Horacio Rodríguez Larreta: “With women I was the total anti-hero”.
The head of the Buenos Aires Government and presidential pre-candidate of Juntos por el Cambio was in the new interview cycle in República Z. The day his mother left the family, his “adrenaline” exercise routine, and his reaction when asked if he prefers a boyfriend for his daughter, an Independiente fan or a militant of La Cámpora.
The candidates for the upcoming elections on August 13 are the guests in a brand new interview segment with Argentine political personalities, which has already had its second broadcast on the streaming channel República Z.
The cycle En Confianza, which began last week with an in-depth talk with the liberal pre-candidate for head of the City Government, legislator Ramiro Marra, this time had as interviewee the mayor of Buenos Aires, Horacio Rodríguez Larreta, to address a more human back and forth, outside the canons of political questionnaires.
Conducted by the influencer Mai Pistiner, a relaxed interview, where the man imposes himself on the politician to know him a little more on a human level and one of its pillars is his favorite book, Los cuatro acuerdos del doctor Miguel Ruiz: “You have to reread it once a year, you read it in one night, to live them, is another thing,” he said while listing the qualities of the work.
“The impeccability of the words, not taking anything personally, not prejudging, not criticizing people, not emitting words of hate and of every situation, do the best you can,” he elaborates while recalling how “the worst slaughter in the history of Humanity” began: the Second World War. “It started with a madman, very verbose, in the beer halls of Munich and convinced the Germans to go to war: Hitler, the word led a people to war,” justified the Buenos Aires mayor.
The daily raid of the mayor of Buenos Aires, with an “intense campaign”, as he himself defines, was another trigger of the talk about the consequences of the physical and mental wear and tear it entails: the periods of sleep, the rest of the politician during these busy pre-election days. “I’m sleeping well but little, about five and a half hours a day, it’s not good,” he says, shaking his head. And he goes deeper: “I try to recover on Saturdays I try to sleep 10 hours but I can’t even do that, I get to bed and I faint, it’s not hard for me to fall asleep: I go to bed at half past twelve and the alarm clock goes off at 6:15″.
Fifteen minutes later, the mayor of Buenos Aires can be seen going for a run while listening to the radio or a podcast. To get him in the mood for his political goal, he listens to a podcast titled La banda presidencial about the history of Argentine heads of state through the ages. “If they ask me if I have a minute to chat, I say: ‘come on, let’s run’, I’m well trained to run talking”, while he describes his ideal aerobic day with 20 minutes of jogging, an hour of gym and 45 minutes of swimming. “That gives me adrenaline, it makes me more energetic,” he says without taking his eyes off his cell phone located out of frame.
“Adrenaline”, That is the engine that, according to him, moves him for the daily work grind. “I have infinite energy, I drink six coffees a day and I don’t have heartburn,” while acknowledging that at no time does he regret “getting into this.” “There is nothing better than having a vocation, it orders you and guides you,” he maintains with fervor.
A steak or a delicious provoleta is the same for the leader of Juntos por el Cambio when it comes to satisfying his palate. “I eat everything”, he admits and assumes his gastronomic weakness based on dulce de leche: “A pancake, I’m dying, also a volcano or a torta rogel”. And she is “indignant”: “I don’t understand that there are people who eat dessert without dulce de leche, I don’t get it”, she says with mockery while acknowledging that she only eats “the calories that are worthwhile, that are enjoyed, not stupid things”.
His discipline in schedules, meals and exercise leads to the obligatory question about the “escape routes” to which Rodríguez Larreta minimizes: “Only a glass of wine on weekends,” he says with a priestly countenance.
Political childhood and student example
Rodríguez Larreta’s beginnings in this world were addressed during the interview and he told how he was affected by the separation of his parents when he was only 7 years old. “It surely left a mark on me, we stayed living with my old man, my mom left [she later became a couple with a theater director]. And he added: “As a child I had a lot of presence of my paternal grandmother as well as the lady who worked at home, they raised us a lot” and acknowledges that he did not have any resentment for the maternal decision to leave the family nest. “I see her every day, I love her, I take vacations with her and once a week we eat together”, he affirms.
What vision of Argentina was instilled in you as a child at home?” asked Pistiner. “The passion for politics, my old man [Horacio] was very political [of the developmentalist line, former president of Racing] and there were political meetings every day at home and I was walking around, listening, when I was 5 years old, sometimes President Frondizi came to visit us”, he recalls.
Then it was time for the Escuela Argentina Modelo, an institution that saw the student Larreta pass through. “He was a perfect student, always a gold medalist, captain of the soccer team, of the Olympics, always a great organizer, a leader”, he boasts and admits that he would have liked to be a soccer player. “But I didn’t make it, I cut both Achilles tendons, I used to play tournaments and also traveled abroad”.
