Several political leaders, including members of the opposition, were in attendance yesterday during President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner’s speech at the “Latin American Patriots Hall” in Government House. The hall was packed and part of the public had to hear the speech from the adjacent “Patio de las palmeras (palms)”.
In addition to governors, congressmen, dilplomats, trade unionists and opposition leaders and other political officials, veterans of the 1982 Malvinas war were also present. Seated next to the President were Vice-President Amado Boudou, Lower House Speaker Julián Domínguez, Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina, Senate head Beatriz Rojkés de Alperovich, Defence Minister Arturo Puricelli and Colonel Augusto Rattenbach.
CGT umbrella labour union head Hugo Moyano was one of the first to arrive, accompanied by trade union leaders Omar Plaini, Omar Viviani, Julio Piumato and son Facundo Moyano. Alicia Castro, the recently appointed ambassador to Britain, was seated in the front row along with Hugo Moyano. Castro, a former flight attendant, might have enjoyed her location more if Fernández de Kirchner had chosen to discuss the status of LAN Chile and Aerolíneas Argentinas flights to the archipelago.
Domestic Trade Secretary Guillermo Moreno and UIA Argentine Industrial Union (UIA) president José Ignacio de Mendiguren were also seated in the first row. Seats were also reserved for various diplomats and ambassadors from Mercosur, Latin America and the Caribbean. CTA Argentine Workers’ Confederation leader Hugo Yasky and Public Works Secretary José López were seated nearby.
UCR Radical Lower House leader Ricardo Gil Lavedra, centre-right PRO Lower House caucus leader Federico Pinedo, former Buenos Aires province gubernatorial candidate Francisco de Narváez, and deputy Patricia Bullrich were all present at the event. Moyano’s location near the President also came as a shock, as relations between the national government and the CGT have been more than tense in recent months.
Lower House Majority Leader Agustín Rossi (Victory Front-Santa Fe), La Cámpora leader and deputy Eduardo “Wado” De Pedro and maritime workers’ union secretary-general Omar Suárez also enjoyed privileged seating. Grandmothers of Plaza de Mayo President Estela Barnes de Carlotto was joined by other members of both the Mothers and Grandmothers organizations.
Former presidential candidate Ricardo Alfonsín, Supreme Court Justice Eugenio Zaffaroni, Radical party chairman Mario Barletta, and socialist legislators Juan Carlos Zabalza, Victoria Donda and Rubén Giustiniani were in attendance, along with Peronist opposition members Enrique Thomas and Alfredo Atanassof. Foreign Minister Héctor Timerman was seated in the third row.
Herald staff with news agencies.
