MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Massa says future of Mercosur lies in Argentina's north

Massa proposed “changing the educational system” because “kids get bored at school” when they should “feel part of and integrated into the country”

Argentina's Economy Minister and presidential candidate Sergio Massa said Thursday that the heart of Mercosur lies in the country's north and urged his supporters to “go for our flag” in Sunday's elections. Massa's remarks came during a campaign closing event at a factory in the city of Pilar, some 50 kilometers northwest of the capital. He also promised to improve salaries “and the purchasing power of the people” if Unión por la Patria (UP) wins.

Massa also proposed a “new federal pact” and said that the country needed “to agree on five or six basic things” for a robust economic recovery. The minister promised to “promote work and help those who are in the popular economy and informal work because the State abandoned them and we have to embrace them.”

“I hear talk of cutting the provinces and eliminating co-participation. I had the good fortune to travel from one end of Argentina to the other and I can assure you that, in the north, [lies] a great part of the future of our country, not only because of the minerals but also because of the bioceanic corridor, which becomes the heart of Mercosur,” Massa also said before underlining that he would also be addressing “equal remuneration” between men and women, who he claimed “earn 23% less, on average.”

He also proposed “changing the educational system” because “kids get bored at school” when they should “feel part of and integrated into the country.”

“The first stage” of the electoral process is over, he stated that on Sunday it will be defined “if we are a country that defends the national industry or a country that is open to the entry of anything without looking at what and then the Argentines are left without work,” he also warned.

On Wednesday, frontrunner Javier Milei of La Libertad Avanza (LLA) closed his campaign at a packed Movistar Arena in Buenos Aires, with attendees willing to pay for tickets to grab a seat inside. “We can win in the first round, the [political] caste is afraid,” said Milei before a crowd brought to the stadium by numerous buses from all over the country.

According to analysts in the Argentine capital, the question to be decided on Sunday, Oct. 22 is whether Milei can win in the first round or if there will be a runoff between him and Massa.

Patricia Bullrich of the opposition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) of former President Mauricio Macri is said to have fallen back to third place after recent announcements regarding the participation of BA Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta and City officials in her potential national government.