Mariano Martin 
What started as a commented secret a few months ago recently became a fact with unpredictable consequences: Pablo Moyano, one of the leaders of CGT and the Truckers union (known as “Camioneros”) number two, has quit from almost every position he had within the truckers union, raising uncertainty about his continuity after the union’s internal elections in September. He is Hugo Moyano’s son, the historical head of the Trucker’s Union (Camioneros).
The decision impacts the CGT, where Pablo holds one of the three top leadership positions. If he were to step down from his positions in Camioneros, his permanence in the CGT would be in danger.
Like falling domino chips, Pablo resigned from his positions as director of the Caminos Protegidos insurance company and the structure of the Association of Professional Truck Drivers, a sort of affiliate of the union that focuses on representing cargo vehicle owners. He also announced his more relevant departure from the Truck Drivers’ Health Care Provider (Oschoca), a fundamental pillar of the organization and the root of Pablo’s malaise. That is where Liliana Zulet, Hugo’s wife and mother of the people who run the private firm that manages the health provider, has a lot of power.
Pablo’s disengagement had begun back in December 2021, when he excluded himself from the leadership renewal of the Truckers Federation, the national entity Hugo has chaired since 1992 and where his eldest son was deputy secretary up until then. Out of the union’s many entities and enterprises, Pablo only kept his positions in the union health care provider known as Mutual de Camioneros and the position of deputy head of the union’s Buenos Aires branch, the most powerful one, with the largest number of affiliates in the country.
Sources close to Pablo, the union and transport business chambers all agree in explaining that his progressive distancing is the result of his bad relationship with Zulet and her children, who have economic decision-making positions in the Camioneros conglomerate. That bad relationship has consistently caused big clashes with his father. As the Herald’s sister publication Ambito Financiero has previously published, Pablo holds Hugo’s wife responsible for the seeming prosperity of Iarai, the company that manages Oschoca, while Oschoca is going through financial trouble.
In fact, this week Pablo agreed with three employer associations (Fadeeac, Faetyl and Catac) on an extraordinary monthly payment to Oschoca of AR$3,200 for every worker over the course of a semester. The contribution, unprecedented in Camioneros but frequent in other unions, reveals the economic hardships the provider has been going through in recent years. With an estimated 220,000 registered drivers throughout the country, the financial aid will range from $700 million per month or 4,200 million pesos between May and October.
Iarai, the source of the conflict
Iarai, the firm that manages Oschoca, is run by Valeria Salerno and Juan Manuel Noriega Zulet, the children of Hugo Moyano’s wife. The increasingly frequent and dramatic discrepancies between them resulted in the progressive distancing of Pablo from many decision-making spaces — a kind of self-imposed seclusion in his positions both in the CGT and as the top figure of the Union Front for the National Model (a grouping of the most combative unions close to Kirchnerism).
Sources within Camioneros warn that there are doubts about his participation in the renewal of union authorities in the Buenos Aires City and the Greater Buenos Aires area scheduled for September 15, where Hugo has already warned that he will run for a new term. Some members of Pablo’s family, on the other hand, minimize the possibility of his withdrawal even though they admit to there being discontent.
If the internal crisis worsens and Pablo finally decides not to participate in the renewal of Camioneros authorities scheduled for September, the union would have to appoint a new leader to replace him in the CGT three-headed leadership together with Héctor Daer (Healthcare) and Carlos Acuña (Service stations). It’s a far-fetched scenario, and one that the union still views as unlikely, but it is more and more frequently a part of internal assessments in view of the widening distance between the leader and the organization’s structure.
