Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner ( [ kɾisˈtina feɾˈnandes ðe ˈkiɾʃneɾ ] ; born February 19, 1953 in Ringuelet near La Plata in the province of Buenos Aires ) is an Argentine politician of the Peronist Party and was President of Argentina from 2007 to 2015 . She is the widow of her direct predecessor Néstor Kirchner .
Kirchner was elected President on October 28, 2007 and confirmed in office in 2011. After Isabel Martínez de Perón, she was the second female head of state in her country. After the end of her second term, she was replaced by Mauricio Macri on December 10, 2015 . Between 2017 and 2019, she was a member of the Argentine National Congress . Following the electoral success of her ally Alberto Fernández in the 2019 presidential election, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has held the office of Vice President since December 10, 2019.
Life
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is the daughter of Eduardo Fernández and Ofelia Wilhelm and comes from Spanish on her father's side and from Volga-German immigrants on her mother's side .
She completed the first two years of her secondary education at the former commercial school of San Martín (now Middle School 31) in La Plata, the last three at the Catholic girls' school Colegio Nuestra Señora de la Misericordia in the same city.
Cristina Fernández then studied law at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata . There she met Néstor Kirchner, whom she married on March 9, 1975. She took his family name, which corresponded to the Argentine law of the time. During the Argentine military dictatorship from 1976 to 1983, the Kirchners in Río Gallegos went about their work as lawyers. They have two children: Máximo (* 1977) and Florencia (* 1990).
In December 2011, Kirchner was suspected of having thyroid cancer . After removal of the thyroid gland and a closer examination in January 2012, it turned out that it was not cancer.
Political career
Kirchner was a member of the Peronist Party from the 1970s. After her husband Néstor won the election as mayor of Río Gallegos in 1987, she too became politically active. In 1989 and 1993 she succeeded in entering the regional parliament of Santa Cruz . In 1995 she represented Santa Cruz in the Chamber of Deputies, two years later she was elected to the Senate, the upper house of the Argentine Congress. In 2001 she was able to defend her Senate seat.
In 2003 Kirchner was in charge of her husband's successful candidacy for the office of President. She also remained politically active as the Primera Dama of Argentina. In 2005 she was elected Senator for the Province of Buenos Aires. She prevailed with a clear lead over Hilda González de Duhalde , the wife of the former President Eduardo Duhalde .
After Néstor Kirchner had declared that he would not run for a second term as president, a candidacy of his wife for the presidential elections on October 28, 2007 was expected; on July 19, 2007, Cristina Kirchner officially announced this to her party friends in La Plata. She announced a paradigm shift and the "regaining of our self-esteem, work and jobs". Even before the start of the campaign, polls indicated that she could win the first ballot. Immediately before the election, a clear victory with a clear lead of up to 32 percentage points over the most promising opposition candidate Elisa Carrió (from the ARI ) was forecast.
Election as president
Even the first ballot on October 28, 2007, Kirchner was able to clearly win with 45.3%. There was no run-off because the gap to second-placed Elisa Carrió ( ARI ) was around 20%. According to Argentine law, a candidate is considered the winner in the first round if he or she achieves at least 45% or, if more than 40%, a gap of more than 10 percentage points on the next best.
The election result was geographically very inconsistent. In the north of the country and in Patagonia, for example, Kirchner achieved a share of the vote of more than 70%; There were peak values of 95% in some districts in the provinces of Salta and Santiago del Estero . In the three largest cities Buenos Aires , Córdoba - where she only finished third - and Rosario she lost the election against it. The result was also very different in the province of San Luis ; there won the opposition candidate Alberto Rodríguez Saá, acting governor of this province and brother of the short-term president of 2001, Adolfo Rodríguez Saá , with more than 70% of the vote; in the overall count, however, he was only fourth.
In her first address after the election, Kirchner announced that she wanted to continue the direction her husband had taken.
