President exalts 10 years of rule
Critics say Argentina is ‘in big economic trouble’
BUENOS AIRES: Argentine President Cristina Fernandez rallied a huge crowd on Saturday night celebrating the 10-year government that she and her late husband Nestor Kirchner began in 2003.
Her voice breaking, she called it a victorious decade ‘‘won not by a government but by the people’’.
This year’s election will determine whether Ms Fernandez has enough votes in congress to undo constitutional term limits and extend her rule beyond 2015. But she suggested on Saturday night that she won’t try. She said: ‘‘I’m not eternal, nor do I want to be’’.
Putting human rights violators on trial and pushing to put more of Argentina’s wealth in the hands of its poorest people will continue to be the pillars of this government, she said. ‘‘Equality is the grand symbol of this decade and of those to come,’’ she vowed.
Her opponents took aim at the ‘‘decade won’’ theme, noting that the years of strong economic growth have ended, and saying that if this is what victory looks like, Argentina is in big trouble.
Whether the Kirchners’ decade will be remembered for its historic achievements or its missed opportunities depends on whom you talk with in Argentina, where society is bitterly divided over their legacy.
Analysts said they deserve credit for fostering 7% average growth and restoring power to the presidency. Kirchner was inaugurated on May 25, 2003 at a chaotic time; the country was still suffering from its 2001 crisis, and poverty was extreme.
The Kirchners began an era of social inclusion, external debt reduction and state intervention that was the exact opposite of the privatisation binge and anything-goes capitalism that characterised Argentina in the 1990s.
Ten years later and going it alone after her husband died of a heart attack, Ms Fernandez has intensified her government’s control over the economy and diverted billions of dollars more to subsidising the poor.
‘‘This is an extraordinarily significant decade in Argentine history,’’ said philosopher Ricardo Forster, a supporter. ‘‘The transformations have managed to enrich the social, cultural, political and economic life.’’
But Ms Fernandez’s approval ratings have dropped sharply recently amid rising inflation and crime, corruption allegations involving top appointees and allied businessmen; increasingly heavyhanded economic controls; and efforts to transform the justice system. Critics say the real goal is eliminating challengers to presidential power.
‘‘This decade represents a tremendous missed opportunity, which you can see by looking at what other countries in the region have done with similar possibilities and limitations,’’ said sociologist and attorney Roberto Gargarella, a government critic.
Thousands of citizens have joined a series of pot-banging protests in recent months, and the crowd gathering in the Plaza de Mayo to hear Ms Fernandez speak on Saturday night was intended to provide a powerful counterpoint.
Hundreds of thousands of people were transported in free by the ‘‘organised and united’’ network of pro-government groups, and their flags and huge TV screens were installed in nearby streets.
‘‘This is the government I always dreamed of and fought for in the 1970s,’’ said Paloma Perez Galdos, a 58-yearold bank worker. ‘‘It’s time that we have a justice system for everyone, not just for the rich.’’
‘‘Social inclusion’’ under the Kirchners has involved providing billions of dollars in cash welfare payments for families with children and people working in the informal economy. The government has raised pensions and minimum wages, and directed vast amounts of government revenue to keep the economy moving.
‘‘Unemployment has gone from 25% to 7% 10 years later . . . in an economy that grew as fast as China,’’ said Ramiro Castineira, an economic analyst with the Econometrica firm.