The editor's and authors at Axis of Logic wish to express our sense of loss along with the many millions of Latin Americans who respected and loved Nestor Kirchner, former President of Argentina. Mr. Kirchner, at only 60 years of age, died suddenly this morning from a coronary. We also want to extend our sympathy to his wife and confidant, Cristina Kirchner current president of Argentina, the Kirchner family and all Argentines who are now in mourning.

During his presidency (2003-2007) Nestor Kirchner defied Washington, the Global Corporate Empire and its International Monetary Fund (IMF) to bring Argentina out of it's historic 2000-2001 economic collapse. He stood up against powerful members of the Argentine military and judiciary overturning amnesty laws that protected from prosecution the state criminals responsible for horrific human rights violations during previous dictatorships. He aligned himself with Hugo Chávez, President of Venezuela and other leaders of the new Left in Latin America. In May of this year, Unasur, a new union of 12 South American nations, chose Mr. Kirchner to serve as its first secretary-general. He rejected the Free Trade Area of the Americas, helping to disentangle South America from Washington, building Mercosur, Common Market of the South, into a more powerful trading bloc.  He was a likely candidate for re-election in Argentina's presidential elections again when Cristina, his wife's term ends next year. His presence and international leadership will be sorely missed in South America and among revolutionaries everywhere.

As part of our remembrance today, we chose the following film clip of Oliver Stone's interview with Mr. Kirchner in the making of the movie, South of the Border. In this part of the interview, Mr. Kirchner tells Oliver Stone how George W. Bush told him that going to war is the best way to enrich a nation's economy. We also include a reprint of Wikipedia's comprehensive biography of one of our dearest leaders.

 

- Les Blough in Venezuela

Wikipedia

Néstor Carlos Kirchner (25 February 1950 – 27 October 2010) was an Argentine politician who served as the 54th President of Argentina from 25 May 2003 until 10 December 2007. Previously, he was Governor of Santa Cruz Province since 10 December 1991.[1] He briefly served as Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) and as a National Deputy of Argentina for Buenos Aires Province.

A Justicialist, Kirchner was little-known internationally and even domestically before his election to President, which he won by default with only 22.2 percent of the vote in the first round, when former President Carlos Menem (24.4%) withdrew from the race. Soon after taking office in May 2003, Kirchner surprised the world by standing down powerful military and police officials. Stressing the need to increase accountability and transparency in government, Kirchner overturned amnesty laws for military officers accused of torture and assassinations during the 1976–1983 "dirty war" under military rule.[2]

On 28 October 2007, his wife Cristina Fernández was elected to succeed him as President of Argentina. Thus, Kirchner then became the First Gentleman of Argentina. In 2009, he was elected a National Deputy for Buenos Aires Province. He was also designated Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations on 4 May 2010.[3]

Kirchner, who had been operated on twice in 2010 for cardiovascular problems, died at his home in El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province, on 27 October 2010, after reportedly suffering a heart attack.[4]

Early years
Kirchner was born in Río Gallegos, in the Patagonian province of Santa Cruz. His mother, María Juana Ostoic Dragnic, is a Chilean of Croatian descent from Punta Arenas, and his father, a post office official, was of Swiss German descent. He received his primary and secondary education at local public schools, and his high-school diploma from the Argentine school Colegio Nacional República de Guatemala.

Kirchner participated early on in the Justicialist movement (followers of the populist former President, Juan Perón) as a member of the Young Peronists, whose left-wing radicalism was strongly opposed to the Argentine Anticommunist Alliance and other rightist influences then dominating President Isabel Perón's domestic policy. He in turn, also held close personal ties to right-wingers, notably Nélida Cremona, a conservative Peronist and Kirchner's godmother, and Manuel López Lestón, a former official in General Alejandro Lanusse's dictatorship, and Kirchner's uncle.[5]

He studied law at National University of La Plata, earning a juris doctor in 1976. He returned to Río Gallegos with his wife, Cristina,[6] also a lawyer and member of the Justicialist Party (PJ), and opened a successful private practice.