First term (2007-2011)
After taking office on December 10, 2007, Kirchner continued her husband's policy, especially in economic policy, in which import-substituting industrialization was sought, supported by initially moderate protectionist measures, and in human rights policy, in which she came to terms with the crimes of the military dictatorship of the The process of national reorganization (1976–1983) continued.
Her first notable official act was the announcement of an energy plan to address the supply deficits, particularly with electricity and natural gas. In addition to the construction of power plants, the package also included the short-term reintroduction of summer time from the end of 2007, which only applied for three months and was then abolished again. A Ministry for Science , Technology and Productive Innovation was also established.
Crisis between government and agricultural associations (March to July 2008)
There was already a government crisis in the first half of 2008 after Economics Minister Martín Lousteau announced on March 11th against the background of rising world market prices for soybeans and sunflower products that the export taxes for these products would be increased by a ministerial order (comparable to a decree ) . The so-called Resolución 125 also provided that the export tax rates for numerous agricultural products would be linked to the world market price - if the world market prices were increased, higher tax rates (so-called retenciones móviles ) would automatically arise . The interest groups in the agricultural sector then called for open-ended strikes and further protest measures such as road blockades. On March 25, Kirchner publicly defended the export tax increases and announced that he would not follow any “blackmail” by the agricultural associations.
On March 31, in view of the growing resentment among the population about the side effects of the strike, in particular the severely reduced food supply and consequently strong price increases, the government reversed the tax increases for small and medium-sized businesses by reimbursing them for the additional burdens . This initially had a relaxing effect and led to a new round of negotiations between the government and agricultural associations, but no agreement could be reached. On April 25, Economics Minister Lousteau resigned as a result of the crisis. From May 24th, the associations resumed the strike.
On June 17, the government submitted a bill to democratically legitimize the tax hike. A few more reforms were incorporated in the Congress, which should primarily benefit small producers. On July 6th, the House of Representatives adopted the draft with a narrow majority, so it was passed on to the Senate. The vote on July 17 came to a stalemate (36 votes each), so the Senate President and Vice President of the Kirchner government, Julio Cobos , decided to vote no and thus let the draft fail.
A day later, the Kirchner government suspended Resolution 125, thereby reducing export taxes to their 2007 levels. The agricultural associations then declared the conflict to be over, even if some representatives called on the government to carry out reforms in favor of small and medium-sized producers.
Election defeat, new social programs and recovery (2009/2010)
During the crisis with the agricultural associations, Kirchner's popularity fell sharply; in some surveys in 2008 and early 2009, their policy received less than 25% approval. In economic policy, there were some major nationalizations before the next election in 2009, including those of the private pension insurance fund (AFJP) created in the Carlos Menem's pension reform in December 2008, the airline Aerolíneas Argentinas (early 2009) and the aircraft manufacturer Fábrica Militar de Aviones ( March 2009).
In the 2009 parliamentary elections , part of the Peronists, allied with the conservative Propuesta Republicana party, under the abbreviation Unión-Pro , competed against the Kirchner-led Alliance Frente para la Victoria (FPV) and won in the most important province of Buenos Aires and in the city of Buenos Aires , although her husband Néstor Kirchner ran as the top candidate for the House of Representatives in the province. Acuerdo Cívico y Social (ACyS) , a coalition of ARI , UCR and Partido Socialista, was even more successful across the country . According to an analysis by the newspaper Clarín, the FPV with its allies was the strongest force nationwide with 31.2%, but it was only 0.5% ahead of the ACyS (30.7%), Unión-Pro came third with 18.7%. Because of the high losses, the FPV lost its absolute majority in the House of Representatives.
In October 2009, the Kirchner government introduced child benefit for the needy ( Asignación Universal por Hijo ), which is paid to parents of children and young people under 18 who are unemployed and employed in the informal sector if they can prove that the child is regularly vaccinated and Attended kindergarten and school. Prior to this reform, only formally employed low and medium wages had received child benefit. This social program goes back to a draft law by Elisa Carrió in 1997. Most studies see child benefit as having a positive effect on reducing poverty and maintaining compulsory school attendance (e.g. in a study by the research institute CONICET), even if there are individual, more critical voices who doubt or support the success of the program attribute other factors.
