In a show of unity, Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich and Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales praised each other on Monday as they inaugurated eight rural schools across the province. 

Erstwhile rivals in the JxC primaries, Morales welcomed Bullrich to the province as she completes her tour of Argentine provinces in the runup to the general elections on October 22. On Sunday she was in Mendoza celebrating the coalition’s victory in the province’s gubernatorial election.

“We are the only political force with the capacity to govern, with our feet on the ground and with courage. This time they will not push us aside. The change is now, it is now and it is forever,” said Bullrich from a stage at the Club Atlético San Pedro, in the city of Jujuy.

Morales is the president of the Unión Cívica Radical (UCR), which is part of the JxC opposition coalition and ran as vice presidential candidate for Bullrich’s rival Horacio Rodríguez Larreta in the primaries. 

“It is not the same to have a JxC governor close to the people like Gerardo than not to have him”, she said during the event, which was also attended by Jujuy’s JxC governor-elect Carlos Sadir.

For his part, Morales described Bullrich as “a woman with courage and determination” who “has been an activist and politician for a long time” and who “knows and understands the problems” of the country.

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“I am not only part of Juntos por el Cambio, I am a soldier and I am with our candidate, Patricia Bullrich,” said Morales in a press conference. “She will win on October 22 because she has courage, she is decisive and knowledgeable and understands the country’s problems.”

Both politicians once again leveled criticism against far-right libertarian presidential candidate Javier Milei. Bullrich commented on his adding union leader Luis Barrionuevo to his ranks, imploring her voters to “not be fooled” by his coalition La Libertad Avanza (LLA).

Just hours before the event, the governor had criticized former president Mauricio Macri — leader of the PRO party — saying that he “has done a lot of damage” to the JxC coalition due to his praise for Milei.

“There is a contagious extreme liberalism, which spreads badly and hurts us, that perverts Juntos por el Cambio,” Morales said in an interview on Radio La Red.

The head of the UCR said that the best way for Macri to contribute would be to “leave no doubt that the candidate is Patricia and that there is no possibility for Milei.”

Morales came under fire this year for a series of recent protests over teachers’ salaries and a controversial reform of the province’s constitution. Provincial police responded to the demonstrations in June with a violent crackdown that was repudiated by human rights organizations — Morales accused the national government of “organizing the chaos” in response. 

On Monday, Intergremial — a group that brings together Jujuy’s state unions — sent Morales a petition demanding that negotiations continue and called for a march in the city of Jujuy on Thursday. 

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—with information from Télam