Llaryora’s Cordobanism has a strong Kirchnerist flavor

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Villa Carlos Paz is the second most important in the interior. And today, the most in conflict with the government of Martín Llaryora. His mayor, Esteban Avilés, assures that the new government has “a strong Kirchnerist flavor” that clearly differentiates it from Juan Schiaretti.

In addition, he complains about the cut in transportation subsidies to municipalities. In Voice and Vote, Avilés – a neighborhood member who went through the Peronist administration – said that Llaryora did the same as Javier Milei.

–What about the governor? Is there a short circuit?

–I am not going to personalize with the governor. Anyone who knows me knows that I am predictable, that I defend institutionalism, federalism, and commitment. I come from a space, neighborhoodism, in which there is a strong fraternity. Taking out Kirchnerism, there are all the political spaces that exist both at the national and provincial levels. That speaks to the fact that we have dialogue as a basic premise. But we find another model. With one in which the Provincial-Municipal Table is no longer convened, a historical value that the province has and that is recognized by the entire country. Decisions are made in which I would like to have a say and participate. Each one, from their experience, can strengthen the good intentions that the Province has, whether in education, security, subsidies… a no small issue in decision-making. Therefore, one has been critical. Because we are used to another methodology in Córdoba.

–You were a Schiaretti official. Do you see strong differences in the way these two people govern?

-Surely. Institutionally there is a big difference. When we made the We Do for Córdoba agreement of all sectors with neighborhoodism, with radicals and socialism, I was the intermediary. He had a line of criteria that, as I said, was based on constitutionality, respect and predictable political discussion. But that model and those construction channels, until today, are not there. Obviously, it is a management that is just taking its first steps, which does not mean that this methodology will be deepened. Furthermore, this Cordoba style that Martín (Llaryora) carries out has a strong K flavor. His political set-up and the circumstances may have to do with these procedures that are being adapted in the province. I simply say out loud that we are used to working with another type of system. System that the country has seen. That of a different Córdoba with respect and tolerance. We are in a special moment in which society needs to be much closer to the mayors, together with the provincial government and also have a different approach to the Nation. Therefore, dialogue and also institutional discussion have to be present in Córdoba.

–What do you notice about the K issue in the Llaryora government.

–In the political framework and in the methodological.

-For example

–It has ministers who have been part of the management of Kirchnerism in the province. And there are many leaders from different cities who are part of that group.

–Martin Gill?

–Martín has been key for national Kirchnerism in Córdoba. He must be the most Kirchnerist leader that Córdoba had in the last four years. There is already a political decision there. But beyond that, the photo of transportation also places us in a change in processes. We listened to the governor, for almost a month and a half, with a strong criticism of the national government… and he ended up doing the same and hiding that decision. Because the very nature of the national subsidy was that of the provincial subsidy. That decision was made in 2018, among all the mayors with the governor (Schiaretti). At that time, 30% of the cost of the transportation system was 14.2% for the Nation, and 14.4% for the Province. We had that harmony. And there are also, something that fills us Cordobans with pride, which are the fertilizers. It should be noted that Martín deepened them and expanded them to a larger segment. But in Carlos Paz’s photo, January was the last month in which all the subsidies were available. 19 million entered the city from the Province; of the Nation, 14 million, and 4 million for the season tickets. So that the impact of one and the other can be measured. But also, in the fertilizers, the decision of the Province has the commitment of the mayors because we provide 50%.

Social slip

–When you say “subscription”, do you refer to the Workers’ Ticket and the Student Ticket?

-Yeah. But also today there is an increasingly complex economic process in which we have a segment in Córdoba, and more so in our city with tourism, of informality. And contracts are going to fall and that work is going to have another type of presence. Work that is not identified and contained in those tickets, but is in the investment in the transportation system. We, who have a view in which there must be a greater presence of the private sector… The corruption of Kirchnerism was so fierce and deep, and it distorted the State so much that today it seems that it should not have a presence. And we understand that, in the subsidies, it has to be there.

