Kirchner’s Argentina is a disgrace

by Maria Zaldivar *

While the world struggles against catastrophes such as the recent plane crash in Brazil or the permanent threat of international terrorism, Kirchner’s Argentina faces daily news that go from the increase in pulmonary diseases due to the cold weather and poor eating habits of the population to the lack of fuel. Over 7,000 industries have been hit by energy cuts in the past sixty days, and the industrial production index fell for the first time since 2005. That is unless we flick through the pages of the newspapers, which includes the most disgraceful information about the national cabinet.

The Economy Minister had to resign, unable to explain what a quarter million dollars where doing in her office toilet. The Environment Secretary was accused by newspaper “Clarín” of appointing more than 350 agents in one year, reaching an average of one person a day including a long list of relatives and personal friends whose professional skills, if any, have little to do with environmental policies. Another member of the national cabinet is the star of the scandal of the week. It is the Defence Minister, the former wife of terrorist Juan Manuel Abal Medina, who was summoned by a judge to explain the details of weapon smuggling to the US during her mandate. A few months ago, the case of company Skanska had hit the headlines due to its connection with irregularities, overpricing, and bribes involving top officers in state company Enargas, created during the Kirchner administration.

While his officers went to court and avoided the press, Néstor Kirchner took the opportunity to anoint his wife as successor to the nation’s presidency next October. Her candidacy was launched last Thursday in an act which had little to do with Peronism, as it did not even include a picture of the founding leader of the party. A theatre filled with special guests, wearing formal ties and holding invitations, listened to Cristina Kirchner as she praised her husband’s administration and ranted on about everything anti-“K”, but the “Peronist people” were nowhere to be found. There were only a few militants who braved the blows at the doors while the candidate’s privileged listeners sat comfortably indoors and ignored the violence going on beyond the strong custody surrounding the act. Peronist symbols were also once again excluded. Indoors everything was in order; everyone stood in their place; everything was kept under strict control; nothing was left to spontaneity. In the deserted stage a single voice was heard; this time it was the voice of candidate Cristina, but a single one, much to the liking of Kirchnerism. The act had a sinister, fascist aesthetic.

The streets of Buenos Aires are plastered with the picture of a smiling, rejuvenated Cristina underneath the campaign’s slogan: “The change has just begun”, which is doubtfully effective. Some would say it sounds more like a threat than a proposal.

* María Zaldívar is a TV journalist from Argentina and Bachelor of Political Science (UCA, Catholic University of Argentina).

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