In his role as head of the FIFA Foundation, Mauricio Macri traveled last Friday and settled in Doha to experience the World Cup. He will follow domestic politics from afar, now immersed again in sports management. He watched the national team’s debut against Saudi Arabia from the official box, surrounded by Qatari sheikhs and the region. In a jacket and tie, the former president wore a light blue and white shirt on his shoulders and lamented the defeat of Lionel Scaloni’s team.

The former president will be one of the few referents of Together for Change that will be present at the tournament. It is that most of the presidential candidates of the main opposition coalition preferred to remain in the country, due to the complex economic and social situation, and encourage the Argentine team from their homes. They fear paying an electoral cost for their presence in the stands. “It would be suicidal to go in this context,” recognized one of the top Pro references.

Macri is expected to have a high profile in Qatar. As president of the FIFA Foundation, an ad honorem position dedicated to the social promotion of sport, the co-founder of Cambiemos will host, together with Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA, the international delegations of politicians and businessmen who will arrive in Doha. After his controversial furcio on Germany – he said that he was a “superior race” and apologized – Macri has already settled in Doha and said that he went alone, without any of his closest collaborators.

Macri was appointed executive president of the FIFA Foundation in January 2020. That position allowed him to maintain international exposure – beyond the fact that he teaches in the United States and attends conferences – and travel frequently. By his trip to Qatar, Macri will interrupt his political activities and lower his exposure in the local public scene. After the World Cup, he will return to Buenos Aires. Later, he will travel to Patagonia for the end of the year festivities.

In the stands, surrounded by thousands of other Argentine fans, was the Kirchnerist businessman-trade unionist Víctor Santa María, head of the Single Union of Workers of Rental and Horizontal Buildings (Suterh). Santa Maria traveled to Doha with family and friends.

Carlos Maslatón was also there, a libertarian lawyer who intends to compete in an internship with Javier Milei to resolve the internship of La Libertad Avanza.

In addition to Santa María, there was another union leader in the Argentine debut in Qatar. This is Martín Sambiase, congressional delegate of the Tanners’ Union and trusted man of Walter Correa, Minister of Labor of Axel Kicillof and the head of the union on leave. Sambiase watched the match with Defense and Justice fans in one of the headers.

Sambiase is now in charge of a cooperative [El Saladero] that has been run by the union since the Yoma family left the business. Consulted by GLM, Sambiase admitted to being in Qatar, but said that he is not a union leader. However, on the page of the Tanning Workers’ Union he appears as the tenth congressional delegate to the Federation, which brings together all the unions in the sector and is also led by Correa.

Categorized in: