, today in that position) and she was removed the next day; first, at the express request of Sandra Pettovello, future Minister of Human Capital and, second, to prioritize an eventual alliance with a sector of Peronism headed by Juan Schiaretti. Milei appointed Osvaldo Giordano, a kidney official of the Cordoba governor. Piparo was furious.
Victoria Villarruel experienced the same feeling of rage. She had presented herself during the campaign as the reference in security and the Armed Forces. She was erased with a stroke of a pen when Milei agreed with Patricia Bullrich, who occupied Security in the Government of Mauricio Macri. The founder of the PRO did not collaborate in that bet. It was resolved in a Milei-Bullrich dialogue, behind Villarruel's back.
Macri continues to be vital for the new president. They chat and talk to each other at all hours, they even did it during the former president's flight to Saudi Arabia. Macri gave several pieces of advice. One: is that Milei tells in detail the dramatic situation that Argentina is experiencing in the inauguration speech (“Don't make the same mistake as me,” he told her). Two: that he does not trust “at all” that Kirchnerism, much less Sergio Massa, will help him in an orderly transition. Three: make the adjustment strong from the start. And four: build governability from Congress. Macri suggested that the president of the Chamber of Deputies be Cristian Ritondo.
Milei prefers Florencio Randazzo, Schiaretti's partner in the elections, with whom he has been speaking for a long time. Cristina's former minister saw the libertarian coming when others believed him to be an outsider who would soon fade away. He was wrong when he said that he would win in the first round, but he was right that he would be president, when a good part of the political class underestimated him. Randazzo prepares and waits. To alleviate anxiety, in the mornings he exercises in the building where he lives, in Puerto Madero, and stays connected via Airpods.
Randazzo knows that Macri doesn't want him. What he does not know is that the one who took secret steps to try to prevent her appointment was Cristina Kirchner. This is what the current head of the Lower House, Massista Cecilia Moreau, told it. “It was the only thing Cristina called me for. To tell me not to vote for Flaco,” Moreau said, surprised, in meetings with people she trusted.
Despite the difference over who should lead Deputies, Milei thanked Macri for his advice, whom he treats - to the delight of the former president, who feels vindicated - as if he were a deity. They don't have to convince you about the fit. It will be a shock. She promised cuts of 15% of GDP. She says it is the only option to avoid hyperinflation.
It is true that prices, which were already flying before the elections, are now flying faster. Since Massa's defeat, there are products that have risen 50% in supermarkets. YPF gasoline has just increased by 10%, that is, 20% in less than a month. In a country with negative reserves close to 10 billion dollars and with year-on-year inflation of 140%. The inflation left by the Alberto Fernández-Massa tandem will remain in history. It will be almost four times larger than what Macri left in 2019.
That, of course, if nothing strange happens before December 10.
Luis “Toto” Caputo, who is supposed to be the Minister of Economy, shares with Milei that we must go towards a drastic cut in expenses. Caputo was Macri's first Finance Minister and, later, president of the Central Bank. He resigned unexpectedly on September 25, 2018. He suffered frostbite. That, perhaps, led him to object when the new offer arrived. “My wife will kill me if I catch her,” was the first thing he said. He repeated the phrase, with different words, several times over the past few days.
On Friday he met with representatives of local and foreign capital banks and promised to dismantle the stock of liquidity bills and passive repos that accumulate in the Central Bank, a ball of more than 23 billion pesos. Just in case, Milei asked for the phone number of Jimena, Caputo's wife. She did well.
The next president begins to travel an unknown path. For him and for 46 million Argentines. He is not a Peronist, he is not radical, he was not part of the PRO, he was not in public executive positions and he is the first economist to reach the Casa Rosada. He generates love and hate and arouses unprecedented interest in the international press.
Milei spent his first week confined to the 21st floor of the Libertador Hotel, his office, where he works full time. He gets up at 6 AM and goes to bed around 2 in the morning. Sometimes he takes a nap for an hour. Her assistants brought him packs of Mango Loco, his favorite energy drink. He consumes several cans a day.
