The first crack appeared after Scioli announced on Tuesday that the current freeze on utility prices would be lifted as part of the forthcoming IMF deal, and that as a result the cost of gas and electricity would go up in October. This stood in contrast to Kirchner's persistently held view that the government would do all it could resist tariff rises.
As a result, the presidential spokesman Miguel Núñez was ordered yesterday morning to state that 'the government has not reached any agreement with public service companies over a rise in utility rates'. In the afternoon Núñez then declared that 'When Néstor Kirchner says there will be no rise in rates it means that there will be no rise in rates', and he said that Scioli had merely been expressing his 'personal opinion'.
The disagreement goes beyond this recent difference of stated opinion, however. Where Kirchner has as far as possible avoided meeting with business leaders, Scioli has been keen to cast himself as the member of the government with the ear of the private sector.
And it is not just on the issue of tariffs that the President and his deputy have come into conflict. Scioli has also been outspoken over the issue of the amnesty laws passed to protect members of the 1976-1983 military government.
Kirchner is determined that Argentina will face up to its past by pursuing those responsible for human rights abuses committed during the dictatorship, but Scioli has called into question the process of annulling amnesty laws passed in the 1980s to prevent military officials from being prosecuted. Specifically the vice president believes that the chamber of deputies' 12 August decision to annul the laws is of questionable legitimacy, even though Kirchner is known to have been a major driving force behind the vote's passing.
The presidential spokesman again attempted to pour cold water on Scioli's remarks. 'He is not seriously suggesting that there is impunity in this country, and that there is neither justice nor truth,' Núñez said.
End of preview - This article contains approximately 390 words.
Subscribers: Log in now to read the full article
Not a Subscriber?
Choose from one of the following options
