In a hypothetical internship of the Frente de Todos de La Plata, the one who would prevail according to the survey is the Minister of Social Development of the Nation, Victoria Tolosa Pazwith a voting intention close to 30 percent and a hard core within the party of 12.1 percent against 11.5 for Alak.
Why don’t the fans of Estudiantes de La Plata love Julio Alak?
The story goes back to Alak’s last years as mayor of La Plata. In 2001 the club made the decision to begin a project to remodel the stadium at 1 and 57, which began in 2002. At the same time, the mayor -who already had aspirations to be Governor of Buenos Aires- promoted the construction of the long-delayed Ciudad de La Plata at 25 and 532and pressed from the political level and with the protection of a sector of neighbors and environmental NGOs so that the clubs of the city abandon their stadiums located in the forest.
The conflict escalated when Estudiantes, already under the presidency of happy julyin March 2002 it began to build the first grandstand of the new stadium -the head of calle 55-. Alak, through a municipal ordinance, stopped the works and prohibited the continuity of the project using legal arguments.
This caused the fury of the fans, who dedicated flags, banners and even a chant that is still hummed in the diagonals when mentioning Alak’s last name.. There were more than four years of a legal battle between the club and the municipality, which included a mobilization to the municipality in 2005 with the presence of the players from the professional team, for a session of the Deliberative Council where the remodeling project and the prohibition.
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“If the Estudiantes field is another Cromañón, the person in charge will be the president of the club,” the former mayor even said, alluding to the tragedy of the dance venue in December 2004. To make matters worse, construction was completed in mid-2003 of the first stage of the Ciudad de La Plata Stadium and the mayor managed to move both clubs from the city to the cement mass. Not only that, but he promoted his own squad: La Plata Fútbol Club, a project with former first division soccer players who came to play in the extinct Argentine A Tournament.
What seemed like a losing battle on the part of Estudiantes, finally turned around in 2007. To the surprise of many, and despite having the support of the national and provincial management, the four-time mayor lost the internship of the Front for Victory with Pablo Bruera -who would later be elected mayor- and was left without any position.
Now without Alak in the administration and with Bruera in charge, Estudiantes de La Plata restored relations with the Municipality and advanced with the reconstruction of its new stadium, which was only able to inaugurate at the end of 2019. The path of the former mayor, meanwhile, was far from the city: Cristina Kirchner “rescued” him in 2008 and appointed him in charge of the re-nationalized company Aerolíneas Argentinas; and then elected him as Minister of Justice for his last term.
Almost twenty years have passed since that merciless war between Julio Alak and Estudiantes de La Plata, but the fans did not forget the past and despite the wishes of the Provincial Government, they would not elect him again if he were a candidate..