Furthermore, the television broadcast of the soccer games of the first Argentine league under the brand name Fútbol para todos (soccer for everyone) was bought by the state broadcaster Canal 7 from August 2009 on the initiative of the government .
As a result of the high inflation , which, even according to the official INDEC figures, which are questioned by the IMF, was consistently over 7% per year (private estimates have been almost constant at around twice the INDEC estimates since 2011), production costs rose in the Economy of the country. In order to keep the trade balance positive, at the initiative of the Secretary of State for Commerce Guillermo Moreno, who is close to Kirchner, protectionist measures were implemented in trade policy, in particular in the form of new bureaucratic hurdles for the issuing of import licenses (so-called non-automatic licenses ). This policy brought Argentina diplomatic conflicts with Brazil in the course of 2010 and 2011 , but these were initially resolved.
The media policy of Kirchner's government led to controversy. The Broadcasting Law was established in October 2009 with the Law on Audiovisual Communication Services in the new regulations, which replaced a law dating back to the military dictatorship. The reform had been called for by many interest groups and social movements for a long time, as the old government decree had a strong influence on the granting of broadcasting licenses and, for example, had generally excluded associations and other non-commercial legal entities from the market. In the new media law, part of the radio-electric spectrum has been reserved for non-commercial providers and maximum quotas for the market share of individual media companies in the television and radio market as well as minimum quotas for Argentinian and local productions have been set. Critics from the ranks of the opposition complained that the law was primarily tailored to reduce the market power of the Clarín Group , whose media predominantly took positions critical of the government. On the other hand, the law was rated positively by Reporters Without Borders , among others , who ranked Argentina several places up to 47th in the 2009 Press Freedom Index .
Kirchner's husband Néstor Kirchner died of heart failure on October 27, 2010. As a result, her popularity grew again, so that she was again considered the most promising candidate in the run-up to the upcoming presidential election in 2011. However, Kirchner left the decision to run for elections open until June 22, 2011. Kirchner's decision to wear black mourning clothing for almost all public appearances by 2012 also aroused great media interest internationally.
Shortly before the end of Kirchner's first term in office, shortly after the presidential election, the government introduced exchange controls in order to prevent the increased flight of capital in the dollar and other currencies in 2011.
Second term (2011-2015)
On October 23, 2011, Kirchner was confirmed in office as the first female head of state in Latin America with a majority of 53% of the votes. On December 10, 2011, she took her oath of office for the second term. Both exchange controls and protectionist measures against imports were tightened in the months that followed, which in March 2012 led Argentina to sharp criticism from the World Trade Organization .
In February 2012 there was a diplomatic conflict with the United Kingdom over the Falkland Islands . After the British military had sent a destroyer to the islands, Kirchner announced a lawsuit against the "militarization" of the South Atlantic at the United Nations. As a result, Argentina refused to moor ships under the flag of the Falkland Islands in Argentine ports in several cases, and other Latin American governments followed suit.
In April 2012, Kirchner introduced a bill to Congress to partially nationalize the oil production company YPF , of which the Spanish company Repsol has been the majority shareholder since 1998 . This move sparked protests and the announcement of trade sanctions by the Spanish government. The nationalization was passed by Congress with a large majority in early May 2012 and subsequently implemented.
Growing resentment on the part of large parts of the population about corruption scandals, perceived crime rates as increasing, unemployment rising again and Kirchner's government, which reacted with incomprehension to criticism, erupted in large nationwide demonstrations in September and again in November 2012 with a total of several hundred thousand participants.
In the course of the surveillance and espionage affair in 2013, Kirchner criticized the USA heavily. After the forced landing of the Bolivian president, she demanded that an extraordinary UNASUR meeting be called to protest against the overflight ban imposed on the Bolivian presidential plane by several European countries.
