Buenos Aires Herald 
Tension within opposing coalition Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) continue to grow as the date for the PASO primary elections gets closer. PRO presidential candidate Patricia Bullrich called her party rival and fellow candidate, BA city mayor Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, “opportunistic” after he said the political model of confrontation she proposes has “failed,” unleashing a series of back-and-forths between JxC factions.
Larreta and Bullrich are two candidates who will be competing in the primaries for the JxC presidential nomination. Both are leaders of Propuesta Republicana (PRO), the main JxC party.
Larreta, leader of a more moderate faction of JxC compared to the one led by Bullrich, said her political platform is based on a “strong message,” but one that “hasn’t worked” in the past, referring to former president Mauricio Macri, who failed to win reelection in 2019.
“We (Larreta and Bullrich) are both part of JxC, we share a vision of where Argentina should be striving towards. But we differ on the how, and that makes all the difference. The how is what makes a difference between making it or not,” Larreta told La Red radio station.
“It’s Argentine history. One hundred years of fighting, of saying those who don’t think like me are the enemy, that they need to be killed, that everything your political adversary says is wrong, that the government needs to start from scratch. That model ha failed, look where we are now,” he added.
When asked if he thinks that that was Macri’s model, he said: “That’s what he tried, but I propose something different. Lets build a new solid and strong majority capable of ruling Argentina and making lasting changes.”
Bullrich accused Larreta of being “opportunistic” and “doing anything for a vote.”
“There are limits in a campaign. He can’t say something like that about someone who was his political leader for so long,” she told Clarín, in reference to Macri and Larreta’s relationship. “It’s despicable.”
“I think it’s a sign of low morals, opportunism and a lack in ethics for Larreta, [a man] who boasts about having worked with Macri for 20 years, to be doing anything for a vote,” she added.
Larreta later explained what he had tried to say. “I didn’t say that Macri’s model ha failed. I said that many of the things he did haven’t lasted, and a lot of them have been backtracked,” he said in an interview for Continental radio station.
In a presentation in Corrientes this Thursday morning alongside his vice presidential candidate, Jujuy Governor Gerardo Morales, Larreta seemed to respond to Bullrich’s accusations without naming her. “I never answer or get into the territory of personal accusations, even if others do that to me. I consider unity a primary value,” he said.
Infighting continues
Bullrich’s vice president candidate Luis Petri said he was disappointed to hear Larreta criticize her and Macri “more than those who are truly responsible for the mess the country is, the kirchneristas and Sergio Massa,” in reference to the Economy Minister and Unión por la Patria’s presidential candidate.
“Not everything is allowed, we are not all the same. Majorities are not built alongside those who disregard republican values and encourage Argentina’s decadent populism. Those people must be fought, with courage and bravery.”
PRO national deputy Fernando Iglesias, who is also a Bullrich ally, accused Larreta of contradicting himself because he had asked party members to not “speak ill” of each another.
Bullrich’s advisor Alejandro Fargosi also jumped in against Larreta. “For what I can remember, dear Larreta, Macri’s biggest obstacle were the objections and fear of some. Who? Those who turned on Macri’s government decisions, that some in JxC stopped, diluted or reversed.” “The 41% vote share he got in 2019 prove he wasn’t a failure,” he added.
On the other hand, Elisa Carrió, Coalición Cívica leader and cofounder of Cambiemos, the 2015 coalition from which JxC emerged, agreed with Larreta. “There are two models: one, led by Macri, says you need to make cuts on everything,” she said.
“The middle class is so pressured that if you make cuts on everything and [there is no economic growth], Argentina will explode,” Carrió said.
