This weekend, the province of Mendoza became the scenario chosen by politicians to put on the presidential suit. As during the summer on the Buenos Aires coast, the Harvest Festival was the excuse for an endless parade of pre-candidates who will compete for Rivadavia’s seat, but it also exposed some inmates.
After the photo of Patricia Bullrich with the radical wing not aligned with the president of the UCR -including Facundo Manes-, Gerardo Morales met with Julio Cobos and provincial leaders who supported his candidacy.
Also read: The campaign moved to the Harvest: almost no one missed the annual showcase in Mendoza
“Radicalism has the best technical equipment, and territory to reach every door of every house in Argentina, let the foam not confuse us, if we focus on a government plan we can win,” said the governor of Jujuy during the meeting with Mendoza leaders, in response to the unexpected photo.
Patricia Bullrich and the radical leg of her candidacy
Until this Saturday, Bullrich had not finished defining the radical leg of his candidacy. Both Morales and Martín Lousteau are close to Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, although the man from Jujuy has already confirmed that he will compete with the head of the Buenos Aires government internally to define the presidential candidate.
Gustavo Valdes. Mariana Juri, Facundo Manes, Patricia Bullrich, Rodolfo Suárez, Alfredo Cornejo, Luis Naidenoff, Carolina Losada and Emilio Monzó, at the Harvest Festival (Photo: PRO).
However, in Mendoza, the head of the PRO and leader of the JxC hawks got the photo that, behind the scenes of the UCR, they did not want to see. With Manes, Gustavo Valdés, Rodolfo Suárez, Alfredo Cornejo, Carolina Losada, Luis Naidenoff, Emilio Monzó and Mariana Juri, among others, Bullrich shared a meeting that had the seal of support for his candidacy.
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In this context, the internal not only intensified in JxC, but also reached its highest point within the UCR. Although Bulrrich and Morales shared a brief encounter in a bodega, they barely crossed paths.
Manes, who had been very critical of the PRO leaders, especially Mauricio Macri, in recent days shared a meeting with the former president -from his team they assure that they never cut contact- and this Saturday he accompanied Bullrich. His candidacy has not yet been defined and within the coalition there is speculation about the possibility that he ends up forming part of the presidential formula, as vice president.
Morales and Cobos, together in Mendoza
While Bullrich shows himself with radicals not aligned with Morales, the Jujuy governor concentrates on deploying the territorial power of radicalism throughout the country. A campaign committee is already working in the province of Buenos Aires, hand in hand with the radical mayors, and he is active, leading hand-in-hand meetings.
Also read: Patricia Bullrich took a photo with radicals in Mendoza and left a clear message for Larreta and Morales
This Sunday it was the turn of former Vice President Julio Cobos, who participated accompanied by radical leaders from Mendoza. According to reports close to the governor, during the meeting they analyzed the electoral political situation of Mendoza and those present “expressed to Morales all his support to put together a federal government project, with a productivist and developmental perspective,” they said.
Gerardo Morales met with radical leaders from Mendoza, who supported his presidential candidacy (Photo: Gerardo Morales Press).
“We have to be united, focus on one course and not deviate from our direction, radicalism has the best technical equipment, and territory to reach each door of each house in Argentina, so that the foam does not confuse us, if we focus on a government plan we can win,” he said at the meeting.
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The strategy is clear. Unlike the PRO, the UCR has its own territorial weight throughout the country and does not want to lose it again, as in the 2015 formulas.
“Gerardo has a very clear vision, beginning with the order of the State, and the order of the macroeconomics to generate investment conditions, but with a growth and development program in all regions of the country, and aiming at education as they have other countries have done, and above all to recover the middle class, the concept of social mobility”, supported Cobos.