In October and November 2013 Kirchner took a six-week vacation for health reasons - due to a bruise in the skull area; During this time, Vice President Amado Boudou held office. In the parliamentary mid-term elections in October 2013, Kirchner's party alliance Frente para la Victoria and its allies suffered a major defeat, mainly as a result of the split off of the Frente Renovador , part of the Partido Justicialista under the leadership of Sergio Massa .
Shortly after the electoral defeat and before the start of the new legislative period, the government was reorganized: Jorge Capitanich became the new head of cabinet, the previous State Secretary Axel Kicillof took over the important office of Minister of Economics. The long-time Secretary of State for Trade Guillermo Moreno , who, among other things, had introduced the foreign exchange purchase and import restrictions and was behind the suspected manipulation of the INDEC price index, submitted his resignation.
After the central bank had allowed the Argentine peso to devalue by more than 18 percent by January 25, 2014 , the Kirchner government relaxed the currency restrictions on January 27 and, under certain conditions, allowed private individuals to purchase foreign currency as an investment again.
At the end of her term in 2015, Argentina was in recession. In the 2015 presidential election, Kirchner's party friend Daniel Scioli lost 48.6 percent in the runoff election on November 22, 2015, to his liberal-conservative challenger Mauricio Macri , the previous mayor of Buenos Aires, who received 51.4 percent of the vote and on December 10, 2015 was sworn in as Kirchner's successor.
Senator from 2017
After the end of her presidency, she was a member of the Argentine National Congress ( Senado de la Nación Argentina ) for the province of Buenos Aires from December 10, 2017 .
Vice President from 2019
On May 18, 2019, Fernández de Kirchner stated that, contrary to expectations, she did not want to run as a presidential candidate in the 2019 elections herself . Instead, she wants to run as a vice-presidential candidate under the candidate Alberto Fernández . Her political relationship with Alberto Fernández, who was her head of cabinet from 2007 to 2008, was considered strained. Both stood as candidates for the electoral alliance Frente de Todos . In the primary elections they received 47% of the vote, while incumbent Mauricio Macri only got 32% approval. Fernández / Fernández won the elections in October 2019 with 48.10% of the vote and took over the business of government on December 10, 2019.
Corruption allegations
In 2009 it became known that the private wealth of de Kirchner and her husband had grown by 158% in the previous year and by a total of 572% since Néstor Kirchner took office . This contradicts the statements they made when the first corruption allegations arose. In the course of investigations by the anti-corruption authority, the development of Kirchner's assets in the first year after the start of the presidency of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was examined. The termination of the investigation against the Kirchners is highly controversial in Argentina.
In an interview in May 2013, Néstor Kirchner's former secretary Miriam Quiroga stated that Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was involved in a corrupt network of the former president, which among other things carried out money laundering and the illegal arms trade. Lázaro Báez , a building contractor who was friends with the Kirchner family , was accused of being one of the Kirchner straw men who, with the help of more than 50 companies, laundered over 55 million euros, generated through bribery and excessive bills to the state, through Swiss banks should. According to the public prosecutor's office, the Báez group received 80% of all public road construction contracts in Kirchner's home province of Santa Cruz (around 1.8 billion euros). In March 2018, a judge opened a case of fraud and formation of a criminal organization.
Accusation of thwarting punishment in office and subsequent indictment
On January 14, 2015, Alberto Nisman , special prosecutor in the case of the attack on the Jewish community center in Buenos Aires in 1994 , indicted Kirchner; he accused her of sabotaging the pursuit of the prime suspects. The day Nisman was due to present his charges in the Buenos Aires Parliament , he was found dead in his apartment. Documents seized show that Nisman had prepared an indictment against Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Nisman's successor, Gerardo Pollicita, also accuses Kirchner of trying to thwart the prosecution of the alleged Iranian masterminds of the attack.
However, the competent court has since dismissed the charges. After a complaint by the public prosecutor's office against this rejection, the court of appeal also described the charge as “speculative” and also refused admission.