After the downfall of the military dictatorship and restoration of democracy in 1983, Kirchner became a public officer in the provincial government. The following year, he was briefly president of the Río Gallegos social welfare fund, but was forced out by the governor because of a dispute over financial policy. The affair made him a local celebrity and laid the foundation for his career.[7]

By 1986, Kirchner had developed sufficient political capital to be put forward as the PJ's candidate for mayor of Río Gallegos. He won the 1987 elections for this post by the very slim margin of about 100 votes. Fellow PJ member Ricardo del Val became governor, keeping Santa Cruz firmly within the hands of the PJ.

Kirchner's performance as mayor from 1987 to 1991 was satisfactory enough to the electorate and to the party to enable him to run for governor in 1991, where he won with 61% of the votes; by this time his wife was also a member of the provincial congress.

Personal style and ideology

Kirchner was a critic of IMF structural adjustment programs. His criticisms were supported in part by former World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz, who opposes the IMF's measures as recessionary and urged Argentina to take an independent path. According to some commentators, Kirchner was seen as part of a spectrum of new Latin American leaders, including Hugo Chávez in Venezuela, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in Brazil and Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay, who see the Washington consensus as an unsuccessful model for economic development in the region.[8]

Kirchner's increasing alignment with Hugo Chávez became evident when during a visit to Venezuela on July 2006 he attended a military parade alongside Bolivian president Evo Morales. On that occasion Mr. Chávez called for a defensive military pact between the armies of the region with a common doctrine and organization. Kirchner stated in a speech to the Venezuela national assembly that Venezuela represented a true democracy fighting for the dignity of its people.[9]

While a critic of neoliberalism, Kichner did not describe himself as an opponent of markets and the private sector.[10]

Kirchner emphasized holding businesses accountable to Argentina's democratic institutions, laws prompting environmental standards, and contractual obligations. He pledged to not open his administration to the influence of interests that "benefited from inadmissible privileges in the last decade" during Carlos Menem's presidency. These groups, according to Kirchner, were privileged by an economic model that favored "financial speculation and political subordination" of politicians to well-connected elites.[11] For instance, in 2006, citing the alleged failure of Aguas Argentinas, a company partly owned by the French utility group Suez, to meet its contractual obligation to improve the quality of water, Kirchner terminated the company's contract with Argentina to provide drinking water to Buenos Aires.[12]

His preference for a more active role of the state in the economy was underscored with the founding, in 2004, of ENARSA a new state owned energy company. At the June 2007 summit of the Mercosur, he scolded energy companies for their lack of investment in the sector and for not supporting his strategic vision for the region. He said he was losing patience with energy companies as South America's second-largest economy faced power rationing and shortages during the Southern Hemisphere winter. Price controls on energy rates instituted in 2002 are attributed to have limited investment in Argentina's energy infrastructure, risking more than four years of economic growth greater than 8 percent.[13][14]

Kirchner's collaborators and others who supported and standed politically close to him were known informally as pingüinos ("penguins"), alluding to his birthplace in the cold southern region of Argentina.[15][16] Some media and sectors of society also resorted to using the letter K as a shorthand for Kirchner and his policies (as seen, for example, in the controversial group of supporters self-styled Los Jóvenes K,[17] that is "The K Youth", and in the faction of the Radical Civic Union that supports Kirchner, referred to by the media as Radicales K).[18]

In 2008, he proposed the Justicialist Party to join the Socialist International, an international organization dedicated to left-wing and socialist politics.[19]

Governor of Santa Cruz
When Kirchner assumed the governorship, the province of Santa Cruz (pop. 197,000) contributed one percent to Argentina's gross national product, primarily through the production of raw materials (mostly oil), and was being battered by the ongoing economic crisis, with high unemployment and a budget deficit equal to US$ 1.2 billion. He arranged for substantial investments to stimulate productivity, the labor market, and consumption. By eliminating unproductive expenditures and cutting back on tax exemptions for the key petroleum industry, Kirchner restored the financial balance of the province. Through his expansionist and social policies, Kirchner was credited with bringing a substantial measure of prosperity to Santa Cruz. Subsequent studies showed that the province had a better distribution of wealth and lower levels of poverty than most other provinces, second only to Buenos Aires.

