National, city governments continue dispute over subways

The friction between the national government and city government over the management of the capital city’s subway line continued today, as Mauricio Macri outrightly dismissed national Interior and Transport Minister Florencio Randazzo’s invitation to a meeting on city transport.

Buenos Aires City Mayor Mauricio Macri defended the city’s decision to raise the price of subway fares in a press conference this morning, where he also confirmed that he would not be attending the meeting called by the national government to discuss the transport situation in the metropolitan area.

Randazzo was quick to respond to the city mayor, saying that Macri “announces the meeting” but isn't going to be there.

“After talking about the meeting so much, once more he’s going to skip the meeting called to talk about transport in the metropolitan area,” Randazzo said.

In the press conference he gave after coming out of a meeting with his cabinet, Macri announced that he would be sending city transport undersecretary Guillermo Dietrich to attend the meeting called for tomorrow at 11 am.

Randazzo added: “Not having Macri there is a shame as the subject matter is of great importance to the residents of the city that he governs.”

Meanwhile, pro-government lawmaker Roberto Feletti also mentioned the rift between the governments today, assuring that Macri wasn’t going to attend the meeting, in order to “not experience any embarrassing situations.”

“This situation just shows us the lack of transparency by the city government in the payment of resources, and the absence of real budgeting. That’s why there are so many price hikes in the city.”

Earlier today the city mayor commented on the city’s hearings held recently to discuss the subway tariff hike to $3.50 pesos, stating, “we aren’t purposely trying to bump up the prices, but we can’t pretend that we have a money printing machine.”

“We have no choice but to raise the subway fares,” he added. .

Yesterday Randazzo summoned both Macri and Buenos Aires province governor Daniel Scioli to a meeting tomorrow to discuss city transport and communicate his regret over the raising of subway prices.