Macri, Cristina never considered sharing a theater box

By Rubén Rabanal

If the administration of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner wanted to, it could blame former president Carlos Menem for the presidential absence during the re-opening of the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, and compensate Mauricio Macri's complaints.

Even though the Kirchnerite sector could have used it as an excuse, it failed to communicate protocol requirements on time, which would have downplayed the conflict with Buenos City Mayor Mauricio Macri when he said he regretted being forced to share the same theater box with former president Néstor Kirchner.

In fact, the obstacle impeding the presidential visit to the main opera house in Buenos Aires was already included in the formalities ruling the attendance of both local and foreign presidents in official ceremonies.

Argentina is not an exception: presidential decree No. 2.072 signed by Carlos Menem in 1993 regulated the protocol to be observed in every ceremony which is set to be attended by the head of state. According to this resolution, it is clear that Mauricio Macri would have had to delegate the control of the theatre to the Protocol Department -seats distribution included- if he had actually wanted Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to attend the event.


This alleged 'curse' inherited from Carlos Menem also includes an already established comprehensive list of Who's Who with governmental officials, priests, military men, members of diplomatic corps who can't be missed in any event attended by a president.

One of the paragraphs in the resolution is self-explanatory in case any further detail is needed: "The location of governmental representatives in official ceremonies and rallies arranged by the municipal or provincial authorities is to be assigned to the Protocol Department; the protocol staff assisting the guests is merely to communicate their location in advanced."


Unthinkable

It is unthinkable that Macri could have delegated the event organization to the Pink House, especially if he considered the re-opening of the Teatro Colón was conceived by the City government as the main, exclusive ceremony in the Bicentenary festivities.

This is not an unaware piece of information to any official at both the federal and the city protocol departments. So, did they actually think that Macri and Cristina de Kirchner might gather at the presidential box on May 24^th?


This protocol scheme is so familiar to the Congress that lawmakers and deputies are year after year forced to observe a protocol which is even rejected by the heads of both the Lower and the Upper Houses. Each time the Legislative Assembly takes place, members of the federal Protocol Department take control of the Congress to impose their security rules, as well as the presidential guests. Deputies and lawmakers have never been able to ignore that requirement.

Therefore, some information revealed before the re-opening of the Teatro Colón failed to match with the protocol scheme. The Pink House asked for 1,200 invitation cards, and the City government delivered just 140. In fact, Cristina de Kirchner could have asked for the guest list to check it, since provincial governors rank 7^th in the official hierarchy, according to the resolution previously mentioned.  

But the Kirchners also avoided observing protocol in the events organizations both inside and outside the Pink House. The decree inherited from Carlos Menem forces authorities to invite ex presidents to every official festivity by following a particular protocol observance: the entrance order corresponds with the period in office of each former head of state. This was another curious fact ignored by the Protocol Department when organizing the Bicentenary festivities.


Translation by Jimena Gibert