Horacio Rodríguez Larreta: "Jorge Macri destroyed the team that transformed the city."

-Two months after launching your candidacy for legislator, what's your assessment of the campaign?

I'm equally concerned about how bad the city is. The more I walk, the more I explore, the more I listen, the more I meet with neighbors. And the more I confirm the... I'm going to use words the neighbors use, the decay, the neglect, the abandonment, and the filth that exists. I hear it everywhere, all the time. That's why I have high expectations for this election, because many people tell me, "The city was better off with you."

-Was your initial assessment of Jorge Macri's administration the same as the current one? Or has it changed?

"I've been confirming it, I've been digging deeper into it. Today (yesterday) I read that a person died in Parque Chacabuco when someone broke into him. I had just been at a bar the week before, having a drink with neighbors. And they were telling me they were terrified by the lack of security. That's going into the details of one of the problems in the city. But generally speaking, the diagnosis is the same. The city is in bad shape, period."

-Has there been no improvement in management in any aspect since you left office at the end of 2023?

-Well, as I say... what's done is done. Nobody goes around with an axe and knocks down the Olympic Village, you know? Or plants a bomb in Chinatown. Those things remain and are a great contribution to the city. Even if the transformation slows down, what's done is done. That gives me enormous satisfaction. I was in the Rodrigo Bueno neighborhood the other day. People live better there since we made the changes; there's no going back.

-You used the axe and the millennium as an example, and you're talking about chainsaws in the city. Is there any risk that if La Libertad Avanza wins, that method will be used?

-Call it what you want. Should we use a chainsaw in the City? Look, I don't believe in generic titles like that. In the City, we implemented the largest public works plan in history. And debt went down. What does that mean? That we saved, that we did it with austerity, taking care of the handle. Instead of the axe, or the chainsaw, or austerity, there are things you can see, that I did. You can see them in the projects; that's where the austerity is. Where can we save? How many pesos? Where do we apply it? What projects do we do? That's governing. It's not a slogan, it's titles.

-Could a victory for Peronism under Leandro Santoro or for the libertarians under Manuel Adorni jeopardize these changes?

The city is already deteriorating. It's not that there's a risk of it deteriorating within two years. Today, there's a management system that's deteriorating the city, making it increasingly similar to the practices of the Greater Buenos Aires. When you see someone say they broke into a bus and robbed all the passengers... I've never seen that in the city before. So, it's not that there's a risk of it deteriorating. The reality is that it's already deteriorating, a situation that could continue to worsen. We had achieved better quality of service in the city compared to the Greater Buenos Aires, in health, in security, in education. All of that is part of the deterioration that's taking place.

-So, is there a chance that PRO will lose the City in 2027?

This government runs the risk of losing to anyone because it governs poorly. All roads lead to Rome. The risk is there today and in '27.

Did you build bridges with the PRO party during the run-up to the campaign? Or was there never a chance of reaching an agreement?

Jorge Macri took office and campaigned, saying he was going to continue what I'd been doing, praising me as if I were the best in the world. He won, and shortly afterward, he said he was going to jeopardize what we were doing in the City. And he did. He was the one who decided to break it. Jorge dynamited the team that transformed the City. And the result is plain to see. Inexplicably. And that's what puts the City Government at risk of losing the election.

-Why wasn't there consensus with the parties that were part of the Buenos Aires ruling party until two years ago?

-All the parties that supported Jorge Macri's candidacy are no longer here. And that's because the city is in bad shape. Let's not try to get around it anymore.

-You were the one who made the decision to bring Jorge Macri into your government in 2021. Or Mauricio Macri?

-First, I regret it. I was wrong. I've already said it clearly. I apologize because I called him as a minister in the City because he had experience as mayor in Vicente López. But in light of the result, what matters at the end of the day is how the people of Buenos Aires live, and today they live worse.

-Did you bring it because you thought of it as a succession?

-When I brought him, no. I brought him as a minister. He later took a position, showed his will, expressed it. It's not that I brought him with the agreement that he would be a candidate.

-Was it a case of insincerity to say in the middle of the debate that you wanted to be head of government again?

Why sincerity? Why not sincerity? Directly. The woman who just greeted me and said "come back," where does she want me to return? To be head of government. And if I have the will to be that again, why not be honest with the people and say so?

-There are those who believe that it is out of place to say it now because a legislative election is coming up.

-Obviously, it's a legislative election. And it's a challenge I have ahead of me as a legislator. I think we can buy time in that regard. To carry out the work of raising the Sarmiento Highway, which is essential for the city, a law is required. To make the land available, to finance it, a law is required. If I can work on those laws, we'll buy time. We can buy two years, or at least one, on that project.

-If you run a competitive election and are in a good position going forward, are you open to negotiating some kind of future partnership with groups like the PRO?

-Today we're competing. I think I've always expressed a willingness to engage in dialogue. But today I'm prioritizing the team we have. People with management experience, like Guadalupe Tagliaferri, Emmanuel Ferrario, and Jorge Telerman. I'm putting more focus and priority on the team that transformed the city. And that Jorge Macri blew up.

-Beyond always being critical of Milei's ways, do you have any points in common with La Libertad Avanza?

-No, because in that space they don't talk about the City, which is my focus. They decide to have a national discourse. Adorni is Milei, they say. When it comes to making their choices, the people of Buenos Aires care about their city. But they don't talk about the city. They haven't said or done anything concrete; they haven't presented any projects.

-The PRO party blames you for splitting the vote and thus boosting a possible Santoro victory. What do you say to those who argue this?

-Let them work. We work and govern well, there's no risk of anything. The only thing that's changed here is that they don't work.

-So yours isn't a candidacy that's beneficial to the Peronist list?

The only thing that's beneficial to all the other parties is poor management. When we were in power, all of that didn't happen. You wouldn't have asked me that question any other year. They were all inside the government. They all supported it. Why don't they support it more now? They don't want to support this administration. The reasoning is so obvious... I understand why they're trying to get around it, but they're campaigning by praising the projects I did with the team Jorge blew up.

-Ramiro Marra speaks of "cracks" in sleeping on the streets. Has the situation worsened since he left the Buenos Aires government?

-Poverty, the hard numbers, are the same as when I left. Later, I heard people say the governor and the provincial police were sending them here. It was the same governor as when I was there. What's changed? There's less state presence. Before, you could call 108 and they'd arrive in ten minutes. All of that has deteriorated. All of that has fallen apart.

-On a national level, what do you think happened with Clean Record in Congress?

-I think a huge opportunity was missed for a law that is very important for Argentina.

-Why did two senators suddenly vote against something everyone thought they wouldn't vote for?

-I don't know. I read all kinds of political speculation in the newspapers, but the reality is there's no law.

-The project was promoted by Silvia Lospennato, who is now his rival in this legislative election.

"She entered on my list, as a candidate for the Province. She spoke highly of me, of my administration, I don't know what happened. In the City, we also tried to get the Clean Record approved, but there's a significant difference: it requires 40 votes, two-thirds.

-Formally, he never left the PRO. Is there a chance he'll be part of it again, or is this a bygone era?

I'm a founder of the PRO party. I still believe in the party's founding values. One of them, a very important one, has been management, method, planning, and dedication to work. I remain firmly attached to that. They're the ones who strayed from those values. It's the city government. It's Jorge Macri. I haven't strayed one inch from the party's founding values.