Security and a health pact will be the keys to my future management

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The day after the municipal elections in the Capital was very eventful for the recently elected mayor Daniel Passerini. The winner tried to make it one more day, but hours before he announced that he would attend, as every Monday morning, to attend the medical office in the Maldonado neighborhood where he assists needy people from one of the most vulnerable sectors of the city.

“It was a mistake to have said it. I didn’t want that role. And less disturbing the neighbors, who were surprised by the presence of the media, ”he admitted after his appearance.

His arrival at the place caused a commotion due to the amount of media that did not want to miss the note with the protagonist of the wide triumph of the ruling party in the Capital. Triumph that was not in the forecasts of many.

When did you realize you could win? Because the polls never favored him

–I had a hunch, and also a conviction, that with the victory of Martín (Llaryora) in the provincial elections we began to build the victory in the Capital. It was said that I had a high level of ignorance. So, with Martín we designed a strategy so that people would know about the benefits of teamwork between the Province and the municipality. A turning point came on July 6, the city’s anniversary. That day we had an important meeting with Martín and the whole team. A strategy was outlined and the roles of each one were marked on the field. We began a territorial work, block by block. That work had such an intensity that, in the last week, it convinced me that we were not only going to win, but that we were going to do it by a wide margin. How it happened.

– The militant work or the apparatus has a bad press. There is always talk of the use of public resources.

– Politics won. I understand that out there there is talk in a pejorative way of the party apparatuses. Political parties have a role and that was fulfilled. I am going to say something else, and the people from the interior will understand me: we work as if it were a municipal election in a small town. When one has management to defend, the campaigns are easier to face. We had to go house to house to ask for a vote because we had arguments to show teamwork. It was also clear in the campaign that Rodrigo (De Loredo) wanted to be the head of the opposition, and I marked him. His proposal to transfer 10,000 police officers to the Capital was a message of dispute with the next governor. I am convinced that our proposal for teamwork went deep. In addition, good management is difficult to lose a re-election, beyond the fact that Martín was not the candidate. The people of the capital understood that I am part of the same team.

–Although it is very premature, what will be the mainstays of your future municipal management?

-In the first place, I know that I only have four years because I do not have the possibility of being reelected. In other words, it will be a very intense management. There is already a matrix of the work that we have been doing with this management, but without a doubt there are two issues that will be very important: the creation of the Municipal Security Police and the health pact. I think they will give a new imprint to the future management. These are two themes that the sign of the times demand of us. Four years ago the issue of insecurity and health were perhaps not the main claims of the capital. Today, yes they are.

Elections 2023: Daniel Passerini, from Hacemos Unidos por Córdoba, celebrates his victory in Córdoba capital. (Daniel Passerini Press)

What is the health pact about?

–Understand public health as something common between the services provided by the State and private ones. Public health is always thought of as assistance in public hospitals. But the pandemic taught us that we generate better health care because a pool was created between the beds of the public and private sectors. It was an important joint work. There is willingness in the private sector to work together.

How will the new municipal police coordinate with the provincial police, which already has its problems?

–There will be a municipal Security Secretariat on which the Municipal Security Police will depend. Martín also raised in the campaign that he will create a department in the Police to serve the municipalities that we would like to have municipal police officers. Surely there will be modifications in the security law to be able to use non-lethal weapons, among other issues. We are going to work together with the Province, so I don’t see any coordination problems.

– Do you already have the name of the Secretary of Security?

-Yes absolutely. But it is still too early to go public. Patience.

“The pituquitos from Buenos Aires wanted to wear us”

–Who are the “pituquitos de la Recoleta” that Llaryora referred to in his speech on Sunday night?

–Those who came on Sunday in private planes, who are the same ones who open the doors in Buenos Aires media for Cordovan leaders to go to Buenos Aires to sell to Córdoba. And as Martín (Llaryora) said, Córdoba must not be sold, and I ratify it. I think a stage is coming in which things have to be discussed seriously. Martín spoke as governor-elect and did not say it outright.

– He spoke as a national leader, rather than as the next governor of Córdoba.

-It is that the governor of Córdoba, by nature, has to be a national reference

-Were you surprised by the praise of Sergio Massa, candidate of the national ruling party?

I saw him at dawn on Sunday. You can see that he hasn’t seen me for a long time, because I’m not a kid. I am older than him.

–But you know Massa.

-Yes of course. We interacted with him when in 2015 he went to Paso against De la Sota. But then we had no further contact. I appreciate the praise, but no other political interpretations can be made.

–Let’s imagine that Schiaretti ends up agreeing with Together for Change. What will happen in that eventual scenario?

–We believe that those who are part of the crack are part of the problem.

Sergio Massa and Juan Schiaretti (File)

– Rodríguez Larreta too?

-And let’s see… Clearly they came to Córdoba to bet on a model that they wanted to wear us. So, I think we have to make it clear which side each one belongs to.