Politics

Fernandez shuffles Argentine cabinet after defeat in primaries

Buenos Aires, Sep 17 (EFE).- Argentine President Alberto Fernandez on Friday announced a reshuffle of his cabinet in efforts to overcome a crisis in the ruling coalition after its electoral defeat in the legislative primaries on Sep. 12.

Juan Manzur, the governor of the Tucuman province, as been named as the new cabinet chief instead of Santiago Cafiero, who has been appointed as the foreign affairs minister in the place of Felipe Sola.

Tensions in the ruling coalition rose on Thursday after Vice President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner released a letter on social media calling for changes in the cabinet and criticizing the government’s economic policies.

The letter triggered the cabinet reshuffle after interior minister Eduardo “Wado” de Pedro and at least four other minister, all part of the Kirchner faction of the government, offered to resign in order to pressurize the president into making new appointments after the electoral defeat.

Anibal Fernandez, an important figure during Fernandez de Kirchner’s presidency (2007-2015), has been named the security minister, while De Pedro has been retained as interior minister, according to official sources.

The ministry of livestock, agriculture and fisheries has been handed to Julian Dominguez, another member of Fernandez de Kirchner’s former cabinet, while Jaime Perzyck has been appointed as the education minister.

Danial Filmus and Juan Ross have been named the ministers of science and technology, and communication respectively.

The political crisis began unfolding on Sep. 12, when the lawmakers of the opposition coalition Juntos por el Cambio (Together for Change) received more votes than the ruling Frente de Todos (Everybody’s Front) in a majority of the provinces during the primaries, in which citizens elect candidates for the legislative elections, set to be held on Nov. 14.

Official sources said that the new members of the cabinet would be sworn in on Monday. EFE

vd/ia

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