The senators from Santa Cruz who put the Government in check and are the key to opening the chamber

-At what point did you realize that you were key in the Senate votes?

-The most decisive factor was Kueider's expulsion. But we are critics and we defend the province, and they don't understand that we don't bow our heads like many people who end up being obsequious, like this Mr. Vischi who presents a project and then votes against his own project. If we have to sacrifice ourselves to be able to pass a law or defend my province, we will do it. Now we have 800 layoffs in my city, Las Heras; and 3,000 in Santa Cruz, someone has to face it.

-How do you describe the dialogue with the government?

-They still don't understand that those they have to take care of the most are those who end up defining the quorum. They have underestimated us and the truth is that they are tiring. When Kueider left, we realized that for the ruling party the quorum is either with us or going to negotiate with Kirchnerism. In one of the last sessions we didn't go down and even Villarruel went to negotiate with Kirchnerism offering to change and configure the commissions from 10 to 9, instead of 11 to 8 as it is today, in order not to talk to us.

-Why did the session to discuss Ariel Lijo's petition fail?

-We knew it wasn't going to happen, because in reality Lijo depends on the Front for Victory, because two thirds are needed. And there is a negotiation in the background that includes Clean Record, on the one hand; extortion, on the other; and there are the interests of the governors. There is a negotiation in the background that the Front for Victory wants to do, which is to appoint judges in Argentina, since there are more than 200 or 300 vacant positions. In addition, in the session that dealt with the suspension of the PASO, someone could ask for a matter of preference and ask that Lijo's file be dealt with in the first ordinary session.

-How do you expect this legislative year to be in terms of your relationship with the Government?

-We know that they depend on us to provide the quorum or else they have to negotiate with the Front for Victory. We are going to try to use the mechanism we have to impose the agenda of my province. There are senators who take things personally and in the preparatory session there was one who is the largest caste in history, because ever since I can remember he has been in politics exposing us because there was no quorum.

-They were the ones who were missing from the majority that the ruling party had achieved in December 2023.

-This is politics and we use our weapons. But we always announce what we are going to do, that is the big difference, and we always end up doing what we say, sometimes they don't believe us. They don't understand that we don't have political bosses, we don't answer to the governor.

-The government accuses them of extortion.

-This is not a question of extortion, this is a question of negotiation. We do not extort anyone, we negotiate and do politics. We impose the agenda of Santa Cruz, that is the only thing that interests us, nothing more. Mr. Cornejo, who is governor, is a obsequious person who will vote and raise his hand on anything the President says, because everyone is afraid of the President. We are critical opponents.

-What are you asking for?

-There are senators who have five or six times more modules than what corresponds to each senator and we have nothing. Now our negotiation is for the project to promote the incentive for conventional gas and oil investments. But they don't fool us anymore, because we have already fallen for it several times when they tell you one thing and then don't comply.

-How do you explain the tension between the government and the opposition?

-They don't know how to reach agreements, they don't know how to negotiate and they want to impose when they have a minority in Congress. And if they say we are extortionists, they should go and reach an agreement with the Front for Victory. Romero is angry because when we first took office he created the group of 39 and that it was to get rid of Kirchnerism and manage Congress. He told us he didn't want anything and now he's settled. Villarruel criticized Juez and now Juez is the best. When Milei says they are rats, I took it personally because today I have to be a senator but it's full of miserable people. I didn't come to the Senate to make friends but to defend my province.

-Is Governor Vidal under pressure from the Government?

-I don't talk much with the governor. But I explained to him that we are necessary and obviously if we can help him we are here. But it's not like we are going to be obsequious when we see that things are going wrong. The truth is that today the one in debt is the Nation with Santa Cruz. The one who has to put pressure is the governor, but he was the only one who paid CAMMESA in advance. YPF, since it said it was withdrawing, has reduced production by 40%. That is to say, they reduced our oil royalties by 40%, which is almost 38% of what was in the entire provincial budget. And something has to be done.

-How would you define this Government?

-A government that studied very well and analyzed the profile of what the majority of society was looking for and used the anger of the politicians with the people to reach and generate power. They used the communication mechanisms very well to obtain the laws. Note that last year the Ley Bases was issued and we were saved. Today nobody talks about it anymore. The pact of May 25 is a smoke screen and what also happens today is that nobody dares to confront them.