Alberto Fernández goes into the territory in campaign mode to strengthen himself in the tense home front with La Campora

At a political table with his main bishops, last week, in Olivos, Alberto Fernández gave the order to launch the predicted “relaunch of the Government”, starting with the closing of the agreement with the IMF, and to start working in electoral campaign mode in advance. There have already been several proselytizing activities, which will be methodically deepened and organized in the coming weeks, starting with the adoption of the law most desired by the Executive, due to the need for the disbursements that will allow it to make the next payments. With weekly visits to the interior and suburban areas, the President will seek to strengthen himself in the internal competition - for a few days now flagrant - with La Campora and Cristina Kirchner.

For now, the “enemy” is not in the opposition, but in the Frente de Todos itself, where disputes reached a peak over the weekend, with no signs that they will abate. With the virtual break with Kirchnerism - although co-government remains for now, there is uncertainty about the possibility of changes in the Cabinet - the President lays the foundations for the strategy to start working on the territory with an eye on 2023.

The rush to start the campaign responds to several reasons. One is the defeat, last year, against Together for Change, which left the President weakened before public opinion. Another is the agreement with the Fund, which is regarded as a turning point for the Government. Also influential is the serious fight with Cristina and Máximo Kirchner, who accelerated and deepened the differences, in recent days, based on the vote on the debt pact in deputies and criticism of the attack on the Vice-President's office during the legislative debate. And, finally, there is the diagnosis that Alberto Fernández, who has already admitted that he wants to be re-elected in two years, is more than ever, in the eyes of the citizen, locked in the palatial intrigues that, as one close collaborator said, “do everything but add to him”. “People are bad about their pockets, because they don't make ends meet. We need to show a closer Alberto, concerned about people's problems. Humanize it,” said the Cabinet member.

The analysis coincides with the dissemination, yesterday, of the figures for general inflation in February, which reached 4.7 per cent, and in particular that of food, which reached an alarming 8 per cent. The chaotic economic situation, which has a direct impact on the social level, will most likely worsen: the guarismos still do not reflect the impact that the increase in the values of energy commodities will have on the international market, and which the Government will seek to balance, with what level of success, with a negotiation with the agricultural sector to obtain a percentage of the revenue from the increase, also, in prices in the grain market.

It was no accident that the President declared yesterday, a few hours before the indec numbers were released, that “since Friday the war on inflation begins”. However, their statements were poorly evaluated in the opposition, and also in their environment. Firstly, by the use of the word “war”, which is obviously reminiscent of the bloody war that plagues civilians in Ukraine 20 days ago due to the invasion of Russia by Vladimir Putin. But above all, because when you listen to them, you can easily get rid of a question: “Why now, and not before?” In addition, they questioned the hurry to make the announcement. “It is true that a package is being worked on, but it is not finished and it may not be done by the day it was noticed,” said a spokesperson.

For now, the campaign has already started. The President's collaborators - Foreign Minister Santiago Cafiero, Secretary of the Presidency Julio Vitobello, Catalan consultant Antoni Gutiérrez Rubi, and Chief of Staff Juan Manzur, with whom they are rebuilding relations after months of mistrust - are working on a scheme of visits to the territory, with some central guidelines. In principle, they will seek that they are always anchored in a particular “situation”, such as inaugurations, anniversaries, or national dates. In addition, they will try to intersect the routes between the interior and the suburban, to end with the image of a “Buenos Aires” or “porteñocentric” government.

“This was planned. We needed to close the agreement with the IMF. It is missing for the elections, but the idea is to work with a thread of time where in the end the electoral process will be. Which is going to be the PASO, in principle, because it is very likely that this will be resolved in an internal one,” said a hillside of the president.

The weekend he was in Punta Indio, yesterday in Tortuguitas, both in the province of Buenos Aires. He then starred in an event at Tecnópolis for the launch of a student plan within the framework of the Empower Work plan, together with his friend and Minister of Social Development, Juan Zabaleta. And this Thursday and Friday, he will travel to Salta, first, on the occasion of the inauguration of the 40,000 house, and to Tucumán, on a visit organized by the chief of staff and governor on leave, Manzur, one of the architects of the campaign ahead -although he maintains his own presidential ambitions-.

At this stage, they admitted, the presence of the first lady Fabiola Yáñez will be key, who accompanied him on the weekend, when she was 8 months pregnant, to Punta Indio. They want to “soften” the image of the President, and the baby to come will fit like a ring to the finger. Another example of this was the style of her visit to a sports center, yesterday, where she warmly and jokingly greeted a group of women in the middle of practicing aquatic gymnastics.

With an unusually early campaign, the President seeks to strengthen himself on the home front, with the certainty that the collisions in the economy of the agreement with the IMF will be inevitable and that space dissidents, led by La Campora, will not give up questioning. In addition, he assumes that next year, given the practically insurmountable differences inside, the candidacies of the ruling party will be settled in a few steps, at least, between the territorial PJ (they still deny the word “albertism”) and Kirchnerism, although the third member of the coalition could also intervene, Sergio Massa, who, they consider in the Casa Rosada, has already launched himself into the race, proposing himself as a mediator between the Government and the opposition in the negotiations for the votes for the agreement with the IMF in Congress.

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