Basualdo, the bishop of Cristina whom Guzmán was unable to launch, leaves Energy

It is not yet clear whether the changes to the Energy Secretariat reflect a castling in the ruling coalition, a playoff or both. What is certain is that Federico Basualdo’s departure from the post of Undersecretary of Electricity has determined a new balance of forces in that highly sensitive and strategic area, responsible for subsidies and tariffs for energy services. With the resignation made official this Sunday, Sergio Massa managed to get rid of Cristina’s bishop Kirchner who had not been able to replace Martín Guzmán.

In 2021, the now former Minister of Economy pressed Basualdo for increases in electricity. After the strong increases in Mauricio Macri’s management, which would have affected his electoral performance, the Government froze rates in 2020 and raised them by 6-9% last year. Guzmán wanted larger increases than agreed and asked the Kirchnerist official to resign, but he rebelled and remained in his position, affirming the support of the vice president, the Patria Institute and La Cámpora.

The son of the economist Eduardo Basualdo, reference for the CIFRA institute of the CTA led by Hugo Yasky and friend of Cristina Kirchner, was at the forefront of resisting subsidy segmentation, the policy that the government has agreed with the IMF to raise tariffs. When Guzmán wanted to go this route, the undersecretary proposed “georeferencing”, which implied the application of increases according to neighborhoods with high real estate valuations and limited to the AMBA, instead of the minister’s criteria, which were national in scope.

Tensions with Kirchnerism it lasted until the end and it was one of the reasons that precipitated the resignation of the architect of the agreement with the Fund. Before throwing in the towel, the minister asked Alberto Fernández to give him more power in Energy, but the president ignored him. Finally, Basualdo was replaced by Santiago Yanotti, up to now vice president of Cammesa (Company Managing the Wholesale Electricity Market) and man of the now former Secretary of Energy Darío Martínez.

Basualdo became known in the sector as one of the “Federico”. The other Kirchnerist official who confronted Guzmán from the energy sector was Federico Bernal, who has now become Undersecretary of Hydrocarbons, despite sounding like a replacement for Martínez. Julio de Vido’s former official was until yesterday the controller of the gas regulator (Enargas). From there he forced the former minister to conduct hearings, taking political responsibility for the removal of subsidies.

Also aligned with Cristina Kirchner, Bernal will now have influence on the construction of the Néstor Kirchner pipeline, whose first stage is in the process of being awarded and the second section will be put up for tender, Massa announced last week. The official arouses conflicting passions in the business world: while in the oil industry he is opposed for his opposition to the Gas Plan of the time, gas distributors appreciate him for being “frontal”.

“They reached a political equilibrium, they took time to elect the authorities because they were ending to see how they could close better, it was a Cristina area, Massa remained with the secretary of Energy and Alberto Fernández also won something because Basualdo went out of his way. goes and Cristina puts Bernal in the hydrocarbon undersecretary, “said an oil trader.

The renovation has been readwith caution in the energy sector, where they believe that the changes are “a mix between castling and tiebreaker”, for which Kirchnerism has ignored the tariff segmentation. That policy, in which not even Silvina Batakis could advance, was recently launched by Massa, which now proposes a further increase in tariffs and extends the regime to water, a service hitherto excluded. to save 500 billion dollars.

The head of the Treasury managed to place Florencia Royón, an energy and mining official in Salta, who was his vice-presidential candidate, Governor Gustavo Sáenz, as head of Energy. And he decided to keep Agustín Gerez, a 34-year-old lawyer, at the helm of Enarsa. which deals with the purchase of liquefied natural gas (LNG) ships, the construction of the two Santa Cruz dams and the Néstor Kirchner gas pipeline, works for which will begin in September, if the plan is implemented.