Cecilia Moreau becomes Argentina's first female house speaker
Argentine Congresswoman Cecilia Moreau was elected today as President of the Chamber of Deputies - Argentina's counterpart to the U.S. Speaker of the House - thus becoming the first woman to preside over the nation's lower house of Congress.
Moreau, 45, was elected to the post after her predecessor, Sergio Massa, was tapped by President Alberto Fernández to head the Economy Ministry amid a foreign exchange crisis.
She was elected with the support of the ruling, center-left Front for All coalition; the right-wing Together for Change coalition and minor left-wing parties abstained.
Moreau, who will head a lower house closely divided between the two major alliances, promised to "manage the dissent and seek the consensus that society expects from us in such a particular moment."
She thanked Massa - under whose tenure President Fernández saw most of his domestic agenda passed over staunch right-wing opposition - "for the temperance he had in two years, amid a pandemic, to manage the Chamber."
Like Massa and, earlier, Fernández, Moreau belongs to the centrist Renewal Front faction of the left-wing coalition that ousted right-wing President Mauricio Macri in the 2019 election.
Her father, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Leopoldo Moreau, had briefly served as house speaker during a crisis-wracked 1989 presidential transition; the elder Moreau, 75, is still convalescing from cardiac bypass surgery.
Argentina is likewise still recovering from a debt crisis inherited from Macri, under whom some $100 billion was added to the public foreign debt in just two years (2016-18) - with over 80% going to finance asset offshoring.
At: https://www-eldestapeweb-com.translate.goog/politica/congreso/cecilia-moreau-fue-electa-presidenta-de-la-camara-de-diputados-20228216480?_x_tr_sl=it&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Argentine Congresswoman Cecilia Moreau smiles after being elected by her colleagues as House Speaker - the first in the country's history.
Moreau was elected to the post after her predecessor, Sergio Massa, was tapped by President Alberto Fernández to head the Economy Ministry amid a foreign exchange crisis.
Moreau - like Massa and, earlier, Fernández - belongs to the centrist Renewal Front faction of the center-left Front for All coalition that ousted right-wing President Mauricio Macri in the 2019 election.
Argentina is still recovering from a debt crisis inherited from Macri, under whom around $100 billion was added to the public foreign debt - with over 80% going to finance asset offshoring.
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Macri did his best to totally demolish the government before he left, just like Trump. President Fernández had a nearly insurmountable mess facing him coming into office. He and his ministers have had to become miracle workers to start pulling the country out of a deep pit Macri dug for them.
Congresswoman Moreau seems prepared to hit the ground running. It looks like a real adantage in this case that President Fernández has someone who won't need a breaking-in period, as she has been ready to work from the first.
Thank you, peppertree, for the good news. 
So she knows how to work with the often disparate factions in the Front for All coalition - which ranges from stolid centrist to far-left.
It also took knowing how to massage egos if need be - which, as you know, is often just as crucial as negotiating skills.
Interestingly, her becoming House Speaker leaves women as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd in the presidential succession line: VP Cristina Kirchner; Senate President Claudia Ledesma; and Ms. Moreau.
It might just be a first in the entire western hemisphere (!).
That said, RW prosecutors and judges are busy trying to "Lula" Cristina Kirchner by convicting her - of the same, old re-hashed public works self-dealing allegations - before the campaign season kicks off early next year (as she's expected to run in lieu of President Fernández).
No proof? No problem - if you've got both the prosecutor and judge on board (no juries in Argentina, generally).
Qué será.
Thanks again, Judi, and have a great week. Kudos on the Kansas vote! 
