The senator Edgardo Kueider He was at the service of the Government of President Mauricio Macri. Then he changed faction and in 2019 he entered Congress alongside Peronism, currently in the opposition. Kueider performed a new political pirouette and this year he joined the ranks of the extreme right. Your vote was crucial so that President Javier Milei could approve the laws that promote a profound reform of the economy, institutions and society. The senator tried last week to enter Paraguay with $211,000 of unknown origin. They detained him at the border along with his secretary Iara Guinsel Costa. Both are under arrest. The Argentine Senate expelled him from its ranks this Thursday and The Government lost an important piece of legislative chess because he will be replaced by Kirchnerist Stefania Cora.
Milei became president with a unifying slogan on the part of his voters: contempt for the so-called “political caste.” The extreme right presented itself to the electorate as a disruptive force willing to leave the traditional leadership behind. Upon assuming the presidency, Milei gave his first speech with his back to Parliament as a way of repudiating their culture and their businesses. But “Caste” was vital to approve all the Executive’s initiatives. Kueider was a model protagonist of transfuguism to the point that, when he was intercepted at Paraguayan Customs by officials from that country, he presented himself as a legislator sympathetic to the Government.
His case has caused such a media impact as Milei completed one year as president that the ruling party, in a minority in the Senate, could not prevent Kueider from being removed. “We had the intention of suspending it, but two-thirds of the votes are needed and we have not achieved them,” lamented the official Ezequiel Atauche.
Unpredictable Derivations
The Government that proclaimed its decision to clean up politics, is currently facing a double problem. On the one hand, it has just lost an ally in the upper house, where it only has six of the 72 seats. What worries the far right the most is the judicial derivation of the Kueider case. Peronism and other sectors of the opposition have raised the suspicion that the former senator’s favors were not free, he was bribed and part of that money was tried to be taken to Paraguay.
Judge Sandra Arroyo Salgado is preparing to request Kueider’s extradition. Prosecutor Alcides Giménez Zorrilla is in charge of the investigation of the case. The senator is accused of smuggling and alleged money laundering. “What interests us most is following the money route,” he told the portal ‘La Política Online’. Giménez Zorrilla revealed that Kueider and Guinsel’s first statements to the Paraguayan authorities were very inconsistent. For now, it was learned that the expelled senator had previously made other similar incursions into Paraguay. The prosecutor denied the existence of pressure from the presidential headquarters to delay the case.
“The Government failed in each of the actions that it carried out in an improvised manner to avoid the expulsion of its ally Kueider,” said political analyst, Ignacio Fidanza. “Milei thus closes the legislative year with an unmitigated defeat.” This setback has another component that portends greater storms within the ruling party.
Another background fight
Vice President Victoria Villarruel authorized the session in the Senate in her capacity as the main authority. A way to widen the distance that separates her from the head of state a year after having taken the reins of power. Villarruel is confronted with MIlei. The fight became public but by virtue of the Constitution he holds the provisional presidency of the Nation due to the trip of capitalist anarcho to Italy. Strictly speaking, he cannot lead sessions in the Senate. However, he did it.
“This situation not only marks the explicit disconnection between the presidential binomial but also symbolizes the discomfort that Kueider’s arrest represented for libertarians. Its six representatives in the Senate ended up voting in favor of his expulsion when it was already evident that the plenary session was leaning towards that option. However, they tried to avoid this outcome by all means,” said the newspaper ‘La Nación’.