An arrest warrant against Cristina Kirchner for allegedly covering up the attack was issued in December 2017, almost two years after her presidency ended. Since she was given a seat in the Senate in the parliamentary elections in October 2017 and is protected from criminal prosecution, the judge responsible, Claudio Bonadío, called for her parliamentary immunity to be lifted.
Movie
In Oliver Stone's 2009 documentary South of the Border , Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is interviewed alongside other Latin American heads of government.
Web links
- Cristina Fernández de Kirchner's website (Spanish)
- Klaus Bodemer: From Kirchner to Kirchner: Argentina after the elections (PDF, 471 KiB)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Argentina's President not suffering from cancer. In: NZZ Online from January 7, 2012
- ↑ Die Welt : Argentine First Lady announces candidacy ; Edition July 20, 2007.
- ↑ Daniel Schweimler: Argentine first lady bids to rule ; BBC News dated July 1, 2007.
- ↑ Hildegard Stausberg: Cristina Kirchner: A little Hillary, a little Evita ; in: Die Welt, issue of October 24, 2007.
- ↑ Atilio Bleta: Cristina: "Quiero profundizar los cambios que empezamos en 2003" ; Clarín , October 29, 2007 edition
- ↑ De Cristina Kirchner al campo: "No me voy someter a ninguna extorsión" , La Nación, March 25, 2008
- ↑ Bill to Increase Export Taxes, Wikisource
- ↑ Laura Serra: Ajustado triunfo oficial en Diputados ; La Nación , edition of July 6, 2008
- ↑ Voto por voto, como fue la definición , Clarín, July 17, 2008 (PDF; 4.26 MB)
- ↑ La Rural dice que “se acabó el conflicto”, pero Buzzi pide ir más allá ; Clarín.com, July 18, 2008
- ↑ La imagen negativa de Cristina llega al 70 por ciento , La Política On Line, February 14, 2009
- ↑ El fin de las AFJP ya es oficial , La Nación, December 9, 2008
- ↑ El oficialismo, primero por 0,5 puntos , Clarín, June 30, 2009
- ^ Alberto Barbeito, Rubén Lo Vuolo: El “ingreso ciudadano” en la agenda de políticas públicas de la Argentina ingresociudadano.com.ar, May 27, 2003
- ↑ Alvarez Agis et al .: El impacto de la Asignación Universal por Hijo en Argentina CONICET, 2013
- ↑ Martín Dinatale: Crítico informe del resultado de la Asignación Universal por Hijo , La Nación, April 19, 2011
- ^ Para la misión del FMI, el INDEC manipula los datos , Clarín, October 17, 2010
- ↑ Inflación: Indec y estimaciones privadas Variación mensual ( Memento of the original from September 18, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , La Nación Data
- ↑ Acuerdo entre Argentina y Brasil por licencias no automáticas , Ámbito Financiero, February 18, 2011
- ^ "La ley de medios se aplica sólo como herramienta política de corto plazo" , La Nación, October 16, 2011
- ↑ Benoît Hervieu, Bérengère Ruet: La pequeña revolución mediática de Cristina Kirchner Americagora, October 14, 2009.
- ↑ Reporters Without Borders: Argentina ( Memento of May 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). Information on the 2009 Press Freedom Index.
- ↑ Argentina's President Kirchner: Black Widow in the Election Campaign spiegel.de, July 2, 2011.
- ↑ Cristina Kirchner irá por la reelección: "Siempre supe lo que tenía que hacer" , La Nación, June 22, 2011
- ↑ A Cristina le sienta bien el negro , Elpais.com , July 3, 2011
- ↑ La AFIP definirá quiénes pueden comprar dólares y quiénes no , La Nación, October 29, 2011
- ^ President Kirchner triumphs with historic election victory. Spiegel online, accessed October 24, 2011 .
