After months without public political statements, former president Mauricio Macri reappeared to lead the federal tour "Next Step". This journey, designed to showcase a nonexistent political muscle in the northwest region (Jujuy, Salta, Tucumán, and Santiago del Estero), has already made stops in Capital, Province of Buenos Aires (Vicente López and Mar del Plata), Chaco, Mendoza, and Santa Fe. The "Regional PRO Meeting in Jujuy" took place at the Hotel Altos de la Viña in San Salvador de Jujuy. The event showcased a scarce and minimal attendance, leaving Mauricio Macri standing behind a podium with mountains in the background speaking to a tiny group or handful of attendees from various northern provinces.
The scene forced his team to release photos taken very closely and with tight angles to disguise the desolation, while several attendees raised cell phones and social media was filled with mockery. The failure contrasted sharply with 2015, when he gathered a crowd in Humahuaca for the runoff.
Mauricio Macri in Jujuy
Internally, they blamed the secretary general Fernando de Andreis for the poor organization of the event. However, local leaders confided to LPO that the real reason for the trip was tourism: Mauricio Macri wanted to see Chano Carpentier from Tan Biónica. "They stayed at the same hotel", revealed a source, concluding: "Mauricio spends his time sightseeing".
There, Mauricio Macri had dinners with former governor María Eugenia Vidal and meetings with governors from the UCR such as Leandro Zdero (Chaco), Alfredo Cornejo (Mendoza), Maximiliano Pullaro (Santa Fe), and brothers Juan Pablo Valdés and Gustavo Valdés (Corrientes), in addition to a party meeting at Balcarce 412 with the head of the Jujuy branch, Claudia Machaca. However, the attempt to create an opposition alternative collided head-on with territorial reality.
Desperate to cover up the fiasco, the former president posted on X: "It is a province to which I have a huge affection. Jujuy holds a special place in the history of the PRO", promising: "We continue with a clear task: to build teams, add new people, train leaders, and work to make the change irreversible".
Accompanied by the governor of Jujuy, Carlos Sadir —with whom he met along with Fernando de Andreis to discuss "the national issue; electoral matters and the national government" in a meeting that those close to Macri described as "super good"—, Mauricio Macri rehearsed criticisms of the Government. Strangely, he labeled the fiscal achievement of Javier Milei as a "low-quality fiscal surplus" that carries previous subsidies.
Mauricio Macri in Jujuy
While he acknowledged that the President eliminated the deficit "with great audacity, very quickly, something unprecedented in Argentine history, I believe in the history of humanity", he attacked the management claiming: "But we all know it is of low quality because if the budget cannot include maintaining the infrastructure we have and building new, then the budget is poorly made".
He also demanded to reduce inflation"to a single-digit annual rate", increase access to credit, reduce country risk, and claimed positions stating: "There are also good teams missing". He added that he raised this "several times" to Javier Milei but "we did not have a response", recalling his questioning of Manuel Adorni in the Chief of Cabinet amid asset investigations and boasting that "where he governed, what happened? People live better".
After emphasizing that they supported La Libertad Avanza (LLA) in the 2023 runoff and for almost three years in Congress, he concluded by altering the libertarian slogan inspired by Donald Trump: "We come for what is right, which is to make Argentina great, an Argentina that can include everyone". Beside him, Fernando de Andreis praised that Javier Milei leads the "collapse of populism", but marked distance: "We do not feel comfortable only with that demolition. We feel more comfortable with construction".
Mauricio Macri in Jujuy
Only secondary figures attended the meeting, such as Antonela Giampieri, Gimena Villafruela, Ezequiel Jarvis (vice president of Ceamse), and Ezequiel Sabor (former secretary of the Buenos Aires government and director of Banco Ciudad). In contrast, there was a resounding absence of the presidential candidate from the space and former minister of Finance, Hernán Lacunza, justifying his absence due to "schedule" (promising to go "soon"), while his candidacy divides between agreement-makers and differentiated sectors. Mauricio Macri did not even mention him.
This embarrassment occurred just 24 hours after Cristian Ritondo and Fernando de Andreis admitted to being "far from an electoral agreement" with LLA after their fourth meeting with Diego Santilli and Eduardo "Lule" Menem (delegates of Karina Milei), citing differences over the elimination of PASO, the "management" in disability ("In this they were wrong", stated Fernando de Andreis) and the control of Capital led by Jorge Macri towards 2027.
Although senator Martín Goerling suggested that PRO will seek to be "protagonists", Cristian Ritondo clarified that they will "never" favor a "return to populism". In light of the evident social rejection displayed in Jujuy, the yellow caste has no choice but to line up behind the undisputed leadership of Javier Milei.
