READERS WRITE

A PARLIAMENTARY DEMOCRACY? Generals Belgrano and San Martín thought that a parliamentary monarchy was the best form of government for Argentina. Since many of us Argentines have an Italian origin and given that women have become more involved in politics, a woman from Italian origin (the Saboya family?) who speaks Spanish and thinks she is English, would be the ideal candidate. I know this is a joke, but I believe that a parliamentary democracy is better suited for coalition governments like the ones we are having since Macri was elected president.

Luis Spallarossa, via email

PRESIDENTIAL BLUNDERS

President Alberto Fernández seems to be obsessed with ships. On March 26, at the Mercosur Summit, he bluntly told Uruguay’s Luis Lacalle Pou to abandon ship if he thought the trade bloc was not working well. Likewise, Last week, he resorted again to nautical imagery, saying that Argentina’s ancestors, unlike the Mexicans and the Brazilians, settled the country after arriving in ships from Europe. The remark, with its racist overtones, was most untimely, delivered at a time when lots of Argentines are planning to flee a country whose future looks bleak. As if this were not enough, Fernández shocked us with his Freudian slip, declaring “go and get infected“instead of “get vaccinated.” A psycholinguist might say that the head of the Executive expresses ideas in the very process of formation, which his intellect cannot monitor and edit on the spur of the moment.

Adrian Insaubralde, Santa Fe

ARGENTINA IS NOT ISRAEL, BUT...

All politicians opposed to the K regime should carefully study what happened last weekend in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, when a wide spectrum of parties ended Benjamin Netanyahu’s long spell as prime minister of that country. What is absolutely remarkable turns out to be that this spectrum includes parties of the left, centre and right, plus one of the Israeli Arabs, which have been very, sometimes extremely, antagonistic. What happened is that they decided to put first things first and thus, tired of the semi-authoritarian methods that Netanyahu applied on occasion, they agreed that it was time to change the prime minister. It is true that there are deep doubts about the viability of a government with such a diverse grouping, but even here there was great inspiration, attributed to the moderate Yair Lapid, who offered the right-winger Naftali Bennett to occupy the position for the first two years, before himself taking it during the second half of the government period. And that’s despite Lapid getting a lot more benches than Bennett. Personally I am somewhat optimistic because it is possible that the moderates support the rightists in Bennett’s time and, vice-versa, they do the same with the others during the Lapid period. Each party will be able to maintain its own characteristics, but without seeking to overturn the government which would mean returning to the political instability that Israel has suffered in recent times.now, how are things at home? In fact, the panorama has improved substantially in recent days because, finally, almost all the leaders opposed to the K regime are by now talking to each other, and today we can see the possibility that, under the same umbrella, they will all end up competing in the PASO primaries of Juntos por el Cambio, which would be a model of democratic behaviour. I repeat that it is important that they study the Israeli example, because with the same philosophy they can assure us the subsistence of the Republic, darn it!

Harry Ingham, City

CKK’S RENTRÉE

That’s a laugh! CFK, in her theatrical reappearance in La Plata, has urged the “hostile” media and the opposition to leave “vaccines and pandemic out of political disputes.” She, of all people! The current administration (which she obviously leads) has made political use of vaccines and pandemic from the very start. We are not blind or dumb. Besides, the vice-president has always stayed away in the midst of local tragic episodes. She has remained distant, aloof, detached, has historically avoided to turn up. Why now? Elementary, Watson! Public opinion polls are far from favourable. So she pretends to be sympathetic, empathic, friendly. An unbelievable stereotype. Too good to be true. But, as the fable teaches us, the scorpion can’t go against its very nature. Sooner or later, it inevitably shows. She can’t hide it. Not such a good actress, after all, in spite of her expensive costume. Clothes don’t make the man (or woman).

Irene Bianchi, Ringuelet, La Plata

BATTLE OF THE BULGE: PART 148

Dear Sirs,

“Negligence” – was this the word that stymied the supply of 13.2 million doses of Pfizer’s anti-covid-19 drug, beginning last December? Looks like it (with apologies to Kit Marlowe)! Would have saved at least 30,000 lives, according to former president Mauricio Macri. Current death toll is already fast approaching 90,000 and counting. Meanwhile, Lady Veep suddenly took fright this week when she saw the results of some public opinion polls that show that even young folk in the province of Buenos Aires are deserting her strange bicephalous government and she sprang into action, elbowing Uncle Albert aside and awarding a series of wage and salary hikes well in excess of the 29 percent inflation rate for the year, included in the official budget. A possible new global health plan, treading on the famished-for-funds private sector, also looks on the cards. ‘L’état, c’est moi!’ Add to this that Uncle Albert thinks he just got off the boat from Europe and the Pope, who is in Europe, belittles the importance of private property, and we have a ‘pretty howde-do,’ as Gilbert and Sullivan would have expressed it.

David Parsons, via email