The President and CFK play on the verge of rupture: they do not pay attention to the damage already caused or governance

Poisoned versions, hurtful phrases, uncertainty. Everything is mixed up in the internal dispute of the ruling party, which at times transits inches from the real rupture. The brake seems to be given by vertigo and the calculation on the individual costs of such an outcome. But the game continues, even with a counterpoint of basic scenography. Alberto Fernández spreads a conversation with the managing director of the IMF, within the framework of several statements that seek to expose authority. And Cristina Fernández de Kirchner adds to her acid silence a photo with Mothers of Plaza de Mayo, in the run-up to another day of repudiation of the 1976 coup. It is a continual tension that produces enormous damage, with a disturbing projection on governance.

It is striking but typical of the confinement in the intern. Each one seeks to show its armor, despite the demands to reduce tension that come from territorially based sectors: some governors, mayors, referents of social organizations. The President alternates meetings with some external advisers and talks with the circle of Olivos, even smaller than the structure of ministers. There are widespread demands for hard positions to put Kirchnerism in cash, that is, to leave it without charges.

There are management issues that the economic situation imposes, especially the economy. Conversations with Martín Guzmán are repeated, a necessity and a way of expressing support for the most questioned minister in the circuit of the ruling party and not only from the vicinity of CFK. Political talks have few interlocutors. Santiago Cafiero, Juan Manuel Olmos, Vilma Ibarra, in the front row. Gabriela Cerruti and at times Aníbal Fernández expose publicly. Other top-level officials remain, some by their own decision, with a low profile.

From the vicinity of the former president, a bad forecast for the economy in the medium term can be transcended. The rejection of the agreement with the IMF was expressed. The considerations about the scenario they imagine are serious, in the midst of the deepening social crisis. The most alarming thing, however, is that they circulate it.

The domestic battle sterilizes even the events imagined in Olivos as a possible basis for recreating management. It's a short list, with the debt deal in the lead. It was known that the understanding with the IMF - including its projection in negotiations with the Paris Club - would hardly generate significant access to credit and less, a flow of foreign direct investment. The external picture was aggravated by the war that triggered Russia's invasion of Ukraine, but it is clear that local conditions played against it.

On the other hand, and despite the external context, there was greater expectation in the Government, at least because of the initial impact of the understanding with the Fund, nothing less, which means avoiding default. The internal crisis plays against it. The move made yesterday by the President shows the state of affairs. The Government reported that Alberto Fernández's conversation with Kristalina Georgieva served to reaffirm the political commitment to the economic measures program entailed in the agreement. Would such a gesture be necessary in more normal conditions?

For now, it is clear that it was necessary in the face of the questions caused by the fight with CFK and the space that she leads within the Government coalition. The message to the intern is just another fact in the attempt to rebuild presidential authority.

Alberto Fernández made statements that aimed, in the speech, to reaffirm the elementary logic of a government: its place as president and, as such, responsibility in decision-making. In itself, another sign of the abnormality of power. He insisted he won't do anything against unity. And along these lines, some highlighted as a political fact the photo of an official event, already scheduled and referring to environmental policies, which he showed it together with officials from his circle, some Kirchnerists and governors of the PJ and also of the opposition.

One of those present at that event was Martín Soria. The Minister of Justice then attended the plenary of Senate committees, which began to discuss the draft reform of the Council of the Judiciary. He was accompanied by Juan Martín Mena, deputy minister and, in fact, CFK's main piece in that area. Soria rammed the Supreme Court. And he stressed that at this point, there are no differences between Alberto Fernández and CFK.

The President must work out how he will move his pieces on the official board. In any case - unity or the sharpening of the fracture - the question is what his political plan is. And in any case, the central elements are the tough competition of Kirchnerism, the lower gravity of the Executive in Congress, and the ability to generate a reasonable coexistence with the opposition, especially with Together for Change, among other areas.

The internal fracture was exposed in the legislative treatment of the agreement with the Fund. But what they are discussing is not only that. At the center is the interpretation of last year's double electoral defeat - the causes and the culprits - as a basis for facing the crisis and 2023.

Some of this, with little depth, was expressed in the crossing of statements between what is presented as “albertist intellectuals” versus “Kirchner intellectuals”. The former were left as “moderates” who understand the deal with the IMF as a necessary step to restore their own expectations on the way to next year's elections. The others, openly questioning the President, believe that moderation masks helplessness and that last year's defeats are attributable to an abandonment of the policies promised in 2019. Few notice the risk of the dispute in the face of the crisis. But that's the topic at this hour.