- ↑ La OMC critica restricciones de Argentina al comercio , BBC Mundo, March 30, 2012
- ↑ Cold War for Oil and Honor , Spiegel Online, March 22, 2012
- ↑ Spain is working on the penalty for Argentina , wiwo.de , April 20, 2012
- ↑ Cristina promulgó en Casa Rosada la ley de nacionalización de YPF , La Nación, May 4, 2012
- ↑ Las razones de la protesta, según los analistas , Clarín, September 14, 2012
- ^ Mass protests against Argentina's president , Focus.de , November 9, 2012
- ↑ Un masivo cacerolazo de protesta contra el Gobierno se sintió en todo el país , La Nación, September 14, 2012
- ↑ http://derstandard.at/1371171456207/Spanien-und-Frankreich-dementieren-Luftraumsperre-fuer-Evo-Morales-Flugzeug
- ↑ La Presidente recibió el alta cardiológica y la actividad retomará el lunes 18 de noviembre , Infobae.com, November 11, 2013
- ↑ Dura derrota del kirchnerismo en los principales distritos del país , Infobae.com, October 27, 2013
- ↑ [1] , Telam, November 18, 2013
- ↑ Renunció Guillermo Moreno y se concentra el poder de Axel Kicillof , November 19, 2013
- ↑ Enero cerró con la mayor devaluación de los últimos 12 años; en el último año el peso se cayó un 38% lanacion.com.ar, January 31, 2014
- ↑ Podrán comprar dólares para ahorro quienes ganen un mínimo de $ 7,200 , Clarín.com, January 27, 2014
- ↑ http://www.n-tv.de/politik/Macri-gewinnt-Stichwahl-in-Argentinien-article16409361.html Conservatives replace leftists - Macri wins runoff election in Argentina on n-tv.de on November 23, 2015. Retrieved December 10, 2015
- ↑ Cristina Fernández de Kirchner asumió como senadora nacional. Retrieved June 22, 2019 (Spanish).
- ^ Redacción: Quién es Alberto Fernández, el candidato a la presidencia de Argentina que irá en la formula con Cristina Kirchner . May 18, 2019 ( bbc.com [accessed June 22, 2019]).
- ^ La Voz: Quién es Alberto Fernández, el candidato a Presidente que acompañará a Cristina Fernández. Retrieved June 22, 2019 (Spanish).
- ^ AP and TOI staff: Center-left nominee, running with ex-president Kirchner, wins Argentina primary. Retrieved October 25, 2019 (American English).
- ^ Elecciones 2019. Retrieved November 6, 2019 .
- ↑ http://www.lanacion.com.ar/1197064-avanza-la-causa-por-la-fortuna-de-los-kirchner
- ↑ http://edant.clarin.com/diario/2010/01/06/elpais/p-02114196.htm
- ↑ Hildegard Stausberg: Argentina: The dirty laundry of the "other widow". In: welt.de . May 6, 2013, accessed October 7, 2018 .
- ↑ Corruption scandal: Suiza connection is expanding. handelszeitung.ch, June 3, 2013, accessed January 5, 2014 .
- ↑ Handelsblatt: Cristina Fernández de Kirchner: Argentina's ex-president has to go to court for fraud. March 2, 2018, accessed August 26, 2019 .
- ↑ NZZ, March 3, 2018, page 2
- ↑ spiegel.de January 19, 2015: Mysterious death: Prosecutor of the Argentine President found dead
- ↑ spiegel.de: Argentine public prosecutor died from a shot in the head
- ↑ http://www.tagesschau.de/ausland/nisman-suche-nach-todesursache-107.html ( Memento from February 4, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ FAZ.net February 13, 2015: Argentina's head of state Kirchner indicted
- ↑ Buenos Aires Herald : Prosecutor Pollicita charges President CFK in AMIA cover-up case
- ↑ Kirchner escapes charges on faz.net
- ↑ Investigations in Argentina: arrest warrant against ex-President Kirchner . In: tagesschau.de , December 7, 2017 (accessed December 7, 2017).
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Néstor Kirchner |
President of Argentina 2007-2015 |
Mauricio Macri |
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Fernández de Kirchner, Cristina |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fernández, Cristina; Kirchner, Cristina |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Argentine politician |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 19th February 1953 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | La Plata |