SAN NICOLÁS (Special Envoy).- The lectern that the guests at the Expoagro 2023 opening dinner saw on the left of the stage remained a mere decorative object during the two speeches that generated greater silence and attention on Monday night at the Hotel Colonial, of this city. For the mayor of San Nicolás, Manuel Passagliafirst, and for the Minister of the Interior, Edward “Wado” of Peter, in the closing of the series of words of welcome, the center of the stage was more appetizing. From there they spoke, in different tones: one, critical and propositional at the same time; the other, of identification with the audience and in favor of consensus. She had not planned to speak about Pedro right away, but he was invited during dinner and improvised a few words, which he seemed to complete with an endless round of dialogues that seemed to jump over the crack.
In the halls of the Hotel Colonial, the arrival of the Minister of the Interior was awaited to begin with the speeches at the inauguration dinner. He arrived around 9:20 p.m. (the call was for 8:00 p.m.) and spoke to the media present. “We are here to accompany you with active policies, to make the entire sector grow and develop,” said De Pedro, one of the leaders of the La Cámpora organization, before going into the room and sitting in his reserved place at the central table.
At the main dinner table, De Pedro shared the night with opponents such as the governor of Corrientes, Gustavo Valdesor the lieutenant governor of Córdoba, manuel baldand with directors of the newspapers THE NATION and Clarin. Also sitting there were the Secretary of Agriculture, Juan José Bahillo, and the heads of the Nation and Province banks, Silvina Batakis y Juan Cuattromo. The composition of the table left aside the political rift, something that was confirmed by several scenes of dialogue between politicians from opposite sides throughout dinner last night. The evening lasted, strictly speaking, until the first minutes of Tuesday, with a conversation that followed, after dinner, in the open air and with a few drinks in between.
After the words of welcome from martin schvartzman (CEO of Exponenciar, organizing company of Expoagro) and of Alberto Marina (director of Exponenciar), it was Passaglia’s turn. The mayor, who is part of the ranks of Together for Change, chose not to speak from the lectern provided for that purpose and to do so from the center of the stage. Speaking slowly and not without gestures, he remarked: “In San Nicolás we beat patoterismo, unionism and extortion”. The phrase, in obvious allusion to the blockade that the truckers union deployed in San Nicolás in April of last year, came almost to the end of his words, after stating that “the State can be transformed” if it is possible to “order the accounts ”, have “a plan with common sense” and “firmness”. In the room were also the father and brother of the mayor (the former community chief Ismael Passaglia and the Buenos Aires deputy Santiago Passagliarespectively).
The Buenos Aires Minister of Agrarian Affairs, javier rodriguez; Cuattrommo and Bahillo used the lectern again. They were speeches that coexisted with the dialogues that were already beginning to take place between the diners at the different tables, especially those that were furthest from the stage.
When there were no more speakers scheduled, Wado de Pedro was announced. He replicated Passaglia’s location and, from center stage, said: “I speak as a producer, I had nothing in mind.” He affirmed that “it is impossible for there to be roots if the field is not doing well” and appealed to his personal experience with the drought: “I went through Mercedes [su ciudad de origen]I saw peeled alfalfa, corn with purple leaves”. He closed with a memory of his trip to Israel accompanied by governors of different political persuasions and stressed that “the leadership advanced” and “There are many spaces where consensus is generated”. As in the case of Passaglia, during the Interior Minister’s speech he prevailed an attentive silence and closed with respectful applause.
Sources of the Nicoleño ruling party considered that Pedro spoke to “match” the mayor’s speech; That interpretation generated smiles in response in the minister’s entourage, which did admit that he did not plan to speak. At dessert time, the differences that both could have seemed like an anecdote, due to the lively chat they held, a frozen drink in between.
The dialogue between De Pedro and Passaglia was not the only one that brought together leaders of opposing political spaces on the night of Saint Nicholas. In a conversation between Nicoleños, the communal chief spoke with Lisandro Bonellia former deputy from Buenos Aires who resigned from the Ministry of Health for the case of the “VIP vaccination” together with his uncle, Ginés González García. De Pedro, upon arrival, spoke with Valdés and with the Cordovan entourage made up of non-Kirchner Peronists (in addition to the lieutenant governor, another of those who made it up was the mayor of the capital, Martin Llaryora), among others. In fact, the Minister of the Interior extended his talks until midnight. When there was almost no one left in the room, he continued talking in circles with producers and businessmen who were rotating spontaneously.
Despite the signs of harmony, the tension between the ruling party and the opposition had very clear examples of survival last night in San Nicolás, such as the anger that endured in the mayor of Tres de Febrero, Diego Valenzuelafor not having been able to witness the governor’s speech Axel Kicillof from a box in the Buenos Aires Chamber of Deputies. “We arrived with [Facundo] Manes, [Diego] Santilli And some others. The organization had a hesitant attitude. They wanted us to sit in an inappropriate place, next to the cabinet officials. There are 18 boxes and there was not one for us, ”he criticized.