In fact, in other business chambers they told Ámbito that there were discussions as to whether they should issue a statement. “Of the members of the directive commission, 90% did not want to know anything and did not approve. There was more debate about the legality of the holiday than about what happened “counted in a manufacturing entity, outside the UIA.
What did remain open within the UIA is the debate about what happened. “That topic is open. There are internal differences here, it is not known if it was a loose madman or something political. On this subject, one of the most important leaders of the UIA stated: “I would be absolutely crazy if what we have just seen was a political event. It is an isolated event. Police facts we can have”. Along the same lines, businesswoman Carolina Castro, a member of the UIA, told Ámbito: “It is difficult to say what happened, I want to believe that it was an isolated incident, but I am waiting for justice.”
At the institutional level, the president of the UIA, Daniel Funes de Rioja, left no doubts. In dialogue with the media, he said that he decided to suspend all activities related to the celebration, and take advantage of the presence of more than 100 executives who had traveled to Neuquén to speak publicly and condemn what he called an “attempted assassination” against the vice president. . “In no way is the business sector going to have an expectant or neutral attitude regarding the sentence,” he said.
A large part of the industrialists found out about the attack together, given that on Thursday night, the day before Industry Day, they were already in Neuquén and went to dinner at La Toscana, an exclusive restaurant with $5,000 dishes and wines that They went up to $110,000. The first reaction was surprise: “There was a lot of stupor, amazement, an attack against a public figure is terrifying. We lived through violent decades and we believed that now we lived in a country of peace,” said Castro, from Industrias Guidi. The next day, the catering for the truncated Industry Day was from the same exclusive venue.
Funes de Rioja arrived on Friday morning, in a private plane, along with other members of the UIA. “Not only was I shocked by the news, but it worried me. My generation saw what political violence is, and in 39 years of democracy, even with very strong social and economic conflicts, no one thought that violence was the way. That’s why we came to repudiate, “he said in dialogue with journalists, before his speech. Funes de Rioja spoke on stage, together with Governor Omar Gutiérrez, in an act that lasted 17 minutes. As soon as he finished, he left, since was summoned by Julio Vitobello, secretary of the presidency, for a meeting at Casa Rosada with Alberto Fernández along with other social, union and even Church leaders.
“We had been thinking about this industry day with great enthusiasm, to leave a vision of the country that we could build. But circumstances bring us together at another time, and we wanted to be here to make it clear that we cannot have a celebration, and bear witness to our concern, repudiation and condemnation,” Funes de Rioja said on stage. He described the event as “a jump into the past” but said he hopes it is not “a jump into the void.” In the background, a giant machine for drilling wells in Vaca Muerta deposits could be seen.
The celebration should have included a discussion about Vaca Muerta, with the most important energy companies in the country, and with the presence of the president, Alberto Fernández, although everything was suspended, in a decision with twists and turns that Funes de Rioja took together with his small table the same Friday morning. What the businessmen did in the morning was a tour of the offices of Tecpetrol, the company with the most important deposit in Vaca Muerta, of the Techint group.
In addition, the UIA has already begun to replan the meeting they had organized, which could take place next week at the UIA headquarters in Buenos Aires. From the manufacturing entity they want to transmit to the Government an industrial plan so that Vaca Muerta can develop its full potential. They estimate that the sector could generate a historical improvement in the trade balance, by contributing US$19 billion, but they consider that investments of US$7 billion per year are needed for this. For that to happen, they assure that new law and tax, tax and foreign exchange incentives are needed.
When asked what economic impact this serious political event could have, Funes de Rioja stated: “This climate does not affect the economy, it affects everything.” Another leader of the UIA leadership added: “There is no economic development without social peace.” A member of the UIA was watching the actions on the Rava site on his cell phone. Another important executive recounted: “If you look at the stock market, this did not affect companies. Stocks rose in New York. But the tension in society is bad, because Argentina has a high level of complexity, and any noise complicates solutions.”
Source: Ambito
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