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Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
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Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (born February 19, 1953), commonly known as Cristina Kirchner, is an Argentine politician from the Justicialist Party and the current President of Argentina. She is the wife of former President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner. Before assuming the presidency she was a Senator for Buenos Aires Province and acted as First Lady during her husband's term.
In the October 2007 general election, Mrs. Kirchner ran for the presidency of Argentina, representing the ruling Front for Victory party.
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Encyclopedia
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (born February 19, 1953), commonly known as Cristina Kirchner, is an Argentine politician from the Justicialist Party and the current President of Argentina. She is the wife of former President of Argentina Néstor Kirchner. Before assuming the presidency she was a Senator for Buenos Aires Province and acted as First Lady during her husband's term.
In the October 2007 general election, Mrs. Kirchner ran for the presidency of Argentina, representing the ruling Front for Victory party. She won with 45.29% of the vote, a 22% lead over her nearest rival. This was one of the widest margins obtained by a candidate since democracy returned in 1983, and it avoided the need for a runoff election. She is Argentina's first elected female President and the second female President (after Isabel Martinez de Perón, 1974-1976).
Personal life
Cristina Elizabeth Fernández was born in La Plata, province of Buenos Aires, daughter of Eduardo Fernández (of Spanish heritage) and Ofelia Esther Wilhelm (of German heritage). Cristina has one sister, Gisella, with whom she keeps contact on the phone. She studied law at the National University of La Plata during the 1970s. During her studies there, she met her future spouse, Néstor. They married on March 9, 1975 and had two children: Máximo and Florencia. Florencia received international media attention during early 2008 when she started keeping a Fotolog.
Political career
Kirchner started her political career in the Peronist Youth movement of the Justicialist Party in the 1970s. During the period of authoritarian rule in the country, she and Néstor dropped out of politics and practiced law in Río Gallegos. She picked up politics again in the late 1980s, and was elected to the Santa Cruz provincial legislature in 1989, a position to which she was re-elected in 1993.
In 1995 she was elected to represent Santa Cruz in the Senate, and in 1997 in the Chamber of Deputies. In 2001 she won again a seat in the Senate.
Kirchner provided the main backbone to her husband's successful campaign for the presidency in 2003, against two other Justicialist candidates and several other competitors. In the April 27, 2003 presidential election first round, former president Carlos Saúl Menem won the greatest number of votes (25%), but failed to get the votes necessary to win an overall majority. A second-round run-off vote between Menem and second-place finisher Néstor Kirchner was scheduled for May 18. Feeling certain that he was about to face a resounding electoral defeat, Menem decided to withdraw his candidacy, thus automatically making Kirchner the new president, with 21.97% of the votes (the lowest number in the history of the country).
During her husband's term, Cristina Kirchner became an itinerant ambassador for his government. Her highly combative speech style polarized Argentine politics, recalling the style of Eva Perón. Although she repeatedly rejected the comparison later, Cristina once said in an interview that she identified herself "with the Evita of the hair in a bun and the clenched fist before a microphone" (the typical image of Eva Perón during public speeches) more than with the "miraculous Eva" of her mother's time, who had come "to bring work and the right to vote for women".
She was the main candidate for Senator of the Front for Victory faction of her party in the province of Buenos Aires, for the October 2005 elections, in a heated campaign directed mainly against Hilda Duhalde, the wife of former interim president Eduardo Duhalde. Kirchner won the elections by a 25% margin over González.
Election to Presidency of Argentina
With Kirchner leading all the pre-election polls by a wide margin, her challengers were trying to force her into a run-off. She needed either more than 45% of the vote, or 40% of the vote and a lead of more than 10% over her nearest rival, to win outright. The legality of her presidential bid funding was later disputed when U.S federal prosecutors alleged that the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez secretly tried to funnel nearly $1 million in cash to her campaign, while these allegations were vehemently denied by both the Argentinian and Venezuelan governments.
Cristina Kirchner finally won the election in the first round with 45.3% of the vote, followed by 22% for Elisa Carrió (candidate for the Civic Coalition) and 16% for former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna. Eleven others split the remaining 15%. Mrs. Kirchner was popular among the suburban working class and the rural poor, while Ms. Carrió received more support from the urban middle class, as did Mr. Lavagna. Of note, Fernández lost the election in the three largest cities (Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario), although she won in most other places elsewhere, including the large provincial capitals such as Mendoza and Tucumán.
