Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) presidential candidate and former Security Minister Patricia Bullrich separated herself from fellow presidential hopeful and Buenos Aires city mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta on how they would deal with potential conflicts and what political agreements they would aim for.

“The biggest difference [between us] lies in the conviction” of changing the status quo, she said.

In a TV interview with the La Nación+ television station, Bullrich agreed that the biggest difference between her and Larreta lies in the degree to which they think political agreements are an instrument for changing things or keeping them the same. “The biggest difference lies in conviction. [Political agreements] are a form of submission.”

Bullrich said that “Argentina hasn’t had a dialogue meant to change things.” 

“The dialogue its had is about maintaining the status quo”, she said, while clarifying when she thinks will be the moment for words: “When talking makes things move forwards, then I’ll talk.”

Bullrich said that the two ways to deal with “those who throw rocks in protests, businesspeople who just want to do business and look the other way, politicians who engorge an ever-growing state,” are “submission or conflict.”

“Given those options, I choose conflict aimed at a way out, capable of turning conflict into a social majority [that moves past it],” she added.

If she becomes president, Bullrich said she would aim for a political organization “that doesn’t cede, because in the end what they want from you is not dialogue,” she said. “Deep down, they are not saying they want to talk to you, but rather that they want you to cede and keep things the way they are. It’s submission or conflict,” the PRO leader explained.

“Leaderships with conviction, those who have managed to make a real change in the system, chose a path and followed it without straying; [they] were able to turn it into a long term path for the country,” Bullrich said. 

“I think you will find obstacles when following the path you have to, and [when they appear] you need to say ‘Go on, go on, go on’. You won’t bring inflation down if you don’t balance out the country [‘s problems].”

Bullrich believes that “a great part of Argentina’s political leaders feed themselves and achieve power without thinking how much of that power they should give back to the people”. 

“The major dilemma right now is: do I make a big agreement between politicians where I keep certain things untouched, or do I take that power from politicians and give it back to society?”

“No Argentine today feels the State has made things better for them. Giving that power back to people is a great project for Argentina,” Bullrich said. In her view, this could be done by lowering State spending and giving people some money back. 

“We need to give the people the money they would’ve invested in more businesses, more fields, more oil, more jobs,” she said.