“I am zero charismatic”, he says and surprises the interviewer to then double down on the intimate level: “With women I was the total anti-hero” and with respect to his physiognomy he touches on a topic that was the product of memes. “I was always very hairy, very and sometimes I get fucked with that, it was noticeable on the beach,” he admits with some annoyance and then makes a frightened face when they name him “definitive depilation”. “I would panic so much about the pain, they take off the band-aid after a blood extraction and I die,” she says and grabs her head when she remembers every time she has an ergometry and the adhesive electrodes are removed from her chest. “A week before I’m already afraid that I have to have it done,” he says.
Baldness (“today it doesn’t bother me at all to be called bald, although when I was 25, 27 years old I fought it a little”) while he checks on his cell phone that his daughter sent him a photo of his hair appearance when he was 33 years old [today he is 57] and he looks almost unknown.
One of the spicy questions of the note was when the mayor of Buenos Aires had to choose between a supposed boyfriend for Manuela, his eldest daughter: from Independiente or from La Cámpora? “The boyfriend she has now is not a soccer player and does not like politics”, he answers on a tangent. “What a fucked-up question you ask me!” she says and frowns. “I wouldn’t accept either one of them,” he admits and launches the first full laugh of the interview.
“She writes to me, sends me audios and like 500 stickers,” he reveals about Serena, his youngest daughter of 7 years and also assures that he doesn’t like crowded WhatsApp groups. “I’m only in the strictly work ones and when they are too big I don’t get involved,” he admits. And surprisingly: “I can go for two hours without looking at my cell phone, I was a kid and there were no phones and nothing happened, in fact, I can go for days without looking at social networks, I am zero cholulo”, justifies the opposition official.
Anecdotes about the “sleeves” for his economic position (such as tickets for Taylor Swift), and his “definition of life” in that “there is no plan B” with respect to the electoral year ahead, are some of the pearls of the interview. “There is no plan B, when you’ve already raised it, it becomes plan A, I live like that”, is one of his vital maxims. “If you enjoy the process, the road, then whether you get there or not is the least important thing”, he justified and, in a fit of anxiety he said: “I want to be president since I was five years old, you didn’t ask me that”, which generated Mai’s laughter.
Entering into the electoral tone, the head of the Government of the City acknowledged that his daughters find his presidential candidacy contradictory. “They don’t like overexposure at all, going to eat in very public places”. And your youngest daughter asks you about this, does she understand?” asked Pistiner. “Forget it, she is torturing me asking me how is the PASO issue if the candidate of the Juntos por el Cambio party, is an adult”, surprises Larreta and comments on his routine with Serena of taking her to have tea or eat chipá.
The five questions of the people
Why does he say he is going to put an end to the pickets and why doesn’t he do it now as head of the Buenos Aires Government? “For that, you need to be in the national government”, he summarized, and wielded the “removing the intermediaries that exist in the social plans”, a power that he does not have as mayor.
One of the controversies came with the question “what happened with the Fanta?”, recalling the media episode that happened with an in-person survey among inhabitants of La Matanza, where each person who had a little bottle of the orange drink in his hand answered that he was going to vote for Rodríguez Larreta. “I never knew if it was one to fuck me or someone who thought he could help me by sending people like that, it was never known who sent them, it remained there, no idea”. And he added: “As soon as I found out I called to find out who sent them and nobody knew, so I suspect it was one of the ‘contra’, but nobody showed up”, he closes with a doubtful gesture.
What are you going to do differently from Macri to lower inflation?
“The million dollar question is how, we need people in the Government who have experience, more than ideas we need management, to put them into practice, concrete facts”.
What would you do with the cepo?
“We have to remove it, not on the first day, that would be crazy, there would be zero dollars left in the Central Bank, and what could happen? the dollar would go to 5000 or 6000 pesos and in one shot you would have between 15% and 20% more poor people in Argentina”.
Closing the interview, as for a favorite TV series or program, Rodríguez Larreta reminisces and says he watched La diplomática “months ago” and admits he does not watch Gran Hermano. “I only know Alfa because of its popularity”, and he would like to watch the series about how the Argentine National Team won the World Cup in Qatar.
Patrick Bannett is a profound writer and content producer embarking on his digital journalism journey with Global Web Wire. He is knowledgeable on various daily life topics, including politics, personal finance, travel, lifestyle, and relationships. Apart from writing, Patrick is also an accomplished communicator and networker. He always seeks new opportunities to collaborate with like-minded individuals and businesses. Bannett enjoys hiking, practicing yoga, and exploring new cultures when he is not writing. Bannett holds a Ph.D. in English and Communications and continues expanding his knowledge through ongoing education and research.
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