CFK releases new book, announces event at BA book fair
Former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner yesterday (April 26) launched a new book , in which she addresses the most important moments of her political and personal life.
The Unidad Ciudadana leader – who has not yet confirmed if she will run in October’s presidential election but is widely seen to be biding her time ahead of an announcement – also revealed that she will make a rare public appearance to promote the book at the Buenos Aires International Book Fair on Thursday, May 9.
However, it looks increasingly more likely by the week that she will run for the Casa Rosada. A number of quotes in the book seem to indicate as such.
“They did and continue to do
everything possible to destroy me. They believed that they would end up knocking me down. It is clear that they do not know me,” she writes in the book.
“The presentation of Cristina [Fernández de] Kirchner’s book is a step in her electoral campaign,” political scientist Rosendo Fraga told AFP, explaining that its release date – six months before the election – is not accidental.
Neither is the tone of some passages, with which she “seeks to seduce the electorate,” added Fraga.
“In the two presidential campaigns in which she participated, in 2007 and 2011, she was moderate and conciliatory. But that’s something that changed once in power. During campaigning, she seeks to be loved and not feared,” he added.
The former president, currently in Cuba visiting her sick daughter Florencia and recovering from the death of
her mother last week, revealed the cover of the non-fiction work, titled Sinceramente (“Sincerely.”), in a post on social media sites earlier in the week. In the book, published by Sudamericana, she reportedly discusses figures such as Daniel Scioli, Alberto Nisman and Mauricio Macri, giving her view on some of the most momentous moments in recent Argentine political history. “This book is not autobiographical nor is it an enumeration of personal or political achievements, it is a look and a retrospective reflection to unravel some facts and chapters of recent history and how they have impacted the lives of Argentines and mine as well,” the former president writes. “Today, when the country is in complete political, economic, social and cultural decline, I hope that by reading these pages we can think and discuss without hatred, without lies and without grievances.”
A description detailing the book, as posted on book industry website megustaleer.com. ar, describes the volume as “an intimate journey” detailing “circumstances and moments of her life.”
Priced at 590 pesos (around US$12.50), it quickly sold out yesterday with supporters snapping up copies. The first run of the book, which runs to around 600 pages, was 20,000, which all sold on the first day of release. A further print run, taking the number to around 60,000 is said to be planned.
In typical style, the senator for Buenos Aires Province looks like she will be ruffling a few feathers with her opinions in the book – especially if the advanced quotes given out by her PR team are anything to go by...