Letter from … Argentina, and a death that stopped the nation

An emblematic moment in Argentina’s recent history, when Nestor Kirchner ordered the removal of the official portrait of dictator Jorge Videla at the Argentine Military Academy.

Néstor Kirchner, the former Argentine President and husband of Argentina’s current President, Cristina Fernandez, died suddenly in his home in El Calafate located in the Patagonia region of Southern Argentina today, following a heart attack at the age of 60. He had experienced two coronary interventions since the start of the year. In February, Kirchner developed problems with the common carotid artery and needed surgery. Seven weeks ago, an angioplasty was performed on him following a coronary artery blockage. His recuperation was fast and quite astonishing on both occasions.

His death has halted a country on a very special day for Argentina, census day. Argentine’s were given the day off — it is a public holiday today in Argentina because of the census — and what had started off as a beautiful spring morning in Buenos Aires has now become one of profound sorrow among the masses. My own grandparents who were in their 20s when Eva Peron died in 1952 have compared today’s deep sadness with the day Evita died.

Néstor Kirchner opened up an avenue of hope for Argentina, a country that has suffered so much, like all of its Latin American neighbours. Kirchner came out of nowhere at the start of the decade and spoke a language most had abandoned years before. Following the dark times of the ruthless military dictatorship — which was backed so perversely by right-wing sectors, corporations and their interests — and following the neo-liberal democratic governments of the 1990s under Carlos Menem and Fernando de la Rua plagued by corruption and woeful economic management, political activism was seen as something completely negative by Argentines. Naturally, there was no interest and no faith in politics, no matter what party or ideology it came from. The youth of Argentina — whom decades before was highly interested and a very important player in political activism — had no interest whatsoever in politics and in the destiny of their country. Argentina was seen by many as hopeless.

The avenue Kirchner opened up in 2003 when he became Argentine President is the same avenue his wife  Cristina Fernandez transits today. It’s the route that all of us who embrace the cause for greater social justice, economic independence and political sovereignty in Argentina and the rest of the region have the obligation to continue transiting.

But how did this man, unknown to most Argentines, let alone anyone outside Argentina before 2003, turn around Argentina’s destiny so radically for the better?

He is the product of the Argentine people who at the start of the decade were becoming sick and tired of the country’s social injustices and its democracy, which did not answer their needs. These are just two factors of many that caused a pacific and popular rebellion just before Christmas in 2001 when millions of Argentines took to the streets of Argentina’s main cities to demand a new democratic course.

The economy has not stopped growing since Kirchner was sworn in as President in May 2003, something unheard of in Argentina, a country used to battling inflation, financial deficit and poor economic management in general. An incredible five million new jobs have been created in Argentina since 2003, which has naturally raised the quality of life of Argentines.

Sovereignty has also been recovered in Argentina. For decades the International Monetary Fund instructed Argentine governments on what to do and what not to do with its economic policy. Their perverse economic recipes doomed Argentina and many other Latin American nations towards poverty for most and well-being for a select few. Néstor Kirchner’s intentions on breaking this link with the IMF was made very clear in the initial stages of his administration and he delivered the promise in 2005 when he exclaimed euphorically “We got rid of the IMF!” paying  off Argentina’s $9.5 billion debt to the organisation, liberating Argentina of any ties to the IMF.

For the first time in decades, Argentina started looking across the Andes, over the River Plate, into the Amazon. Regional Latin American policy became a key factor within Kirchner’s administration and he is a central figure in Latin America’s economic growth, which has taken place over recent years.

Human Rights policy has taken center stage since 2003 in Argentina, a country where 30,000 Argentines disappeared during the military dictatorship of 1976-83. Before Kirchner, leaders preferred to move on from this dark time simply by forgetting that it had happened, sweeping the issue under the carpet and pardoning the men who committed genocide during the 1970s. The wounds are finally healing in Argentina, the truth emerging like never before, like nobody ever expected it.

One of the symbols of the human rights policies emphasised by Kirchner is when the ex-president ordered the removal of the official portraits of military dictators Jorge Videla and Reynaldo Bignone off the walls of the Argentine military academy.

Néstor Kirchner opened up an avenue for Argentina in 2003. Along the way he has genuinely battled in favour of the vulnerable and it has come at a huge cost. Just like Chavez in Venezuela, Lula in Brazil, Evo Morales in Bolivia and Correa in Ecuador — who only a month ago suffered a failed coup — he stood up to the corporations and the agrobusiness sector, which have dominated Argentina’s destiny for decades and has been permanently and systematically attacked by them and their mates in the main stream media, another sector Kirchner has stood up to, lobbying endlessly for new media legislation — which has since been approved by the Argentine parliament — which ensures a fairer media landscape.

Néstor Kirchner was considered by many a potential presidential candidate in Argentina’s presidential election next year. Up until the last opinion polls released in the past fortnight, Néstor and Fernandez had an approval rate of nearly 40%, doubling the approval rate of their main adversary.

There is great sadness in Argentina tonight. However, there is great optimism that Néstor Kirchner’s legacy will live on forever alongside those of Evita and Juan Perón in the quest of a country and a region where greater social justice, economic independence and political sovereignty remains a reality.