For the Financial Times, Alberto Fernández positioned …

The British newspaper Financial Times said in a note published in its Monday edition that the president Alberto Fernández “positions himself as a natural leader for Latin America” and praised his speech at the last World Economic Forum in Davos, which was held almost a month ago.

Under the headline “Alberto Fernández, the unexpected leader of Latin America”, the article reflects on the role in which President Alberto Fernández is positioned.

Signed by Michel Stott, the text stresses that this positioning is part of a search for a “greater regional role” for Argentina and in a difficult economic context, made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Presiding over a country mired in the third year of a deep recession and struggling to renegotiate crushing international debts would normally rule out any aspirations for a greater international role,” says the article, which he contrasts this situation with the growth of Fernández, despite this context, as a “natural leader” of Latin America.

“Estos no son tiempos normale y el pragmático líder de centroizquierda de la Argentina, Alberto Fernández, se posiciona como un líder natural para América Latina, una región devastada por el coronavirus, acosado por grave problemas sociales y económicos y sin pesos pesados”, señala Note.

Too, praises his “elegant speech” at the Davos Forum, where he made “a wake-up call to build a common house”.

“Fernández built bridges left and right, visiting the conservative leaders of Chile and Uruguay while celebrating the recent electoral victories of the socialists of Bolivia and Ecuador,” he said.

In this sense, he referred to the presence of the Argentine President this week in Mexico, as a “distinguished speaker” in the commemorations of the bicentenary of the independence “of this country and underlined the fact that he is the “the only Latin American leader” invited to participate in these events by President Andrés Manuel López Obrador.

“This explosion of diplomacy is timely. The (Joe) Biden administration is proposing a new agenda for Latin America, leaving behind Trump-era pressure on immigration and regime change in Cuba and Venezuela.” , did he declare.

For the journalist from the British financial daily, in a political context of fragmentation, there is a regional leadership vacuum that Fernández “hopes to fill”.

“It is no coincidence that Fernández was among the first world leaders to congratulate Joe Biden on his election. and he was the first Latin American leader to have a substantive conversation with the new President of the United States after his inauguration, ”the note continued.

In this sense, he mentioned that, according to the Argentine Ambassador to Washington, Jorge Argüello, the two leaders spoke for 35 minutes of their shared admiration for Pope Francis, among others.

In return, he notes that “Brazilian far-right leader Jair Bolsonaro and Mexican López Obrador were on good terms with Donald Trump at the end of his term” and among “the last world leaders to recognize Biden’s victory. “.

Finally, the note adds that, however, “the obstacles for Fernández to play a more important regional role are enormous” and mentions among them the lack of adequate forums to coordinate the region and the unsuccessful attempts at integration and, at the local level, the Argentine economic crisis and domestic politics.