Jorge Macri hired 'Catalán,' the advisor who worked with Cristina Kirchner and Massa

The mayor of Buenos Aires, Jorge Macri, has already chosen a strategy with which he seeks to regain support and consolidate himself at the center of the political scene, after a disastrous start to his administration.

Concerned about the advance of the Government of Javier Milei and his attempt to challenge the Pro's influence in the City, the mayor decided to change course.

First, he chose to separate the local election from the national one with the aim of municipalizing the campaign and avoiding being affected by a possible wave of support for La Libertad Avanza in his district.

With a mindset closer to that of a Kirchnerist mayor from the suburbs, he sought to protect his territory. This move caused resistance within the Pro itself.

Later, he tried to reposition himself and regain the ability to set the media agenda. To do this, he appointed Laura Alonso as the institutional spokesperson for the City and launched a series of announcements to counter the discourse of his LLA rivals.

In this context, to try to improve his image, Macri presented measures to supposedly "relieve the tax burden," committed to promoting a reform to "reduce the state apparatus" and decrease the so-called "political spending." However, these measures are far from being considered true structural reforms.

Meanwhile, the mayor activated the party structure in the middle of the summer season to revive the weakened yellow troops and began reorganizing his Cabinet with the purpose of showing a "renewal."

However, behind the strategy that Macri is carrying out to prevent Pro from losing its most important stronghold to Milei's rise, is Antoni Gutiérrez-Rubí, a political advisor who worked with left-wing politicians and was the creator of the "fear campaign" against the Argentine president.

"The Catalan"

This Spanish consultant, known as "The Catalan," worked in the last presidential campaign alongside Sergio Massa, the defeated candidate of Unión por la Patria in 2023 and the former Minister of Economy who left the country on the brink of the worst crisis in history.

His advisory history also includes the corrupt former president Cristina Kirchner, who followed his recommendations until her setback in the 2017 primary elections in the province of Buenos Aires.

On that occasion, the former president created Unidad Ciudadana and tried to change her communication strategy: she gave interviews, used a format of events surrounded by citizens, something characteristic of Mauricio Macri at that time, guided by Jaime Durán Barba, left aside the podium, and reduced the presence of party symbols or La Cámpora flags.

Gutiérrez-Rubí's ideas were unusual for the leaders of Máximo Kirchner's group, accustomed to a different political dynamic.

However, the consultant, owner of the firm Ideograma, already had a track record in Peronism. He advised mayors like Fernando Espinoza, mayor of La Matanza, a key district for the PJ in the Buenos Aires suburbs, and Fernando Gray, communal chief of Esteban Echeverría. During the government of the Frente de Todos, in 2019, he tried to reorient the Kirchnerist administration of Alberto Fernández.

His incorporation into the Macri circle caused surprise. Until then, he was seen as a kind of counterpart to Durán Barba, Mauricio Macri's strategist until 2019.

The left-wing advisor in the region

In addition to having worked with Cristina Kirchner and Alberto Fernández in Argentina, he was a key figure in the election of the communist Gustavo Petro in Colombia.

Petro, who openly opposes Milei, is a leader with a past in left-wing terrorist groups and a reference for the Latin American left. In 2022, the consultant bet on Colombia, and his strategy was successful in political terms, although it was catastrophic for all Colombians in economic terms.

That triumph opened new opportunities for him in Mexico, where he supported the socialist Claudia Sheinbaum, the candidate chosen by Andrés Manuel López Obrador to face the right. When Sheinbaum became the president of Mexico, Gutiérrez-Rubí was one of the minds behind her campaign.