Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner tested positive for Covid-19 on Thursday, two days after she was sentenced to six years in prison in a corruption trial.
The former president, 69, is said to be “stable” and in “good health” at her home in El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province.
As a result of her diagnosis, she has cancelled her planned attendance at a meeting of the Grupo Puebla and a rally scheduled by her supporters set to take place next Monday.
The positive test was announced by the Grupo Puebla, which said it would postpone its December 12 summit for a week.
It clarified that the decision "is due to the fact that Vice-President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner has tested positive in a Covid test.”
“Cristina is in good health in El Calafate,” the group added.
The former president is expected to spend the next few days at her home, in accordance with protocols established for Covid-19 cases.
The meeting of the Puebla Group, a forum of left-wing Latin American leaders who have already expressed their support for Fernández de Kichner in a communiqué, was expected to be attended by former presidents such as Ecuador's Rafael Correa, Uruguay's José Mujica and Bolivia's Evo Morales.
On that day, Peronist political and trade union groups had also called for a demonstration in support of the vice-president in front of the Kirchner Cultural Centre, the planned venue for the meeting, located just 200 metres from the Casa Rosada in the centre of Buenos Aires.
On Tuesday, Fernández de Kirchner was sentenced to six years in prison and banned from holiday political office after being found guilty of fraud in the awarding of public works projects during her two presidential terms (2007-2015), a sentence she attributes to a “political and judicial persecution.”
The 69-year-old said in the aftermath of the ruling that she would not run for another post after her current term as veep finishes in December 2023, when she will lose the immunity that prevents her from going to prison, beyond the appeals process, which is expected to take several years.
– TIMES/AFP
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