Kirchner emerged as a self-called center Peronist, critical both of President Menem's far-reaching neoliberal model and of the syndicalist bureaucracy of the PJ. He attached great importance not only to careful management of the budgetary deficits but also economic growth based on domestic production, rather than financial speculation. He was also considered a progressive in human rights issues, voicing his opposition to Menem's decision in 1990 to grant a presidential pardon to the leaders of the last junta.

In 1994 and 1998, Kirchner introduced amendments to the provincial constitution,[20] to enable him to run for re-election indefinitely. As a member of the 1994 Constitutional Assembly organized by Menem and former president Raúl Alfonsín, Kirchner participated in the drafting of a new national constitution which allowed the president to be re-elected for a second four-year term.

In 1995, with his constitutional changes in place, Kirchner was easily re-elected to a second term as governor, with 66.5% of the votes. But by now, Kirchner was distancing himself from the charismatic and controversial Menem, who was also the nominal head of the PJ; this was made particularly apparent with the launch of Corriente Peronista, an initiative supported by Kirchner to create an alternative space within the Justicialist Party, outside of Menem's influence.[21]

In 1998, Menem's attempt to stand for re-election a second time, by means of an ad hoc interpretation of a constitutional clause, met with strong resistance among Peronist rank-and-file, who were finding themselves under increasing pressure due to the highly controversial policies of the Menem administration and its involvement in corruption scandals. Kirchner joined the camp of Menem's chief opponent within the PJ, the governor of Buenos Aires Province, Eduardo Duhalde.

Menem did not run, and the PJ nominated Duhalde, who was in turn defeated during the October 1999 elections by Buenos Aires Mayor Fernando de la Rúa, the Alliance candidate, and the party lost its majority in Congress. Although the Alianza also made headway in Santa Cruz, Kirchner managed to be re-elected to a third term as governor in May 1999 with 45.7% of the vote. De la Rúa's victory was in part a rejection of Menem's perceived flamboyance and corruption during his last term. De la Rúa instituted austerity measures and reforms to improve the economy; taxes were increased to reduce the deficit, the government bureaucracy was trimmed, and legal restrictions on union negotiations were eased.

These moves did not prevent a deepening of the Argentine economic crisis, however, and a crisis of confidence ensued by November 2001, as domestic depositors began a run on the banks, resulting in the highly unpopular corralito, a limit, and subsequently a full ban, on withdrawals. These developments led to the December 2001 riots, and to President de la Rúa's resignation on December 21.

A series of interim presidents and renewed demonstrations ended with the appointment of Eduardo Duhalde as interim president in January 2002. Duhalde abolished the fixed exchange rate regime that had been in place since 1991, and the Argentine peso quickly devalued by more than two thirds of its value, diminishing middle-class savings and sinking the heavily import-dependent Argentine economy even deeper, but giving a significant profit boost to Argentinian exports. Amid strong public rejection of the entire political class, characterized by the pithy slogan que se vayan todos ("away with them all"), Duhalde brought elections forward by six months.

2003 presidential election
Kirchner's electoral promises included "returning to a republic of equals". After the first round of the election, Kirchner visited the president of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who received him enthusiastically. He also declared he was proud of his radical left-wing political past.[22]

Although Menem, who was president from 1989 to 1999, won the first round of the election on April 27, 2003, he only got 24% of the valid votes — just 2% ahead of Kirchner. This was an empty victory, as Menem was viewed very negatively by much of the Argentine population and had virtually no chance of winning the runoff election. After days of speculation, during which polls forecast a massive victory for Kirchner with about a 30%–40% difference, Menem finally decided to stand down. This automatically made Kirchner president of Argentina, despite having secured only 22% of the votes in the election, the lowest percentage gained by the eventual winner of Argentine presidential election. He was sworn in on May 25, 2003 to a four-year term of office.[23][24]

President of Argentina

Kirchner came into office on the tail of a deep economic crisis. A country which had once equalled Europe in levels of prosperity and considered itself a bulwark of European culture in Latin America found itself deeply impoverished, with a depleted middle class and malnutrition appearing in the lower strata of society. The country was burdened with $178 billion in debt, the government strapped for cash. While associated to the clientelist and nearly feudal style of government of many provincial governors and the corruption of the PJ, Kirchner was comparatively unknown to the national public, and he showed himself as a newcomer who had arrived at the Casa Rosada without the usual whiff of scandal about him, trying not to make a point of the fact that he himself had seven times been on the same electoral ballot with Menem.

