Kirchnerist no-show: the coward Katopodis did not attend the debate with Diego Valenzuela

The Buenos Aires electoral campaign added a new episode on Monday that highlights Kirchnerism's strategy: avoiding public confrontations with opponents who question decades of poor management. Gabriel Katopodis, Minister of Infrastructure and Public Services of the province of Buenos Aires and candidate for provincial senator for Fuerza Patria in the First Electoral Section, was absent at the last minute from the debate organized on the program A dos voces, where he was supposed to face Diego Valenzuela, mayor of Tres de Febrero and head of the La Libertad Avanza list.

The television image was recorded: Valenzuela sitting alone, in front of an empty chair that symbolized Kirchnerism's refusal to confront ideas and projects.  "Will we be able to debate with Kirchnerism's candidate for senator about the state and future of Buenos Aires province?" Valenzuela tweeted minutes before the program began, anticipating Katopodis's absence.

From Katopodis's campaign team, Jesica Rey, Buenos Aires Minister of Public Communication, justified the absence with a statement read on air by Marcelo Bonelli:  "We met with the campaign team and we believe this is not the time for a debate in just one section. We believe that in the current situation, the campaign should proceed through other activities."

The debate had been proposed by the program's production the previous Thursday and, according to sources revealed to the media, Katopodis described the initiative as "sensational," with only Governor Axel Kicillof's authorization pending. However, during Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, the minister entered a "cone of silence," without communicating or answering the phone, finally sending Rey's formal message on Monday.

In front of the empty chair, Bonelli commented:  "Unfortunately, Katopodis decided in some way, or by order of Kicillof, to leave the chair empty. Unfortunately, Katopodis wasn't authorized to come, we don't really know."

Valenzuela, meanwhile, regretted the lack of debate and denounced decades of neglect in the province.  "I would have liked to debate with Katopodis about the Province we see and the one we envision for the future. If there is any proposal or idea, beyond what they've been saying, which is to stop Milei, for now that's all it is," he stated. He also pointed out that Kirchnerist and Kicillof governments have plunged the province into insecurity, neglect, and decline.

Regarding the economic situation, Valenzuela added:  "I travel throughout Buenos Aires province and everywhere I go, I find, in addition to very little infrastructure, water, sewage, accumulated garbage, a model of State that brought us here. A giant State, full of activists, of 'ñoquis,' with a lot of public employment and high taxes. What I was going to say to Gabriel is that I did in Tres de Febrero exactly the opposite of what the provincial government did with Kicillof and the Kirchnerist municipalities."

Meanwhile, Katopodis participated in an event in Pilar in the afternoon alongside Kicillof.  "On September 7, we will once again set priorities in Argentina, we will once again say what's right and what's wrong. Milei is stopped by the ballot," the official tweeted. At the event, he also listened to a message sent by Cristina Kirchner from San José 1111, played with an empty lectern due to the former president's house arrest in the Vialidad case.

Valenzuela concluded his participation on TN and later on social media, insisting on Katopodis's absence: "Unfortunately, Buenos Aires residents couldn't hear the debate between the two main options they have for the September 7 elections. I went eager to discuss ideas and the future of the Province, but Kirchnerism's candidate was a no-show. A shame."

Hours earlier, Valenzuela had participated in Javier Milei's caravan in Lomas de Zamora, which was abruptly suspended after attacks by protesters against the President. Later, at 7:21 p.m., he wrote on his social media: "Tonight I invite you to debate the province we don't want, and the one we aspire to build with freedom, security, and work. On September 7, we begin to take Buenos Aires out of abandonment and decades of neglect."

Almost four hours later, he starred in a one-man debate that exposed Kirchnerism's lack of commitment to face concrete questions about provincial management.