Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
President of Argentina
Incumbent
Assumed office 10 December 2007
Vice President	Julio Cobos
Preceded by	Néstor Kirchner
First Lady of Argentina
In office 25 May 2003 – 10 December 2007
Preceded by	Hilda Duhalde
Succeeded by	Néstor Kirchner (First Spouse of Argentina)
Senator of Argentina For Buenos Aires Province
In office 10 December 2005 – 28 November 2007
Senator of Argentina For Santa Cruz
In office 10 December 2001 – 9 December 2005 10 December 1995 – 3 December 1997
Deputy of Argentina For Santa Cruz
In office 10 December 1997 – 9 December 2001
Personal details
Born	(1953-02-19) 19 February 1953 La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Political party	Front for Victory (FPV) Justicialist Party (PJ)
Spouse	Néstor Kirchner
Children	Máximo Kirchner Florencia Kirchner
Alma mater	National University of La Plata
Profession	Lawyer
Signature
Website	The Casa Rosada

Cristina Elizabet Fernández de Kirchner (Template:IPA-es; born February 19, 1953), commonly known as Cristina Fernández or Cristina Kirchner, is the current President of Argentina. A member of the Justicialist Party, she was a Senator for Buenos Aires Province before taking office. She is the wife of Néstor Kirchner, current Secretary General of Unasur and former President of Argentina (2003–2007). She acted as First Lady during his term.

In the October 2007 general election, Fernández ran for the presidency of Argentina, representing the ruling Front for Victory party. She won with 45.3% of the vote, a 22% lead over her nearest rival. This was the widest margin obtained by a candidate since civil rule was reinstalled in 1983, and avoided the need for a runoff election. She is Argentina's first elected female President, and the second female President ever to serve (after Isabel Martínez de Perón, 1974–1976).

Personal life

Fernández was born in Tolosa, a suburb west of La Plata, Province of Buenos Aires, daughter of Eduardo Fernández and Ofelia Esther Wilhelm. She studied law at the National University of La Plata during the 1970s and became active in the Peronist Youth. During her studies there, she met her future spouse, Néstor. They were married on March 9, 1975, and had two children: Máximo and Florencia.

Political career

Fernández started her political career in the Peronist Youth movement of the Justicialist Party in the 1970s. During the period of authoritarian rule in the country, she and Néstor dropped out of politics and practiced law in Río Gallegos. She picked up politics again in the late 1980s, and was elected to the Santa Cruz Provincial Legislature in 1989, a position to which she was re-elected in 1993.

In 1995, Fernández was elected to represent Santa Cruz in the Senate. She was elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1997, and in 2001, returned to the Senate. Fernández provided the main backbone to her husband's successful campaign for the presidency in 2003, against two other Justicialist candidates and several other competitors. In the April 27, 2003, presidential election first round, former president Carlos Saúl Menem won the greatest number of votes (25%), but failed to get the votes necessary to win an overall majority. A second-round run-off vote between Menem and runner-up Néstor Kirchner was scheduled for May 18. Feeling certain that he was about to face a resounding electoral defeat, Menem decided to withdraw his candidacy, thus automatically making Kirchner the new president, with 22% of the votes (the lowest number in the history of the country).

During her husband's term, Fernández became an itinerant ambassador for his government. Her highly combative speech style polarized Argentine politics, recalling the style of Eva Perón. Although she repeatedly rejected the comparison later, Cristina Fernández once said in an interview that she identified herself "with the Evita of the hair in a bun and the clenched fist before a microphone" (the typical image of Eva Perón during public speeches) more than with the "miraculous Eva" of her mother's time, who had come "to bring work and the right to vote for women".

At the October 2005 legislative elections, Fernández was her party's main candidate for Senator in the Province of Buenos Aires district. She ran a heated campaign against Hilda González de Duhalde, the wife of former president Eduardo Duhalde. Kirchner won the elections by a 25% margin over González de Duhalde.

Election to Presidency of Argentina

See also: Argentine general election, 2007

President-elect Cristina Kirchner celebrates election night with her husband and predecessor, Néstor.

With Fernández leading all the pre-election polls by a wide margin, her challengers were trying to force her into a run-off. She needed either more than 45% of the vote, or 40% of the vote and a lead of more than 10% over her nearest rival, to win outright. Fernández won the election in the first round with 45.3% of the vote, followed by 22% for Elisa Carrió (candidate for the Civic Coalition) and 16% for former Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna. Eleven others split the remaining 15%. Kirchner was popular among the suburban working class and the rural poor, while Carrió received more support from the urban middle class, as did Lavagna. Of note, Kirchner lost the election in the three largest cities (Buenos Aires, Córdoba and Rosario), although she won in most other places elsewhere, including the large provincial capitals such as Mendoza and Tucumán.

The president elect began a four-year term on December 10, 2007, facing challenges including inflation, union demands for higher salaries, private investment in key areas, lack of institutional credibility (exemplified by the controversy surrounding the national statistics bureau, INDEC), utility companies demanding authorization to raise their fees, low availability of cheap credit to the private sector, and the upcoming negotiation of the defaulted foreign debt with the Paris Club.

Cabinet

The President in a meeting with her Ministers.

