Mauricio Macri reappears in Argentine politics with a book hinting at returning to the presidency

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Mauricio Macri is back. The former president has jumped back into the political arena in the same way his great enemy, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, did: with a book.

If hers was called ‘Sincerely’, although it was not entirely sincere, Macri’s book is called ‘First Half’ (Primer tiempo), which uses soccer game terminology to transmit the idea that the former president wants a “second half”, i.e. a second opportunity to “transform Argentina”.

The man who in 2019 was defeated by the Peronist duo Alberto Fernández and Cristina Kirchner, presented his book (which, according to the publisher, is already selling 70,000 copies thanks to pre-sales) before a faithful and devoted audience.

The Buenos Aires Convention Center, at half capacity due to the pandemic, burst into applause when Macri said that “Kirchnerism is the terminal form of populism” and predicted that after the failure of the current government would come “twenty years of reforms and prosperity”.

Mauricio Macri occasionally resorted to demagogy (as when he said that his policies would have allowed “that in Argentina there would now be vaccines for all”), but concentrated his message on justifying the mistakes of his mandate and highlighting the successes. “We learned from the mistakes and we will not make them again,” he assured. The current crisis under a Peronist government was also, according to him, a “learning experience” for Argentine society.

In the chapter dedicated to the economic failure, fundamental cause of his defeat, he recognizes that there were mistakes. But he concludes that he should not be severe with himself, because no more could be done with the ruin bequeathed to him by Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. “When we took over the government, Argentina was in asymptomatic bankruptcy”, he said on Thursday night, during the presentation ceremony.

The former president did not clarify whether he was planning to run for the 2023 presidential elections, although the electoral tone of the presentation gave some hint on the matter.

He insisted that many things had been achieved during his term of office, including a transparent administration and a respectful attitude towards judicial independence (objections could be raised on the second point), and that it was necessary to urgently resume the path of reforms. It was necessary to open Argentina to world trade, he said, and turn it back into the “giant” it was a century ago.

Mauricio Macri is no longer the undisputed leader of Macrismo. The former governor of Buenos Aires María Eugenia Vidal; the head of government of the city of Buenos Aires Horacio Rodríguez Larreta; and the former Minister of Security Patricia Bullrich, all harbor presidential aspirations. Macri could be like his arch enemy Cristina Kirchner: he arouses great enthusiasm, but also great rejection, which makes it difficult to achieve an electoral majority.

In any case, Macri maintains an intense emotional connection with his supporters. He was the leader of a very hopeful movement for many Argentines and even in the last months of his mandate, when all was bitterness and winning re-election was clearly impossible, he gathered millions of people in the streets.

The event was supported by brief filmed interventions of telegenic guests (among them Mario Vargas Llosa, Fernando Savater, Julio María Sanguinetti, Pilar Rahola, Juan José Campanella) who, after praising the book and its author, asked a question. Sanguinetti, former president of Uruguay, wanted to know when the “second half” of Macrismo would begin. “The second half has already begun”, Macri proclaimed, “we have to run back onto the field”.

Source: El Pais