Ariel Basile 
La Rioja governor Ricardo Quintela on February 3 made the surprise announcement that he would move the election date to May 7, following many of his Peronist peers who are separating their provinces’ elections from the national ones in order to protect themselves locally. During this interview, the official also confirmed he will run for reelection.
Quintela addressed several provincial and national issues, including the controversy around the lithium bill that gave the State a dominant role in the matter and terminated concession contracts. “A sort of mining real estate was being created,” Quintela said of his decision, explaining that he wants to negotiate with potential investors so that “the province and the country also win.” Likewise, he appreciated the creation of a political working group in the Frente de Todos, which was finally summoned yesterday by the President –after this interview. “I believe that the PASO (primary elections) are not so necessary, they are an unnecessary structure and movement”, he said.
He also questioned the Supreme Court ruling that gave the federal tax share funds back to Buenos Aires City, and supported the impeachment trial against the members of the highest court.
You’re navigating the final year of your administration. What’s your evaluation of it?
Ricardo Quintela: We have grown a lot. We were benefited by nation-wide policies. The previous government assigned us 360 homes in four years, and now we will end up with almost 4,700 homes. During Macri’s administration, not even one kindergarten was created. Today we have seven. The same happens with hospitals, ambulances, dialysis treatment systems in different parts of the province. Also educational policies, which delivered computers and school kits. We’ve built several schools. We also grew in genuine job numbers. We created 2,500 jobs within the textile and footwear sector in the industrial park, thanks to policies that encouraged companies to set up here: we expropriated unused warehouses, we added energy payment deferrals, and we contributed 50% of the minimum wage for new workers. It was hard to get investors to come to our province, because there were no incentives. Now there are.
Are you interested in developing lithium?
R.Q.: Lithium is a very specific issue, and we have a different perspective than other stakeholders. We want an opportunity to sit down and talk with companies that want to invest. Companies come to earn money, to take a material that is currently very important for electric car batteries. We want the company to win, but also the province and the country. We have to set conditions to develop added value to the mineral, to manufacture the battery cells here.
There was controversy around the provincial law that stated lithium is of public interest and terminated concessions…
R.Q.: Yes, because we were used to having the Director of Mining granting licenses without the governor having any knowledge, because of how the mining code was applied. When I found out, the licenses for the entire province had already been granted. I give you a license, you do a little exploration and then you sell it. We moved forward with the law because a kind of mining real estate was forming. They can raise capital for exploration and then sell the concession for 50, 100 or 300 million dollars. We want to sell that for the benefit of the people of La Rioja.
Did you talk about this with the national government?
R.Q.: I did not discuss it with the national government. We made the decision, unilaterally, in defense of the interests of the people of La Rioja. The concessions expired by law, which was voted in the Legislature. They were all owners of the mines, except the people of La Rioja.
What was the feedback you got from your peers in the Lithium Group, Morales (Jujuy), Jalil (Catamarca) and Sáenz (Salta)?
R.Q.: They didn’t say anything whatsoever. Each governor is sovereign in that matter. I do not judge them because I do not know the mechanism of their agreements. Obviously, there’s only 3% of the mineral’s pithead value left, and that is almost nothing. We want to prevent them from taking away the mineral with nothing left for the province.
Regarding politics, are you going to separate the elections?
R.Q.: We made the decision to bring the elections forward as a result of contributions from colleagues, who even saw it as necessary to work on national issues, separately from provincial matters. We want to resolve the provincial election first and then dedicate ourselves to contributing to the national government, with one single policy line and a common strategy to face the electoral process. We have decided to call elections for May 7. Possibly on Monday [February 6] this will be published in the Official Gazette and the two local newspapers. Elections would be called for governor, vice governor and all the positions in dispute: mayors, councilors.
Will you run for reelection?
R.Q.: It’s possible. I’ll run for reelection but without setting anyone conditions. If anyone wants to run, they can do so. It’s what the constitution allows me: a reelection.
And in the national scene, what do you make of the definition of candidacies?
R.Q.: I think it is auspicious that we can form a national group with governors from the different regions of the country, plus some mayors from the Buenos Aires suburbs, the CGT, social movements, businessmen with a contributing vision. A working group that can define the path we are going to take and our goals. That we can define if there will be an electoral process where those who have electoral aspirations can compete in primaries. I believe that the PASO are not really necessary, it is an unnecessary political and electoral structure and movement, and its result is that we’ll have elections all year long. Provincials, PASO, presidential, a possible runoff.
