Global Courant
The four candidates for the office of head of government of the city of Buenos Aires were at the center of the traditional debate this Wednesday evening before the elections on October 22nd that will determine the new head of government.
In order of appearance, Ramiro Marra (La Libertad Avanza), Vanina Biasi (FIT), Leandro Santoro (Unión por la Patria) and Jorge Macri (Together for Change) discussed four central axes of the management of Buenos Aires.
Infrastructure, city management and city regulations
Santoro began by stating that “if we want a city for business or for people” was a direct criticism of Macri, recalling that the Buenos Aires government is selling the Ministry of Education building to IRSA for “$563 per square meter.” had. .
Afterwards, the former mayor of Vicente López contradicted the statements of the national deputy and, changing the subject, asked him what he had done to make the nation return the co-participation funds that the government of Alberto Fernández had taken from the city.
Santoro reminded Macri of his Buenos Aires origins and told him that this was an issue in which his cousin Mauricio Macri and Alberto’s government, like Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, had “handled themselves badly.” And he assured that I had always spoken out “against” the reduction in participation.
The most forceful from a discursive point of view was, as expected, Marra, who constantly got in the way of Santoro, in a strategy to contest second place, which could eventually lead to a runoff; and to a lesser extent Biasi due to ideological differences. However, he never targeted Macri, about whom he later stated: “We will debate it when we get to the runoff, it’s neck-and-neck with Santoro.”
Ramiro Marra enters the studios where the debate took place. Photo: Marcelo Carroll.
He constantly reminded the MP of his affiliation with Kirchnerism and accused him of hating the private sector and “those of us who work”. In addition, he said: “I went into politics to fight against people like you.” Santoro responded to him about his closeness to Roberto Lavagna and that he had recommended buying shares in the company Nicolás Caputo, which worked with linked to former President Mauricio Macri when he was an influencer and did not have authorization from the National Securities Commission, for which he was fined. “You really want to come third,” Marra chirped him again, declaring himself the “chaser” of the K.
Biasi, who won the PASO of a FIT that barely got over 3% of the vote, criticized the Larreta government for “quadrupling the population of the slums in the city”, he also spoke of the “failure of the urban planning law” and of “the appearance of the city change.” She had her sung confrontation with Marra, who accused her of committing crimes and blocking the streets with pickets.
“Behind Marra’s funny facade there are reactionary politics, they are the ones who are illegal,” Biasi said before embarking on a tough confrontation with Buenos Aires’ libertarian lawmakers. Marra said the left “mistreats the poor,” “they are criminals,” and complained about mothers taking minors to demonstrations. “Why the hell do you care what people do?” Biasi asked.
Health, culture, human development and gender
On this point, Jorge Macri said that it is an issue that “I have known for a long time, with Vicente López”, he appreciated the achievements of the Larreta management, but at the same time was self-critical when he said that “it is shifting” . in hospitals take too long and “the guards have collapsed.” In addition, it has committed to creating a high-complexity diagnostic center and six medium-complexity centers.
Santoro referred to education there, claiming that “education is not a PRO priority” and that “the $14,000 million spent on advertising should be invested in schools.”
Jorge Macri with his wife Belén Ludueña. Photo: Marcelo Carroll.
Biasi placed particular emphasis on the need to improve sex education in schools and criticized the Buenos Aires government for its management in this area. Like Marra and Macri, she almost did not confront Leandro Santoro, who also did not come out to question her.
Yes, he did it with Marra, whom he identified with a hint as “the candidate who said you need to educate yourself on pornography.” And he announced that in his future government “not a penny will be missing from sex education and resources will be made available to teachers.”
The libertarian then struck it down forcefully: “You don’t care about teachers because there is inflation coming from your government. They have unworthy salaries, we want them to earn more money.” As far as mental health is concerned, he also blamed “the caveman quarantine decided by Kirchnerism” for the crisis.
Housing, environment and productive development
The focus of the third axis was the housing discussion. It was undoubtedly one of the most critical, with tenancy law being the dominant issue.
Biasi responded to a question from Macri about her stance on private property and the left-wing leader replied: “The only private property you don’t respect is the worker’s salary.”
The PRO official, the main candidate for victory in October, almost always avoided confrontations and emphasized his management goals. “My goal is to bring shine to this city, which has a huge future, and to represent a state that doesn’t overwhelm it with regulations and taxes.”
Santoro, meanwhile, had targeted Buenos Aires’ ruling party for “building luxury apartments” and failing to regulate temporary rentals. He promised to regulate Airbnbs if necessary, as “New York City has done.”
Leandro Santoro during the debate in Buenos Aires.
In this section, Santoro decided to question Marra and tell him that “you have gone off track and been aggressive in recent days.” And he described him as “anti-meritocracy” and someone “who is not interested in it “To govern the city, but rather to gain followers in the networks.”
Marra came out strong, telling Santoro that he “didn’t want to talk about the crap that was done in this government,” and also brought back an issue he had raised: “Close Paka Paka, where the Kirchnerists have one Diminish ideology.” Line.”
Autonomy, political system, justice and security
It also led to dialectical confrontations. There, Biasi hit Marra because from Libertad Avanza “no one says anything about what happened to Chocolate Rigau, they are involved in it,” referring to the debit card collection scandal in the Buenos Aires Parliament.
Vanina Biasi and her team take part in the debate. Photo: Marcelo Carroll.photo MARCELO CARROLL – FTP CLARIN CAR00101_1.JPG Z
Marra avoided answering this point and reiterated that one of the most important problems to be solved was picketing. There he accused Together for Change of “complicity” with them. Jorge Macri told him: “I will be relentless with the cuts.” And on security, he said: “I will guarantee that the police have Taser guns” and that “the revolving door” in prisons is due to the bad actions of the Justice is put to an end.
Santoro, meanwhile, tried to demote Marra in this section, saying he would discuss security issues with Macri. He recalled that the Buenos Aires government had “six security ministers in five years,” assured that Palermo was “blown up” and that everyone knew “where drugs are sold in the city.” In this sense, he stated that he would strengthen the Buenos Aires police force, but also control it.
Marra finished off the leader of the Unión por la Patria with more harassment. “This is neck and neck with Santoro. I have a better chance of winning a runoff against Jorge Macri, so I will debate him later.” And he told him that “you are completely lost on security issues.”