The president elect began a four-year term on December 10, 2007, facing challenges including inflation, union demands for higher salaries, private investment in key areas, lack of institutional credibility (exemplified by the controversy surrounding the national statistics bureau, INDEC), utility companies demanding authorization to raise their fees, low availability of cheap credit to the private sector, and the upcoming negotiation of the defaulted foreign debt with the Paris Club.
Cabinet
On November 14, Cristina Kirchner announced the names of her new cabinet, which started working with her on December 10. Of the 12 ministers appointed, seven were already ministers in Néstor Kirchner's government whilst the other five took office for the first time.
Chiefdom of Cabinet and Ministries
of the Cristina Kirchner's Government |
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| Office | Name | Term | |
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| Chief of Ministers Cabinet | Alberto Fernández
Sergio Massa | December 10, 2007 – July 23, 2008
July 24, 2008 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Interior | Florencio Randazzo | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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Ministry of Foreign Affairs,
International Trade and Worship | Jorge Taiana | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Defense | Nilda Garré | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Economy | Martín Lousteau
Carlos Fernández | December 10, 2007 – April 24, 2008
April 25, 2008 – incumbent | |
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Ministry of Federal Planning,
Public Investment and Services | Julio de Vido | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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Ministry of Justice,
Security and Human Rights | Aníbal Fernández | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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Ministry of Work,
Labour and Social Security | Carlos Tomada | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Health and Environment | Graciela Ocaña | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Social Development | Alicia Kirchner de Mercado | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Education | Juan Carlos Tedesco | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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Ministry of Science,
Technology and Productive Innovation | Lino Barañao | December 10, 2007 – incumbent | |
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| Ministry of Production | Débora Giorgi | November 26, 2008 – incumbent |
Presidency
During the first days of her presidency, Argentina's relations with the United States deteriorated as a result of allegations made by a United States assistant attorney of illegal campaign contributions, case known as the maletinazo (suitcase scandal). According to these allegations, Venezuelan agents tried to pressure a Venezuelan-American citizen (Guido Alejandro Antonini Wilson) to lie about the origin of $790,550 in cash found in his suitcase on August 4, 2007 at a Buenos Aires airport. U.S. prosecutors allege the money was sent to help Mrs. Kirchner's presidential campaign.
Kirchner and Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez called the allegations "a trashing operation" and part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. to divide Latin American nations. On December 19, 2007, she restricted the U.S. ambassador's activities and limited his meetings to Foreign Ministry officials; a treatment reserved for hostile countries, in the opinion of a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State.
However, on January 31, in a special meeting with Kirchner, the U.S. ambassador in Argentina, Earl Anthony Wayne, clarified that the allegations "were never made by the United States government", and the dispute cooled down.
Elisa Carrió and María Estenssoro, both high ranking members of the main opposition parties, have claimed that the Argentine government's response to the allegations and its criticism of the U.S. are a "smokescreen", that the U.S. involvement in the affair was merely symptomatic, and the root cause of the scandal is corruption in the Argentine and Venezuelan.
In March 2008, Kirchner's government introduced a new sliding-scale taxation system for agricultural exports, effectively raising levies on soybean exports to 44% from 35% at the time of the announcement. This led to a nationwide lockout by farming associations, starting on March 12, with the aim to force the government to back down on the new taxation scheme. As a result, on March 25, thousands of demonstrators banging pots massed around the obelisk in the capital and in front of the presidential palace. Protests extended across the country. In Buenos Aires, hours after Kirchner attacked farmers for their two-week strike and "abundant" profits, there were violent incidents between government supporters and protesters, and the police was accused of wilfully turning a blind eye. The media was harshly critical of Luis D'Elía, a former government official who took part in the incidents, with some media sources and members of the opposition (notably Elisa Carrió), claiming that he and his followers had disrupted the protest pursuant to the government's orders.
On April 1, the government organised a rally during which thousands of pro-government protesters marched through downtown Buenos Aires in support of the Argentine leadership. Kirchner recently called on farmers to act "as part of a country, not as owners of a country".
