Thousands of Argentines march in protest through capital
By The Associated Press - Friday, November 9, 2012 - 0 Comments
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Thousands of people flooded the streets of Argentina’s capital for…
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Thousands of people flooded the streets of Argentina’s capital for hours Thursday night and many others marched in cities worldwide in the country’s biggest anti-government protest in more than a decade.
Angered by high inflation, violent crime and high-profile corruption, and fearful President Cristina Fernandez will try to hold onto power indefinitely by ending constitutional term limits, protesters marched on the iconic obelisk in Buenos Aires chanting: “We’re not afraid.”
In a march organized on social media, demonstrators also converged on the pink presidential palace at the Plaza de Mayo square in scorching heat. There was little rowdiness, and the protest had the air of a family affair, with toddlers in strollers and grandparents in wheelchairs joining in.
People banged on pots, whistled and waved the Argentine flag. They held banners that read: “Stop the wave of Argentines killed by crime, enough with corruption and say no to the constitutional reform.”
“I came to protest everything that I don’t like about this government and I don’t like a single thing starting with (the president’s) arrogance,” said Marta Morosini, a 74-year-old retiree.
-
For all her charms, Argentina’s Cristina Fernández can’t tame inflation
By Gabriela Perdomo - Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:58 PM - 0 Comments
The president in black is picking a fight over the Falklands
Enrique Garcia Medina/Reuters
“She had an elegance, a beauty, a warmth . . . and she loved having her picture taken.” That’s how famed photographer Platon described Argentinean President Cristina Fernández after taking her portrait for The New Yorker in 2009. Vanity, after all, is one of the politician’s defining traits. And it extends to everything from her sumptuous wardrobe, crafted by a personal fashion designer, to her unlimited political ambition.
Fernández, first elected in 2007, secured a second term in office last year with 54 per cent of the vote. It wasn’t her plan to become president again. But Néstor Kirchner, her husband of 35 years and the previous head of state, who planned to come back to succeed her, died suddenly of a heart attack on Oct. 27, 2010. The other half of the so-called “presidential marriage” suddenly found herself seeking re-election as candidate of the Peronist, social democratic Justicialist Party (PJ). Fernández, well aware that a wave of sympathy after her husband’s death played a role in her re-election, continues to wear only black, constantly evoking his memory in public speeches. In the face of criticism over the government’s handling of a train crash that killed 51 people in Buenos Aires, she said last month she couldn’t possibly be insensitive to the pain of the victims’ families. “I know what death and pain are,” she said. “I need you all to hug me tight. Because the one who used to hold me is no longer here.”
Fernández was never just the woman behind the man. When Kirchner took office, she was his closest adviser. Together, the duopoly has been running the country since 2003. But the Fernández period, which was marked first by economic recovery, has lately come to be known for skyrocketing inflation, a growing wealth gap, rifts with neighbouring countries, and distrust of the government. Growing discontent was recently met with an attempt to ramp up patriotic fervour by reigniting the old Falkland Islands dispute with Britain—right on time for the 30th anniversary of a botched military invasion by Argentina’s dictators.