Yet there doesn’t seem to be a consensus between, for example, Kirchnerism and the president.
R.Q.: The definition given by the former president has been exemplary. She stepped aside so as not to please the opponents and contribute so that we can organize this dialogue. Her attitude is laudable and noble, since she is the one who concentrates the greatest support in the Frente de Todos and the Justicialista movement. She is a woman who has suffered persecution and even an assassination attempt. Minimizing events as serious as this also leads us to alarming situations. It only shows how the judiciary works.
Do you believe Alberto Fernández should run for reelection?
R.Q.: That should be discussed within the group: the mechanism to select the candidates, to decide the profiles of the most competitive candidates. Those who can best represent us. Alberto received an indebted, difficult country. Not just the US$45 billion from the IMF, but also the US$110 billion from the private sector that also has to be paid. Suddenly, we have to save the wealth we produce in order to pay a debt we did not contract. There is a huge flight of foreign currency. It came in one way and went out the other. We should have been more energetic in denouncing so we could find out where the funds went, because they did not go to schools, homes or roads.
You mentioned how the judicial system works, and you were one of the most energetic voices against the Court ruling that gave resources back to Buenos Aires City.
R.Q.: We are against a system that has centralized all economic, political and financial decisions in the capital city. The system is macrocephalic. The Nation is a great head concentrated in the capital city, making decisions for all of us, and a rickety body that cannot react. There are huge differences. The capital covers an area of 200km, it is very easy to provide services on that scale. It is the city with the largest number of law enforcement agents per inhabitant in the world after the Vatican. It is easier than providing services in provinces like ours, which is90,000 sq.km. and you have to bring water, connectivity, and education to places that are 500km. from the provincial capital. For example, to Vinchina, the last department before the border with Chile, in the Cordillera. It costs us a lot.
What do you think about the impeachment of Supreme Court justices?
R.Q.: I believe it’s the right thing to do, they are attacking federalism and the interests of 23 Argentine provinces by making a decision on shared federal tax funds granted to a city that is not entitled to them. First, because it is not a province; second, because it does not need them. Third, the money was wrongfully given to them by Macri. On the other hand, they suspended Law #27,706, which made Macri’s decree legal. By suspending that law, Macri’s decree becomes illegal: police stations should return to the Federal Police again. Now it seems that the capital was a province with comparative advantages and it is untouchable. The Court rules that way and ignores what happened in Lago Escondido and the phone chats, or the assassination attempt against Cristina. Those four people have to honor the Court, the Court should not honor them.
The League of Northern Governors [Gustavo Sáenz (Salta), Gerardo Morales (Jujuy), Raúl Jalil (Catamarca), Ricardo Quintela (La Rioja), Gildo Insfrán (Formosa), Osvaldo Jaldo (Tucumán), Jorge Capitanich (Chaco), Oscar Herrera Ahuad (Misiones)] have made demands in that direction. What’s the status of that group?
R.Q.: That block is fine, we have colleagues from other parties, two from the UCR and two from provincial parties, but the interests are above those of our parties. We work on common problems, such as reducing the asymmetries regarding the humid pampas region and mainly the federal capital. Larreta and the previous heads of government received a city with services already installed. Even some companies who settled in the provinces pay taxes in the capital because they are headquartered there. We want the distribution to be equitable so that we can develop in harmony. The federal capital produces absolutely nothing. It only provides services. The 23 provinces are the ones that produce.
The discussion on who should manage social welfare plans, the Potenciar Trabajo (Boost Labor), is that still going on?
R.Q.: If the Nation pays for them, the governors have to manage them. Many of these programs are administered by social organizations in an extortive manner. Organizations that organize picket lines and cut roads with demands, and we want people who to be paid in return for doing their part properly. We can even improve that remuneration. Today we have no control over that. Universities also do not have a structure to control the tasks of each beneficiary.
Do you see a solution for the current economic situation?
R.Q.: All the provinces have grown in job creation in the private sector. We have problems with inflation and the purchasing power of wages. Solving energy problems is essential for production, so we can get foreign currency, to pay our debts and pour it into development. So that we can get out of it. Massa is doing a good job, and he is rearranging public investment, adjusting unnecessary spending to save as much as possible. But we should have been more assertive with the [International Monetary] Fund, so that they give us better opportunities.
