Argentina's Economy Minister in President Fernández's Achilles tendon

Tuesday, May 3rd 2022 - 09:55 UTC

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Guzmán's agreement with the IMF needs reviewing because it was based on inflationary projections which have already fallen short of reality's figures

As Argentina's inflation continues to grow with no end in sight and the news is that guidelines agreed upon with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) already need to be reviewed because they were based on a CPI that is no longer attainable, Economy Minister Martín Guzmán is beginning to take flak from friends and foes alike, casting doubts on his chances of remaining in office.

Or if President Alberto Fernández will take the fall with him, leading to the promotion of Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK) who already seems to be planning her full return to Casa Rosada in the 2023 elections.

Madres de Plaza de Mayo leader Hebe de Bonafini said: “Guzmán is shameless, sometimes it makes me want to punch him.”

“We are being lied to by the President and him, both of them lie to us,” she added.

“They are putting the noose around our necks,” she insisted.

“Guzmán is shameless, he is a son of a good mother. I, to tell the truth, sometimes I feel like having him near me to trumpet him,” Bonafini said during the ceremony for the 45th anniversary of the Mothers of the Mothers in Plaza de Mayo over the weekend.

“I swear, it makes me want to hit him in that stone face he has when he talks, which seems that he is telling us that we are doing well when he is tightening the noose more and more. He is shameless,” she went on.

He “looks like a minister of the Yankees,” the human rights champion pointed out. “We don't know what the fuck he is doing traveling, coming and going, we don't know what he is doing”.

Bonafini highlighted CFK for her “brilliant” political capacity. “Luckily we have this president that we want her to be president forever, for life, our dear Cristina who, even if she is whatever, is going to be president always in our hearts. She is brilliant in what she does and gives us a lot of hope,” she said.

The Mothers' leader insisted President Alberto Fernández “does not fulfill anything of what he said; he never received a poor person, he spends his time receiving the rich who want to earn more and more because the Fund is demanding it. He is pulling the rope.”

Almost along the same lines, former Peronist Senator and opposition Vice-Presidential candidate Miguel Ángel Pichetto said Guzmán's was “a completed cycle,” who has failed to come up with a single idea to help the country out of its current plight.

“I am sorry to agree with Kirchnerism, but the Minister does not have an idea. At least one to try to stabilize the economy,” said Pichetto, who stressed that the unexpected income tax, was “the worst” of Guzmán's elucubrations.

Pichetto also highlighted that in Argentina everything was upside down. “Those who receive [an unemployment] plan and do not work celebrate Labor Day.”

Last week, Buenos Aires Provincial Development Minister Andrés “Cuervo” Larroque stressed nobody had voted for Guzmán, who has undoutedly become Prresident Fernández's Acchilles tendon.