Shortly after coming into office, Kirchner made changes to the Argentine Supreme Court. He accused certain justices of extortion and pressured them to resign, while also fostering the impeachment of two others. In place of a majority of politically right-wing and religiously conservative justices, he appointed new ones who were ideologically closer to him, including two women (one of them an avowed atheist). Kirchner also retired dozens of generals, admirals, and brigadiers from the armed forces, a few of them with reputations tainted by the atrocities of the Dirty War.[25][26]

Kirchner kept the Duhalde administration's Minister of the Economy, Roberto Lavagna. Lavagna also declared that his first priority now was social problems. Argentina's default was the largest in financial history, and ironically it gave Kirchner and Lavagna significant bargaining power with the IMF, which loathes having bad debts in its books. During his first year of office, Kirchner achieved a difficult agreement to reschedule $84 billion in debts with international organizations, for three years. In the first half of 2005, the government launched a bond exchange to restructure approximately $81 billion of national public debt (an additional $20 billion in past defaulted interest was not recognized). Over 76% of the debt was tendered and restructured for a recovery value of approximately one third of its nominal value.[7]

Under Kirchner, Argentine foreign policy shifted from the "automatic alignment" with the United States during the 1990s, to one stressing stronger ties (economic and political) within Mercosur and with other Latin American countries, and rejecting the Free Trade Area of the Americas.[7][27]

Kirchner saw the 2005 parliamentary elections as a means to confirm his political power, since Carlos Menem's defection in the second round of the 2003 presidential elections did not allow Kirchner to receive the large number of votes that surveys predicted. Kirchner explicitly stated that the 2005 elections would be like a mid-term plebiscite for his administration, and he actively participated in the campaign in most provinces. Due to internal disagreements, the Justicialist Party was not presented as such on the polls but split into several factions. Kirchner's Frente para la Victoria (FPV, Front for Victory) was overwhelmingly the winner (the candidates of the FPV got more than 40% of the national vote), following which many supporters of other factions (mostly those led by former presidents Eduardo Duhalde and Carlos Menem) migrated to the FPV.

On 15 December 2005, following Brazil's initiative, Kirchner announced the cancellation of Argentina's debt to the IMF in full and offered a single payment, in a historical decision that generated controversy at the time (see Argentine debt restructuring). Some commentators, such as Mark Weisbrot of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, suggest that the Argentine experiment has thus far proven successful.[28] Others, such as Michael Mussa, formerly on the staff of the International Monetary Fund and now with the Peterson Institute, question the longer-term sustainability of Pres. Kirchner's approach.[29]

In a meeting with executives of multinational corporations at Wall Street—after which he was the first Argentine president to ring the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange—Kirchner defended his "heterodox economic policy, within the canon of classic economics" and criticized the IMF for its lack of collaboration with the Argentine recovery.[30]

On July 2, 2007, President Kirchner announced he would not seek re-election in the October elections, despite having the support of 60% of those surveyed in polls. Instead, Kirchner will focus on the creation of a new political party.[31] In December 2007, he participated as witness in a failed mission—organized by Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez—to liberate three hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The three were among 700 hostages reportedly still in guerrilla hands.[32]

Kirchner secured the Presidency of the Justicialist Party (to which his FPV belongs), in April 2008.[33] Following the FPV's loss of 4 Senators and over 20 Congressmen in the June 28, 2009 mid-term elections, however, he was replaced by Buenos Aires Province Governor Daniel Scioli.[34]

Post-presidency

Kirchner remained a highly influential politician during the term of his successor and wife Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. The press developed the term "presidential marriage" to make reference to both of them at once.[35] Some political analysts compared this type of government with a diarchy.[36] He took part in negociations in Colombia to release a group of FARC hostages, in December 2007.[37] The Colombian politician Íngrid Betancourt was among the group of hostages. Kirchner returned to Argentina after the failure of the negotiations,[38] but some of the hostages were liberated the following year, including Betancourt.

