Buenos Aires
Reuters
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The Argentina Supreme Court effectively banned two former presidential president, President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner from his office, endorsing a six-year prison sentence, and painted the curtains on perhaps one of the country’s most glamorous and divisive political careers.
Kirchner, 72, a polarized opposition and leftist president from 2007 to 2015, was convicted by a court of judges in 2022 of a fraud scheme that led the road work project in Patagonia to close allies while he was president.
The ruling party had planned to run Kirchner in legislative elections in Buenos Aires, but was able to activate her coalition of divided Pernist opposition, which have been licking her wounds since being banished by current libertarian president Javier Mirey in 2023.
Three Supreme Court judges refused to appeal Kirchner, effectively leaving behind an appeal court decision that upheld the conviction. The lower court will decide whether to allow Kirchner’s home arrest due to his age.
“The complaint has been dismissed,” the Supreme Court said in its ruling. Kirchner denied the misconduct and claimed she was a victim of political persecution.
In Buenos Aires, her supporters blocked roads across town. Some played drums. Others carried the image and flag of Evita Peron, the wife of Juan Peron, the founder of a political movement known as a defender of the poor.
“The future victory,” Kirchner said of the Supreme Court judge after the award.
Kirchner’s shadow looms above the Peronist movement. This requires identifying a new generation of leaders.
“The fact that she can’t go to prison and become a candidate doesn’t rule out her political movement,” said political analyst Carlos Fara. “It’s obviously not the same though.”
Government sources said opposition could be weakened or strengthened. Peronism “can either cement yourself or break into a thousand copies,” the person told Reuters.
Prosecutors accused Kirchner of directing hundreds of millions of dollars to the massive construction Lázaro Báez. Within her government and her late husband, Nester Kirchner, the company linked to Baes has been awarded numerous government contracts for road construction projects in Patagonia, with almost half of which being abandoned, prosecutors said.
Baez and the other officials were sentenced to prison.
Peronism and Kirchner’s popularity have been suffering in recent years. She served as vice president under President Alberto Fernandez in 2019. The government of Alberto Fernandez oversaw a slide into the economic crisis by overlining the peso that led to a sharp spike in inflation.
However, she was able to maintain a hardcore support base, especially from working-class voters who relied on government subsidies under her and her husband’s government.
“She’s not covered in political situations for everyone,” said Carolina Barry, a Peronism expert at Nacional de Torres de Febrero University in Buenos Aires. “Her words resonate with many groups.”
Kirchner is sharply critical of Mailey’s austerity, accusing her of cutting pensions and reimbursing public education. “I love Christina Kirchner smacks her final claws with a Kirchner ffin inside,” Mairay said.
“Justice” wrote Mairi for X after Tuesday’s verdict.
Buenos Aires constitutional and criminal law expert Alejandro Cario said it is unclear that even if Kirchner was serving a sentence under house arrest, “over time he will lose the clear leadership she has had for years.”
Kirchner faces charges in several other criminal cases and is set to go to trial on charges that he led a massive bribery scheme in November.
She is not the first president of Argentina to face a criminal conviction, joining former President Carlos Menem, who was sentenced to more than four years for embezzlement of public funds during his presidency in the 1990s. As a senator, Congressional immunity protected him from prison.