• Elections Argentina, polarized between Mauricio Macri and Cristina Kirchner

A few hours after a political change that enters the positive history of the country, the Argentines were surprised this Sunday with an unusual image: a hug between Mauricio Macri and Alberto Fernández, the outgoing president and the incoming , both representatives of the two political poles from the country.

Sunday's "miracle" occurred during a mass in the Basilica of Luján, the main temple of the Catholic religion in the country. Both the social-liberal Macri and the Peronist Fernández accepted the invitation of Óscar Ojea, president of the Argentine Episcopal Conference , to a "mass for unity and peace".

"We must do everything possible to resist and not fall into the temptation of wanting to destroy the other. In the homeland, the other is my sister, he is my brother," Archbishop Jorge Scheining said during Mass.

The transfer of command next Tuesday includes a fundamental fact: it will be the first in 91 years in which a non-Peronist president completes his presidential term . Fernandez, who won the October elections with 48%, will have a strengthened opposition, since Macri won 40%.

"We are a healthy alternative of power, we represent millions of Argentines who will never resign themselves again. They will not lead us ahead," Macri said on Saturday afternoon during a massive farewell rally in Plaza de Mayo .

Macri and Fernández were accompanied by their wives and a good part of the outgoing and incoming cabinets, which merged into multiple hugs. Only missing Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, twice president and vice president from next Tuesday.

"We are exhausted from so many disagreements and fights. It is not a homogeneous or hegemonic unit, but a necessary unit to build the desired country and leave the labyrinth in which we are," said Scheining. The country is going through a severe economic crisis, with annual inflation close to 60% and a poverty rate of around 40% .

Four years ago, Fernández de Kirchner refused to participate in the command transfer ceremony to Macri . The transition, this time, is being much smoother from the gesture of the outgoing president, who on the night of his defeat summoned the winner of the elections to a breakfast at the Casa Rosada the next day, something that had never occurred since the return of democracy in 1983.

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  • Alberto Fernandez
  • Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
  • Mauricio Macri
  • Argentina Elections
  • Argentina

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