The shifting feelings surrounding eternal power

Argentines are swinging between excitement over Pope Leo XIV’s visit, perhaps the balm for the soul many hoped Pope Francis would offer, and the anguish surrounding Lionel Messi’s “retirement” from the national football team. The article evokes the old schoolroom verdict: “They are not Díaz de Vivar.” Millennials, it adds, can ask the nearest AI.

But this is no time to be distracted. Politics, the article warns, prefers moments like these for maneuvers that slip quietly beyond the media spotlight. By the time people notice, everything may already be settled against them. The country has moved from dreaming of a third football star in the sky to the overly early prelude to a presidential election.

The first-round vote is still 13 months away, although several stages will probably come first. Everyone will want to save themselves and remain in office if endless reelection allows it. Meanwhile, out of sight but not forgotten, the former chief of staff may continue asking the courts for extensions to tidy up his income declaration. That sits uneasily beside Javier Milei’s statement in early May that Manuel Adorni was days away from fulfilling his obligation and that everything was in order. The article asks how many officials have failed to keep promises made to their leaders, suggesting there are enough names and posts to wallpaper the Obelisk.

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They come and go, I remain

The piece then turns to Luis Barrionuevo, the “marshal of the steel tray,” who has led the hotel and restaurant workers’ union for 40 years. At 84, after seeing at least 13 presidents pass through 10 constitutional terms since 1983, including five in less than a week, he used a university audience to reaffirm his limited affection for alternation.

“They come and go, I remain,” Barrionuevo said, prompting laughter. The line recalled his famous 1990 remark about the early corruption of the Menem era: “They should stop stealing for two years.” In light of court rulings and ongoing proceedings, the article says, politicians ignored that veteran union leader’s advice. It asks whether the students understood that, in a few minutes, Barrionuevo had also given them a lesson in the absolutism of power and scant regard for the Constitution.

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They should stop stealing for two years