Néstor Kirchner took active part in the government conflict with the agricultural sector in 2008. During this conflict he became president of the Justicialist Party, and declared full support for Cristina Fernández de Kirchner in the conflict.[39] He accused the agricultural sector of attempting a coup d'état.[40] He was one of the speakers in a demonstration made next to the Argentine National Congress supporting a law project on the matter, that would be voted the following day. Kirchner requested by then to accept the result in the Congress.[41] Many senators who had formerly supported the government's proposal rejected it. The voting ended in a tie with 36 supporting votes and 36 rejecting votes. As a result, vicepresident Julio Cobos, president of the chamber of senators, was required to cast a decisive vote. Cobos voted for the rejection, and the law proposal was rejected.[42]

On June 2009 legislative elections he ran for National Deputy for the Buenos Aires Province district. He was elected along with other 11 Front for Victory candidates, as their ticket arrived close second to the Union PRO peronist-conservative coalition in that district.[43][44]

Néstor Kirchner was proposed by Ecuador as a candidate Secretary General of Unasur, but was rejected by Uruguay, at a time when Uruguay and Argentina were debating the Pulp mill dispute. The dispute was resolved in 2010 and the new Uruguayan president, José Mujica, supported Kirchner's candidacy. Kirchner was unanimously elected the first Secretary General of Unasur, during a Unasur Member States Heads of State summit held in Buenos Aires on 4 May 2010.[45] In that role, he successfully mediated in the 2010 Colombia–Venezuela diplomatic crisis.[46][47]

Criticism and controversy
Kirchner was strongly criticized by commentators accusing him of authoritarianism by overly concentrating power in the executive and excessive use of decrees. The magazine The Economist in 2006 accused Kirchner of "populism", which it describes as a Latin American tendency that the Argentine president shares with a diverse range of figures, such as indigenous Peruvian nationalist Ollanta Humala, Mexican social democrat Andrés Manuel López Obrador, and socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.[48]

The Wall Street Journal ran an article criticizing the NYSE for choosing Kirchner as a bell ringer, accusing him of being "anti-market."[49][50]

Joaquín Morales Solá, a political columnist for the Argentine newspaper La Nación, accused Kirchner of having a "personalistic style of governing, with a dose of authoritarianism and hegemony, an aggressive style of induced rupture and confrontation", and recently diverse allegations of cronyism and corrupt practices by his government's officials began to mount.[51]

Controversy also arose when the Minister of Economy, Felisa Miceli, removed an officer of the National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina in charge of calculating the inflation indexes, allowing Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno to hand-pick an official from outside the institution for the post, in what was seen as a move to manipulate official data.[52]

In the last months of his presidency, Kirchner had to weather several scandals. His Minister of Economy Felisa Miceli was forced to resign over more than $60,000 found stashed in a bag in her office bathroom, and a businessman carrying a suitcase with US$800,000 in cash, on a government-hired jet traveling from Venezuela, was discovered at an Argentine airport.[53]

In May 2009, it was reported that the Argentine Intelligence Services (SIDE) were obeying Kirchner's orders in spying and harassing both his opponents as well as fellow Front for Victory and Justicialist Party figures to aid him in winning the 2009 mid-term elections, in which his party list struggled. The current SIDE Secretary, Héctor Icazuriaga, attended official acts with Kirchner and "offered political assistance" to him in the weekends at the official residence of the ex President.

