Cristina Fernández de Kirchner may never return to Argentina’s pink presidential palace. But nearly a year after being barred for life from running for public office, her loyal fans brought the palace to her.
On Saturday night, Fernández de Kirchner's white corner apartment building in Buenos Aires lit up in a pink glow, accentuated by an animation of classicist columns that resemble the real palace, Casa Rosada, where President Javier Milei goes to work. Serving six years under house arrest for corruption charges, Fernández de Kirchner waved at her supporters from a Parisian balcony, recreating an iconic image made famous by Evita Perón.
Hundreds gathered outside on the chilly night carrying signs that read “Free Cristina,” waiting for her silhouette to emerge. Fernández de Kirchner, 73, had her conviction upheld by Argentina’s Supreme Court nearly a year ago, ending her lengthy appeal process. She’s since been ordered to avoid behaviour that disrupts calm in her Buenos Aires neighbourhood of Constitución, near Congress.
Damian Selci, the mayor of Buenos Aires suburb Hurlingham who organised the stunt, made clear Fernández de Kirchner’s faithful haven’t given up hope on a comeback to political office.
“From San José to the Rosada,” Selci wrote in a post on X with pictures of the spectacle, referring to Kirchner’s street address that she routinely publishes on social media. “With Cristina to the moon.”
About a year out from the next presidential election cycle, Fernández de Kirchner remains one of Argentina’s most popular politicians, according to a survey in May by LatAm Pulse by AtlasIntel. She’s narrowly ahead of Milei in positive image with 39 percent versus his 38 percent, although 55 percent of Argentines have a negative view of her.
The Supreme Court’s ruling last year remains a source of tension within her political movement, Peronism. Some of her loyalists fault one of her former disciples, Buenos Aires Province Governor Axel Kicillof, for not doing more to protest against what they see as a politically motivated judicial decision. Fernández de Kirchner has long denied wrongdoing.
The ruling marked a paradigm shift in Argentina, where Fernández de Kirchner and her family dominated politics for much of the past two decades. It also intensified a succession battle inside Peronism. Kicillof is positioning himself as the main alternative to Milei, fueling a bitter feud with Fernández de Kirchner’s lieutenants who accuse him of trying to supplant her. The longer and fiercer the battle goes on, the more Milei has to gain from a weakened opposition.
Fernández de Kirchner has long held sway over Argentine politics as president, vice-president and senator. During her two terms from 2007 to 2015, she imposed capital and currency controls, ran large deficits, manipulated data, raised tariffs and defaulted on debts. Though her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, had initiated the couple’s populist brand, it was Cristina who became the movement’s enduring face.
by Manuela Tobias, Bloomberg
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