The national government will once again dodge this week the political execution of Manuel Adorni, the Chief of Cabinet, in the Senate session scheduled for Thursday the 25th. The official strategy is clear: let him be sliced little by little, like a slow martyrdom that benefits all actors in the political game.
It serves the ruling party because it builds loyalty among allied blocs, which have not lost a single legislator for defending Adorni. Additionally, it is an internal disciplining tool, essential in a caudillo-style government that exalts sycophancy. For opposition allies of the government, the delay allows them to weaken the administration, which gets bogged down in other projects. For governors and businessmen, it facilitates squeezing the Executive, which reacts with financial advances like a piñata.
For the frontal opposition of Peronism, having Adorni on the gallows is a gift: it turns him into a symbol of blunders and, if proven, corruption. Last week, the ruling party had put the execution of the official on the menu for Thursday the 25th. But Vice President Victoria Villarruel then said: «We need to finish this soon.» Patricia Bullrich agreed and disparaged Adorni before opposition senators: «He doesn’t understand anything, I have to explain things to him three times,» she joked, to the delight of her peers.
However, Olivos ordered the reversal of Villarruel and Bullrich’s decision. A new meeting of the Parliamentary Labor Committee is unlikely: the government will seek consensus with the allied blocs that make up the «Los 44» agreement. Peronism rejects repeating the Labor meeting to delay the motion of censure and will not attend the preparatory meeting for the session.
This delay exposes Adorni to a martyrdom described by Inca Garcilaso de la Vega in the «Royal Commentaries»: they tied the victim to a post and, while alive, cut pieces of flesh and forced him to eat his own pieces. Slowly, his spokesperson role has already been removed, reducing him with extreme slowness, as magician René Lavand did with his cards: «It can’t be done slower!» After all, he is an insignificant official who can stay or leave without any functional effect.
In parallel, Cristina Kirchner emerges as another indispensable piece. For Peronism, she is necessary because she is the party leader and controls the largest district in the country. For her adversaries, she is the extreme of polarization that leverages their strength. The government knows that, no matter how ugly and dirty Adorni may seem to their voters, no one who votes for Milei will abandon him due to rejection of the Chief of Cabinet to migrate to Peronism. Knowing this, Peronism does not lower its defense of Cristina and sustains her, on the edge of legality, as president of the National PJ, a position she has delegated to José Mayans.
Para mí esto huele a miedo puro del Gobierno, le tienen terror al pibe Adorni y prefieren torturarlo lento antes que darle la cara. Mientras tanto Cristina maneja los hilos como siempre, la resistencia peronista no para. ¡Viva la lucha!
Para mí esto es una joda de mierda. El Gobierno deja a Adorni pudriéndose en el Senado mientras la vieja K maneja los hilos. Martirio puro, tortura política que ni en la dictadura. ¡Basta de tibios, lacra!