–To what level did the Province’s subsidies fall?

–Zero in transportation. And so on in the seven inland cities that received them.

–You only have the social tickets.

–He always had that.

–So the Nation stopped subsidizing the Province, and the Province stops subsidizing the cities.

-Exactly. It was the same thing that the governor criticized the President and then did, but worse because he hid it. We spent a month and a half talking to area officials telling them that what was being lost with the national subsidy was really complicated. And we asked him what was going to happen with the provincial. “No, everything is fine,” they told us. And no one raised anything. What did we do? I deal with the direct link, but then we go to the formal thing when there is no response. I have formal notes in January and February to Secretary (of Transportation) Rodio in which we asked him for an explanation of what the Province was going to do. The worst thing was not that they hid the situation, but that before the mayors the businessmen found out about the system. And we have to listen to the governor’s officials calling us liars. Personally and also to my officials. We don’t lie. Sometimes I have a special personality, but I say and do what I think and feel. Always knowing that I am a tool of Carlos Paz’s family who voted for me. We were predictable, orderly and we are used to working like this with provincial governments. The current governor does not change the institutional relationship for me. They deepen our responsibilities. And it does not go through the partisan or the personal.

Governor Martín Llaryora. (Government Press)

–The provincial ruling party says that you publicly criticized Llaryora, but not Milei for the removal of national subsidies.

-It was not so. Notice the lie installed. In the month and a half process in which all the provincial officials came out to talk about national subsidies, they should have defended the provincial subsidy with the same language. Because it has the same nature. Obviously, they called me and I agreed that if there was a progressive decision at the national and provincial level, we would stay. I have to have a social and tourist perspective, I can’t not be close to families who can’t get on a bus. I understand that the provincial and national logic changed, but I have to take responsibility. Let’s say things like they are.

–Don’t you think that the Nation made too much progress in removing funds from the provinces that then go to the municipalities?

–That’s why the scale. There was provincial language, but then they did the same thing and worse because they hid it. And those of us who told the truth, those of us who asked to speak, asked the Provincial-Municipal Table, we did it in writing and those of us who were surprised by the decision… are we liars? We want the best for all the people of Córdoba. We understand the complex process. But there has to be the respect with which we are used to working together, and which was not present in the photo due to transportation. As was not the case in other laws that were presented, which had no prior discussion, such as security or the issue of education.

–Security has more demand from mayors.

–That’s a photo. Because one thing is protagonism and another is delegating provincial responsibilities to the municipalities. And more in security. The governor wants, because society demands it, for the State to have another presence in the security problem. What can one add to each side? We can add a lot. But the responsibility to prosecute the crime lies with the Province.

–Are they not going to adhere to the Security law?

–It is a law that is already closed… At the beginning of the sessions, the governor had a positive speech with those who adhered to the law. He whitewashed the good, but also those we had not adhered to. That’s not good. The positive position of going for more… but let’s work on the previous one.

–Do you have any municipal force?

–We have urban security that must be the most important in the interior of Córdoba. We were the first to work on monitoring, with local cameras and police personnel. We are very developed and trained. But from that… to non-lethal weapons to urban security. It’s complex. Because? First, because there is a legal gray area with that decision. I value the law because it has important things. In the last four years, the Province, for example, gave us cell phones and trained us. This has been done and can be improved. But discussing legality and going beyond the contraventional framework is another thing. Because, God forbid it happens, the underworld, at night, does not differentiate lethal weapons from non-lethal ones. They are equal. Thus, municipal personnel will be exposed to those who commit crimes. There are things that we should have talked about before about legality, about the provincial Constitution, special laws and the contraventional responsibility of municipalities. There is a distortion. Today, I can only say “yes” or “no.” And another thing that exacerbates the responsibility is that the Córdoba Police, which now has better training because it has been for 3 years, is centralized in the Capital. The worst of all is that we are training police officers without taking into account what is contraventional. It happens to us that we have aggressive street vendors, and some we know carry knives. For that, we have to hire additional workers, for example, and they need training on contraventions.