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Breakfast Meeting Discussion with Mr. Mauricio Macri

Mauricio Macri is currently a candidate for Mayor of the City of Buenos Aires, the largest and most populated city in Argentina . He has occupied several key positions in top private business companies and, since 2001, he has been the President of Fundación Creer y Crecer, a think tank that has developed research studies and policy papers on virtually all public policy areas. Mr Macri is also serving his second term as president of Boca Juniors –the largest soccer club in Argentina- after having been re-elected in 1999.

Date & Time

Tuesday
Nov. 12, 2002
6:00am – 7:30am ET

Overview

This presentation is part of a series of meetings sponsored by "Argentina @ The Wilson Center" an activity of the Latin American Program.

At this meeting Mr. Macri presented the four main planks of his platform: social policy, citizen security, infrastructure and justice . His think tank, he stated, "has created a unique plan for the City of Buenos Aires […] to put an end to the improvisations that are common to politicians in Argentina".

Regarding social policy, the candidate stated there were four main issues that needed to be addressed. First, to "take every type of marginality off the street that has really affected the way of living in Buenos Aires"; second, to build a program that freezes growth of shantytowns, eradicating some of them and reestablishing the State in others which are now "lawless areas". He also emphasized the need to improve health services to the elderly and ensure adequate levels of nutrition to children below six years old.

Mr. Macri referred to the problems in the city's infrastructure, in particular, those of flooding, pollution and garbage disposal and presented a plan to eliminate the first two and improve the third one, taking advantage of the interest and capacity of the private sector.

His advisor and expert in the area, Eugenio Burzaco, who was also a part of Macri's recent tour to Europe, stressed the importance of strengthening security. To this end, he said, they would implement a policy of selective shocks that would target those crimes that prevent creating a "sense of security". According to Burzaco, institutional reform of the police, new laws and crime prevention policies will be needed.

Finally, he discussed his neighborhood justice project in which regular citizens that attend a training program would be authorized to settle small claims in justice courts. This would accomplish, in his view, two goals: enhance community relations and increase civil involvement and participation in public life.

Mr. Macri also attended different meetings with members of the IADB and the World Bank in an attempt to obtain funding for his projects in the City of Buenos Aires. "I am a part, supposedly, of the new politicians in Argentina and people expect results in the short term", Macri said.

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Latin America Program

The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action.  Read more

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