A poll result published in El País, Spain's most widely-circulated daily newspaper, revealed that following the protests, Kirchner's approval rating had "plummeted" from 57.8% at the start of her administration to an unprecedented 23%. A recent poll of Management & Fit, confirms the growing unpopularity of the new Kirchner administration. The poll, taken between April 27 and April 30, showed an approval rating of 23.6%, with a disapproval rating of 61.8%.
Kirchner's inflexible handling of the protests and reluctance to review the policies that sparked the protest have led some people to claim that it is her husband, predecessor in office and current leader of the Justicialist Party, Néstor Kirchner, who contols her administration. The British weekly newspaper The Economist has described this situation as Mrs. Kirchner "paying the price for her husbands pig headedness".
Mrs. Kirchner sent the project of sliding-scale taxation system for agricultural exports to the National Congress to be convalidated as a national law, in an attempt to solve the problem according to the rules of the Argentine Constitution. After being modified with some advantageous changes for small farmers, the project was approved by the Lower Chamber, and sent to the Senate for final approval; however, after a 36-36 tie, Vice President Julio Cobos, who must act as President of the Senate and decide in case of a tie, voted against the project. This put an end to the conflict, though some sectors of the media described Cobos as "a traitor" to the president's project. Cobos denied that he would resign, although the relationship between the President and the Vice President has an uncertain future. Once recovered from the conflict with agrarian interests, Cristina Kirchner's public approval improved; her job approval ratings rose by 30% (Poliarquía, 08/22/08).
On October 20, 2008, Kirchner proposed the transfer of nearly $30 billion in private pension holdings to the social security system, a law that was passed by Congress in late November.
and U.S. entertainer Madonna.]]
President Cristina Kirchner is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.
Mrs. Kirchner was invited to the prestigious Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy in Washington, DC, on Nov. 15, 2008 by President George W. Bush. She made the headlines by showing up late to the group photo session, leading President Bush to request a second picture be taken. During her stay in Washington, she held meetings with Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown), Madeleine Albright (representing U.S. President-elect Barack Obama), Senator Christopher Dodd and Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd at the Park Hyatt Hotel.
As of February 2009, Cristina Kirchner's approval rating was of 28%, ranking as the third least popular South American Presidents, only above Peruvian president Alan García and Manuel Zelaya of Honduras.
Cristina Kirchner has performed extensive international travel throughout her presidency. She has traveled to countries such as Cuba, Spain, Egypt and Libya (where she was accompained by her daughter Florencia), the United States, France, Algeria, Mexico, Russia, Brazil and Venezuela.
On 9th March 2009, it was announced that Cristina had been defeated in the first election since her presidency in the Provice of Catamarca (Northeast) by Frente Cívico y Social, with only 32% of votes against 43%. This was considered decisive in the future elections for Parliament representatives and senators in October.
Relationship with the media
In April 2008, Kirchner received a stern public rebuke from the Argentine Journalists Association (ADEPA) for having publicly accused the popular cartoonist Hermenegildo Sábat of behaving like a "quasi mafioso". In addition, a government proposal to create a watchdog to monitor racism and discrimination was received with suspicion by ADEPA, who called it a "covert attempt to control the media". In 2006, Nestor Kirchner, Cristina's husband and predecessor in office, received a similar rebuke for publicly and falsely denouncing Joaquín Morales Solá, a journalist critical of the government, for having produced an inflammatory text published in 1978.
Relationship with the military
Under her husband's presidency, the Argentine Congress revoked a pair of longstanding amnesty laws that had protected hundreds of military officers from junior officers from prosecution for the kidnapping, torture and killing of opponents and critics of the regime as well as leftist guerrillas during the last Argentinian military dictatorship (National Reorganization Process) from 1976 to 1983. Throughout her presidency she has vigorously maintained her prosecution of the military officers responsible for the disappearances. As many as 30,000 people are estimated to have disappeared and died during the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983.
The effort to prosecute junior officers has divided Argentine politicians. A former lieutenant-colonel Aldo Rico, a Falklands/Malvinas War soldier that rebelled against the constitutional government of President Alfonsín in 1987 in order that the Argentinian congress enact amnesty laws for the military , argued that revocation of these laws was counterproductive and a "return to the past".
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