This was not a new development: in March 2007, it was confirmed that the SIDE had intervened and disrupted calls shortly before Cristina succeeded Néstor in the Casa Rosada; the Federal Police were linked to a clandestine operation involving the SIDE and 15,000 to 20,000 telephone numbers; and the mayor of Mar del Plata, Gustavo Pulti, was reportedly harassed.[54]

Death

Néstor Kirchner died of heart failure in the morning of 27 October 2010 at the Hospital Jose Formenti in El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province. He was 60 years old.[55] His wife, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was by his side until the end.[56]

He had been subject to two coronary interventions earlier this year. On 7 February 2010, he developed problems with the common carotid artery and needed surgery.[57] On 11 September 2010, he was hospitalized due to coronary artery blockage and needed an angioplasty.[58]

A vigil will be kept at the Casa Rosada presidential palace in Buenos Aires, starting on 28 October morning, with the expected attendance of Latin America leaders.[59]

Reactions

Domestic: Domestically, the whole political spectrum[60][61][62][63] and even institutions often at odds with his political persona [64] expressed grief and commotion over the loss, and solidarity with President Fernández de Kirchner. People from the most diverse sectors of Argentine society manifested sorrow.[65][66][67][68]

"Our country needed this man. We lost someone indispensable", said Estela Carlotto, president of Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo[69]

"He was a great President, he made an excellent administration. He was one in a million fighter politician", said opposition left-wing politician Pino Solanas.[70]

"He's been the best President of Democracy", said his former Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers and later opposition politician Alberto Fernández. "I've lost a friend, above all differences" he furhther said.[71]

"The people will recognize the continuing government effort Kirchner inaugurated in 2003", said leading labor union CGT Secretary General, Hugo Moyano.[72]

A demonstration of popular grief and support for President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner is expected at 20hs (local time) at Plaza de Mayo, Buenos Aires.[73]

International
Many leaders around the world sent condolences to his widow, President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and the Argentine Nation, including President Barack Obama of the United States,[74] President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela, [75] President Felipe Calderón of Mexico,[76], President Sebastián Piñera of Chile,[77] President Fernando Lugo of Paraguay,[78], President Alan García of Peru,[79] President Evo Morales of Bolivia, President Rafael Correa of Ecuador[80], Álvaro Colom of Guatemala and Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero of Spain.[81]

Venezuela and Brazil decreed three days of national mourning.[75]

"His role in the economic, social and political recovery of his country was remarkable, as his commitment in the struggle for the south-american integration", stated the Government of Brazil.[82] Presidential candidate and former Chief of Staff of Brazil, Dilma Roussef, expressed his grief and said "Latin America and the whole world is mourning. Kirchner was a great friend of Brazil".[83]

A communiqué issued by the Venezuela's Ministry of Foreign Affairs read: "The glorious histoy of the Argentine Republic has a before and after Néstor Kirchner. Beacuase of his neat condution, his unyielding courage, and determination of this loyal heir of the late Juan Domingo Perón, Argentina rose from its ashes to re-encounter his place among the free and independent nations after the neoliberal years."[84]

"He was an outstanding partner and a promotor of Latin American integration", said Mexican President Felipe Calderón.[85]

"His death represents a great loss for South American countries, said President of Chile Sebastián Piñera.[86]

"We are shocked. Néstor Kirchner was a very valuable man. He had his principles above anything else. He was passionate about politics, and he was a driving force for South-American integration", said Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ecuador Ricardo Patiño.[87]

"Bolivia lost a man compromised with his country, for his people. He opted for the poor and worked for a more participative democracy", said Minister of Foreign Affairs of bolivia, David Choquehuanca. [88]

A statement issued by the Union of South American Nations read: "The death of Néstor Kirchner deprives Latin America of a key leader in the building of an inclusive region [...] He was convinced of the unity of Latin American peoples. He fought for his life by profound changes in his country and Latin America, and worked from different agencies for social justice, equity, democracy and integration". It also underlines his participation in "decisive instances", such as the 2010 Colombia–Venezuela diplomatic crisis and the 2010 Ecuador crisis, when he promoted the issuing of the democratic clause of Unasur.[89]

Bibliography

Mendelevich, Pablo (2010). El Final. Buenos Aires: Ediciones B. ISBN 978-987-627-166-0.

References

Source: Wikipedia