Within a week, he was hardly shown in public. Last night he went to a Jewish ceremony to receive a blessing from Rabbi David Pinto Shlita. But, before that, he had only set foot on the street twice. One, to go to the meeting on Tuesday in Olivos, with Alberto Fernández, and another, around 11 pm on Wednesday, to visit his girlfriend, the impersonator Fátima Florez, in her apartment in Palermo.
Power and faith he already has.
Love must be taken care of.
November 26, 2023
- The libertarian wants a strong adjustment after the 2023 elections. What does Macri ask of him and what is his advice for the start of the administration?
- The noises with Victoria Villarruel and Carolina Píparo and why there are officials who resign from their positions.
- The vice president does not appear but makes complaints privately.
Javier Milei discovered that his life became a hurricane on Sunday at ten past eight at night when Sergio Massa acknowledged defeat before the official data was released. In a few minutes, more than a thousand messages accumulated on his cell phone. He has the same number that very few years ago - less than five - was exchanged between radio producers who didn't really know what he did or what that economist with the bulging eyes and strange hairstyle that they had discovered on television was up to. Milei tried to answer the messages quickly, in dozens, some with emojis, others with heartfelt phrases or, simply, with the sticker of himself raising both thumbs and pressing his lips outward. But when I put the phone away and activated it again, the WhatsApp number grew again to over a thousand, with requests from those same radio producers, greetings from former Chacarita colleagues, and messages from collaborators of international figures who suddenly became interested. to talk to him: from IMF technicians and Donald Trump to presidents like Emmanuel Macron or the Korean Yoon Suk-yeol.
He knew all this, or intuited it, 24 hours later, on holiday Monday, when his advisors told him that he had missed important messages and calls. They gave him a second, encrypted phone, whose number very few people now have and which notifies him of urgent issues. It was his first change since he became president-elect.
This is, as any political fan has seen, his most insignificant change. In the first days of the transition, heading towards December 10, the libertarian rehearsed a spectacular pirouette in the air . He went from being the one who shouted in the campaign and promised to enter the Central Bank with a chainsaw or the one who was going to get rid of the political caste forever, to exhibiting a pragmatism that could even be disconcerting a sector of his voters and part of your own team. Genius, improvisation, or fear of falling into the void? It will be seen if it is a lasting turn or if the Milei that brought him here will soon return.
The first shock was the resignation of Emilio Ocampo from a position that, of course, he did not yet have, although he had been anointed as the founding stone of the La Libertad Avanza project. Ocampo was angry because he detected that the plan to close the Central Bank if it did not falter, would have to wait a long time. The same as dollarization. Demian Reidel had to be called urgently to replace Ocampo. When he was offered the position, Reidel was traveling to the United States. He had to change flight tickets to return to Argentina. He was received by who will be Chief of Staff, Nicolás Posse, at the Four Seasons. They gave it as confirmed, but yesterday at 3 pm Reidel gave up. Another shake. And more urgent calls, now to look for Reidel's replacement.
There were, and there are, other noises in the militia troops. Carolina Píparo was announced as the future head of the ANSeS on Monday the 20th (she even said through her networks that she had agreed to a meeting for the 27th with Fernanda Raverta, today in that position) and she was removed the next day; first, at the express request of Sandra Pettovello, future Minister of Human Capital and, second, to prioritize an eventual alliance with a sector of Peronism headed by Juan Schiaretti. Milei appointed Osvaldo Giordano, a kidney official of the Cordoba governor. Piparo was furious.
Victoria Villarruel experienced the same feeling of rage. She had presented herself during the campaign as the reference in security and the Armed Forces. She was erased with a stroke of a pen when Milei agreed with Patricia Bullrich, who occupied Security in the Government of Mauricio Macri. The founder of the PRO did not collaborate in that bet. It was resolved in a Milei-Bullrich dialogue, behind Villarruel's back.
