MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Who's who in Argentina after Thursday's cabinet reshuffle

Daniel Scioli will return to his post as Argentine Ambassador to Brazil

After Thursday's announcement of a large-scale cabinet reshuffle at Casa Rosada, the administration of President Alberto Fernández also announced the new destinations of the departing officials.

Since Lower House Speaker Sergio Massa agreed to take over the newly-created “Superministry” of Economy, Production and Agriculture, other changes became inevitable.

Silvina Batakis, who lasted less than one month as Economy Minister, will become President of the Banco de la Nación Argentina (BNA). “The President recognizes and appreciates the commitment she showed by joining the Cabinet,” according to the official statement from Casa Rosada. Batakis spent only 25 days on the job following Martín Guzmán's resignation.

Mercedes Marcó del Pont will replace Gustavo Béliz as Secretary of Strategic Affairs, thus leaving her position as head of the tax bureau known formally as the Federal Administration of Public Revenues (AFIP), where Social Security Resources General Director Carlos Castagneto will be promoted to the top spot.

And a month and a half after taking over as Minister of Productive Development, former Vice President and Buenos Aires Governor Daniel Scioli will return to his post as Argentine Ambassador to Brazil. “The president is deeply grateful to him for having been present in the cabinet when he was summoned,” the government's communiqué stated.

The 2015 presidential candidate had been summoned by President Fernández following the resignation of Matías Kulfas.

Last but not least, Julián Domínguez has resigned as Minister of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries. President Alberto Fernández accepted his resignation but found him no other position within the current administration.

On the Legislative front, the Lower House will need a replacement for Massa, who has proposed Deputy Cecilia Moreau, head of the Frente de Todos (FdT) bloc, as his successor.

Despite criticism against Moreau, the opposition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC - Together for Change) will reportedly acquiesce to her appointment, so as to not be linked to the government's failure.

Voting on Massa's successor is scheduled for Tuesday. In the meantime, the acting Lower House Speaker will be JxC's Omar de Marchi, of former President Mauricio Macri's PRO (a member of the JxC coalition.

The Lower House Speaker is third in line to a presidential succession if the case came to be, after Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (CFK), and Senate Provisional Speaker Claudia Ledesma Abdala.

When in April of 1989 then Economy Minister Juan Vital Sourrouille resigned amid galloping inflation and President Raúl Alfonsín was losing his grip on the country's businesses, the head of state chose Lower House Speaker Juan Carlos Pugliese to replace him. Pugliese had also been Economy Minister under President Arturo Illia in 1964.

After Pugliese resigned from the Lower House, the Peronist Eduardo Duhalde (and Vice-President-elect), then first vice-president of the body, remained as acting Speaker until the end of the month, when Leopoldo Moreau (Cecilia's father) of the UCR was appointed. Leopoldo Moreau is now a Kirchnerist lawmaker.

Pugliese managed to remain Economy Minister until May 24, a little longer than Batakis. But by that time it was clear Alfonsín could no longer handle the country and was forced to resign in July, barely five months before the end of his constitutional six-year term.