In the midst of a new episode that reveals the internal divisions of Kirchnerism, the Buenos Aires government minister, Carlos Bianco, responded harshly to the ironic message that provincial deputy Mayra Mendoza sent to a private group, after the official underwent emergency surgery by a cadre of appendicitis in Barcelona, during an official tour with Governor Axel Kicillof
.Back in the country after the medical intervention, Bianco described the whole situation as “painful and pathetic”, referring both to the content of the message and to its subsequent leak. “It's an internal message in a WhatsApp group that we have with the mayors. In fact, it was an outdated group, because in that group there are still some colleagues who stopped being mayors and who were still in the group. I don't want to talk much about it because I found the whole event, the whole situation, quite painful and pathetic. And much more so that later it was leaked to the press,” he said in a dialogue with the media.
The official, considered one of Kicillof's most trusted men, tried to tone down the conflict by appealing to a directive from the governor himself: “The governor asked us not to get involved in any interns. And that's what I have to do as an instruction. But as a general rule of my behavior, I take things as if they come from because often what is said speaks more about the person who says it than about the situation to which it refers.”
However, his statements gave a glimpse of the level of internal wear and tear within the Buenos Aires government. Bianco even remarked that he received gestures of support from opposition sectors, in contrast to criticism coming from the political space itself: “I only argue with arguments and with respect. When there are neither arguments nor respect, nor do I start arguing. I prefer to stay with hundreds and hundreds of people who really surprised me because they wrote to my networks, to WhatsApp, really worried. People you don't know... besides the fact that it wasn't a serious issue, it's appendicitis and it's not nice or comfortable to be 12 thousand kilometers away from your home and have a medical problem
.”Along the same lines, he ironized the versions surrounding his trip: “You break down and get sick. It's not that I planned and said: 'I'm going to go to Barcelona to this congress to accompany the governor and by the way I'm having cosmetic surgery'”. He added: “I had appendicitis and the doctors told me: 'you can't get on the plane, you have to have surgery here. ' And the truth is that it's not nice or comfortable. It's not serious either, because it's a minor operation, but it wasn't comfortable. I even stick with the opposition leaders who showed more personal talent than some of their colleagues.”
Among those who contacted him, he mentioned opposition leaders such as Néstor Grindetti and Sebastián Pareja, as well as radical mayors, whom he thanked “far beyond his colleagues and fellow mayors
”.The conflict originated from a message from Mayra Mendoza in a WhatsApp group shared with mayors, where several community chiefs—such as Nicolás Mantegazza (San Vicente), Miguel Gesualdi (San Andrés de Giles) and Maximiliano Wesner (Olavarría) —had sent wishes for a speedy recovery to Bianco.