Macri continues to be vital for the new president. They chat and talk to each other at all hours, they even did it during the former president's flight to Saudi Arabia. Macri gave several pieces of advice. One: is that Milei tells in detail the dramatic situation that Argentina is experiencing in the inauguration speech (“Don't make the same mistake as me,” he told her). Two: that he does not trust “at all” that Kirchnerism, much less Sergio Massa, will help him in an orderly transition. Three: make the adjustment strong from the start. And four: build governability from Congress. Macri suggested that the president of the Chamber of Deputies be Cristian Ritondo.
Milei prefers Florencio Randazzo, Schiaretti's partner in the elections, with whom he has been speaking for a long time. Cristina's former minister saw the libertarian coming when others believed him to be an outsider who would soon fade away. He was wrong when he said that he would win in the first round, but he was right that he would be president, when a good part of the political class underestimated him. Randazzo prepares and waits. To alleviate anxiety, in the mornings he exercises in the building where he lives, in Puerto Madero, and stays connected via Airpods.
Randazzo knows that Macri doesn't want him. What he does not know is that the one who took secret steps to try to prevent her appointment was Cristina Kirchner. This is what the current head of the Lower House, Massista Cecilia Moreau, told it. “It was the only thing Cristina called me for. To tell me not to vote for Flaco,” Moreau said, surprised, in meetings with people she trusted.
Despite the difference over who should lead Deputies, Milei thanked Macri for his advice, whom he treats - to the delight of the former president, who feels vindicated - as if he were a deity. They don't have to convince you about the fit. It will be a shock. She promised cuts of 15% of GDP. She says it is the only option to avoid hyperinflation.
It is true that prices, which were already flying before the elections, are now flying faster. Since Massa's defeat, there are products that have risen 50% in supermarkets. YPF gasoline has just increased by 10%, that is, 20% in less than a month. In a country with negative reserves close to 10 billion dollars and with year-on-year inflation of 140%. The inflation left by the Alberto Fernández-Massa tandem will remain in history. It will be almost four times larger than what Macri left in 2019.
That, of course, if nothing strange happens before December 10.
Luis “Toto” Caputo, who is supposed to be the Minister of Economy, shares with Milei that we must go towards a drastic cut in expenses. Caputo was Macri's first Finance Minister and, later, president of the Central Bank. He resigned unexpectedly on September 25, 2018. He suffered frostbite. That, perhaps, led him to object when the new offer arrived. “My wife will kill me if I catch her,” was the first thing he said. He repeated the phrase, with different words, several times over the past few days.
On Friday he met with representatives of local and foreign capital banks and promised to dismantle the stock of liquidity bills and passive repos that accumulate in the Central Bank, a ball of more than 23 billion pesos. Just in case, Milei asked for the phone number of Jimena, Caputo's wife. She did well.
The next president begins to travel an unknown path. For him and for 46 million Argentines. He is not a Peronist, he is not radical, he was not part of the PRO, he was not in public executive positions and he is the first economist to reach the Casa Rosada. He generates love and hate and arouses unprecedented interest in the international press.
Milei spent his first week confined to the 21st floor of the Libertador Hotel, his office, where he works full time. He gets up at 6 AM and goes to bed around 2 in the morning. Sometimes he takes a nap for an hour. Her assistants brought him packs of Mango Loco, his favorite energy drink. He consumes several cans a day.
Within a week, he was hardly shown in public. Last night he went to a Jewish ceremony to receive a blessing from Rabbi David Pinto Shlita. But, before that, he had only set foot on the street twice. One, to go to the meeting on Tuesday in Olivos, with Alberto Fernández, and another, around 11 pm on Wednesday, to visit his girlfriend, the impersonator Fátima Florez, in her apartment in Palermo.
Power and faith he already has.
Love must be taken care of.
