Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Carlos Kirchner (born 25 February 1950) is the current President of Argentina. He was sworn in on May 25, 2003. A Peronist with leftist leanings, Kirchner was governor of the province of Santa Cruz prior to being elected president.

President of Argentina

Kirchner came into office on the tail of the worst crisis in Argentina's history. A country which once vied with Europe in levels of prosperity and considered itself a bulwark of European culture in Latin America found itself deeply impoverished, with a decimated middle-class and malnutrition appearing in the lower strata of society. The country was burdened with USD $178 billion in debt, the government strapped for cash, the far-reaching privatization binge of Menem having deprived it of many of its former sources of income. While Kirchner was partly identified with the clientism, corruption, the "politics as usual" of Menem and the JP, he was nonetheless also seen as a newcomer who arrived at the Casa Rosada without the usual whiff of scandal about him. This perception was strengthened by his efforts to reinvigorate the Argentine Supreme Court, which had been severely compromised by Menem's appointments of judges subservient to him. Shortly after coming into office, Kirchner also suspended the laws of immunity for former military leaders and announced that if they are able to escape justice in Argentina, his government would not oppose extraditing them. He also retired dozens of generals, admirals, and brigadiers from the armed forces whose reputations were tainted by the atrocities of the Dirty War.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Kirchner kept the Minister of the Economy of the Duhalde administration, Roberto Lavagna, who piloted Argentina through the widely hated "corralito" and the painful devaluation, but Lavagna also declared his first priority now was social problems. Argentina's default was the largest in financial history, and ironically it gave Kirchner and Lavagna a certain bargaining power with the IMF, which loathes having bad debts in its books. During his first year of office, Kirchner achieved a difficult agreement to reschedule $84 billion in debts with international organizations, for three years, and this is paving the way for a solution to the $94 billion it still owes to private investors. As of June 2004, settlement of 25 cents to the dollar is being negotiated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

It is Kirchner's resistance to international financial institutions such as the IMF and his objections to "Chicago-style" free-market economics that has perhaps surprised observers most. He has been encouraged in this regard by such figures as the iconoclastic ex-World Bank economist Joseph Stiglitz, who deplores the IMF's measures as recessionary and has urged Argentina to take an independent path. In doing so, Kirchner has broken ranks with recent and current Latin American leaders such as Peru's Alejandro Toledo, who maintain a staunch belief in neoliberal economics as the solution to Latin America's extreme socioeconomic disparities. In this context, Kirchner can best be seen as part of a spectrum of new Latin American leaders, spanning from Chávez in Venezuela to Lula in Brazil and Tabaré Vázquez in Uruguay, who are actively searching for an alternative to the Washington consensus, which in the eyes of many has proven to be an unsuccessful model for economic development in the region.

Related Topics:
World Bank - Joseph Stiglitz - Alejandro Toledo - Chávez - Venezuela - Lula - Brazil - Tabaré Vázquez - Uruguay - Washington consensus

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~