translated from Spanish: Who is developing Argentina’s new foreign policy? (and what MEO has to do with it)

Argentina’s president-elect Alberto Fernández shows no signs of moderating his foreign policy stance before taking office a month from now and will host a group of left-wing politicians in Buenos Aires this weekend.
Fernández was one of the first to praise the likely release of former Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva from prison. He had a long four-hour lunch with The President of Mexico, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, on his first trip abroad since the elections. And on Saturday he will be the keynote speaker of the Puebla Group, a front created in July that brings together left-wing leaders from the region.
Former presidents such as Brazil’s Dilma Rousseff, the Uruguayan José Mujica, the Paraguayan Fernando Lugo and the Spaniard José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero are some of the most prominent members of this self-proclaimed progressive group that will discuss the priorities for the during a meeting this weekend in Buenos Aires that will conclude with a statement on Sunday. The agenda includes topics such as climate change, migration and regional growth.
“The Puebla Group is one That I supported even before I was a presidential candidate,” Fernandez said in Mexico. “It’s a group designed to solve problems in Latin America. Nothing more than that.”
Fernandez has not yet clarified whether he will remain in the Lima Group, which supports the leader of the Venezuelan opposition, Juan Guaidó. Argentina’s decision on Venezuela could undermine its position with U.S. President Donald Trump and jeopardize its ability to renegotiate a $56 billion credit line with the International Monetary Fund.
Fernandez, who takes office on December 10, has yet to announce who will be his foreign minister. Until then, these are Fernandez’s key people on foreign policy issues, who do not act as a unified team:
Felipe Solá
Solá, 69, is one of Fernandez’s closest advisers and always travels with him abroad. An agronomist, he has been a national deputy since 2009 and was governor of the province of Buenos Aires during the presidency of Nestor Kirchner. Prior to that, he was Minister of Agriculture from 1993 to 1999.
“I’m gradually getting used to the idea of being the chancellor,” Solá said during an interview with a local radio station.
Although his role is not yet defined, he has not hesitated to make statements about Argentina’s foreign policy. During Fernández’s visit to Mexico, Solá said the country will not change its view on the situation in Venezuela due to debt to the Fund.
Jorge Argoello
Argello, 63, is Argentina’s former ambassador to the United Nations, the United States and Portugal. Born in the province of Córdoba, he is a lawyer and career diplomat. He has been friends with Fernandez for 40 years, although he has not participated in his international travels so far this year.
Before that, he was twice a legislator from the City of Buenos Aires. He is president of the Open Embassy Foundation, a consultancy in Buenos Aires. In a recent paper originally published in Le Monde Diplomatique, he defined Argentina as “a country that plays by the rules imposed by others” and that it must organize its international agenda with a delicate balance between its own national interests and the consensus with other nations.
Marco Enríquez-Ominami
Three-time Chilean presidential candidate Marco Enríquez-Ominami, 46, is also close to Fernandez and has been influencing his international agenda. Although he defines himself as a friend and not an adviser, this year he has traveled with the Argentine leader to Spain and Mexico.
Switching between English, Spanish and French, he was most recently seen in the lobby of the Camino Real hotel in Mexico City, talking about the details of the next meeting of the Puebla Group in Buenos Aires, which he will also attend.
Enríquez-Ominami, congressman from 2006 to 2010, is founder of the Puebla Group and a member of the Progressive Party in Chile. He lived in Paris for more than a decade.

Original source in Spanish

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