Argentina: JxC’s strength lies in the others’ weaknesses

Argentina: JxC’s strength lies in the others’ weaknesses

Bullrich insisted Argentina would “free itself from this mafia once and forever”

Opposition candidate Patricia Bullrich of former President Mauricio Macri’s Together for Change (Juntos por el Cambio – JxC) Monday closed her presidential campaign in the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (CABA) together with Mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, whom she defeated in the primaries and would now appoint as Cabinet Chief if elected.

Bullrich’s message focused on the weaknesses of the other contenders but said very little about what her government would be like.

“Now we are more than when we were government,” she said during her speech. “We are going to free ourselves from this [Kirchnerite] mafia once and for all,” she added while labeling the political project of Libertarian Congressman Javier Milei as “bad.”.

“Argentine citizens, the time has come to end once and for all with this nightmare that has been Kirchnerism and it is ending thanks to each and every one of you,” she went on.

“The only thing that matters to [Economy Minister and presidential hopeful Sergio] Massa is his excessive ambition for power, you can see it in his eyes. He destroyed us and wants to be a candidate for president. He is the Economy Minister who governs and wants to be the government and, with him, we are worse off every day. Who is going to want a Minister of Economy who has doubled inflation?” Bullrich argued.

Then she pointed out that Milei’s dollarization ideas “cannot be carried out” and insisted that “dollarization without dollars is impossible,” and therefore warned Argentines against buying “colored mirrors because to take Argentina forward you have to work, work and work.”

Bullrich also said she would be banking on JxC’s larger “political volume” compared to the one from Macri’s times. “Now we have the strength with 500 mayors, parliamentary majorities? We did not come out of a cabbage. We came out of the constant and permanent struggle. Now we are more than when we were in government. We are not going to let us run even a millimeter of the government that we are going to start on December 10,” she underlined.

Then she also announced that former Buenos Aires City Health Minister Fernán Quirós, who jumped into the limelight during the Covid-19 crisis, would be her choice for the same role at a national level if she reached Casa Rosada.

This week, Bullrich will be touring the country for the last time ahead of the Oct. 22 elections, with scheduled appearances in San Juan, San Luis, Mendoza, Córdoba, and Santa Fe for a final rally on Thursday in Lomas de Zamora in the province of Buenos Aires.