On November 14, the president-elect publicly announced the names of her new cabinet, which was sworn in on December 10. Of the 12 ministers appointed, seven were already ministers in Néstor Kirchner's government, while the other five took office for the first time. Three other ministries were created afterwards.

Chief of Cabinet and Ministers of Cristina Kirchner's Government
Office	Name	Term
Chief of the Cabinet of Ministers	Alberto Fernández Sergio Massa Aníbal Fernández	Dec. 10, 2007 – Jul. 23, 2008 Jul. 24, 2008 – Jul. 7, 2009 Jul. 8, 2009 – incumbent
Ministry of Interior	Florencio Randazzo	Dec. 10, 2007 – incumbent
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship (Chancellor)	Jorge Taiana Héctor Timerman	Dec. 10, 2007 – Jun. 18, 2010 Jun. 18, 2010 – incumbent
Ministry of Defense	Nilda Garré	Dec. 10, 2007 – incumbent
Ministry of Economy	Martín Lousteau Carlos Fernández Amado Boudou	Dec. 10, 2007 – Apr. 24, 2008 Apr. 25, 2008 – Jul. 7, 2009 Jul. 8, 2009 – incumbent
Ministry of Federal Planning, Public Investment and Services	Julio de Vido	Dec. 10, 2007 – incumbent
Ministry of Justice, Security and Human Rights	Aníbal Fernández Julio Alak	Dec. 10, 2007 – Jul. 7, 2009 Jul. 8, 2009 – incumbent
Ministry of Work, Labour and Social Security	Carlos Tomada	Dec. 10, 2007 – incumbent
Ministry of Health and Environment	Graciela Ocaña Juan Luis Manzur	Dec. 10, 2007 – Jun. 30, 2009 Jul. 1, 2009 – incumbent
Ministry of Social Development	Alicia Kirchner de Mercado	Dec. 10, 2007 – incumbent
Ministry of Education	Juan Carlos Tedesco Alberto Sileoni	Dec. 10, 2007 – Jul. 20, 2009 Jul. 20, 2009 – incumbent
Ministry of Science, Technology and Productive Innovation	Lino Barañao	Dec. 10, 2007 – incumbent
Ministry of Industry	Débora Giorgi	Nov. 26, 2008 – incumbent
Ministry of Agriculture	Julián Domínguez	Oct. 1, 2009 – incumbent
Ministry of Tourism	Carlos Enrique Meyer	Jun 28, 2010 – incumbent

Presidency

The President in a meeting with the nation's governors.

2007

During the first days of Fernández's presidency, Argentina's relations with the United States deteriorated as a result of allegations made by a United States assistant attorney of illegal campaign contributions, case known as the maletinazo (suitcase scandal). According to these allegations, Venezuelan agents tried to pressure a Venezuelan American citizen (Guido Antonini Wilson) to lie about the origin of $790,550 in cash found in his suitcase on August 4, 2007 at a Buenos Aires airport. U.S. prosecutors allege the money was sent to help Kirchner's presidential campaign. Some of the allegations were proven and several individuals received a prison sentence after a widely reported trial.

Fernández and Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez called the allegations "a trashing operation" and part of a conspiracy orchestrated by the U.S. to divide Latin American nations. On December 19, 2007, she restricted the U.S. ambassador's activities and limited his meetings to Foreign Ministry officials; a treatment reserved for hostile countries, in the opinion of a former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State. However, on January 31, in a special meeting with Kirchner, the U.S. Ambassador to Argentina, Earl Anthony Wayne, clarified that the allegations "were never made by the United States government," and the dispute cooled down. Having said that the prosecutors making the charges are part of the independent judicial branch of the U.S. government

Presidential styles of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Reference style	Su Excelencia Señora Presidente de la Nación Argentina "Her Excellency Madam President of the Argentine Nation"
Spoken style	Presidente de la Nación "President of the Nation"
Alternative style	Señora Presidente "Madam President"

Elisa Carrió and María Estenssoro, both high ranking members of the main opposition parties, have claimed that the Argentine government's response to the allegations and its criticism of the U.S. are a "smokescreen", that the U.S. involvement in the affair was merely symptomatic, and the root cause of the scandal is corruption in the Argentine and Venezuelan governments.

2008

With Spain's PM Rodríguez Zapatero

With Brazilian President Lula

Riding a wave of approval during a dramatic economic recovery from a 2001-02 crisis, the Kirchners' FPV had prevailed enjoyed increasingly large majorities in Congress, reaching their peak following the 2007 general elections (with 153 Congressmen and 44 Senators, at the time). In March 2008, Kirchner introduced a new sliding-scale taxation system for agricultural exports, effectively raising levies on soybean exports from 35% to 44% at the time of the announcement. This led to a nationwide lockout by farming associations, starting on March 12, with the aim of forcing the government to back down on the new taxation scheme. They were joined on March 25 by thousands of pot-banging demonstrators massed around the Buenos Aires Obelisk and in front of the presidential palace.

Protests extended across the country. In Buenos Aires, hours after Kirchner attacked farmers for their two-week strike and "abundant" profits, there were violent incidents between government supporters and opponents, to which the police was accused of wilfully turning a blind eye. The media was harshly critical of Luis D'Elía, a former government official who took part in the incidents, with some media sources and members of the opposition (notably Elisa Carrió), claiming that he and his followers had disrupted the protest pursuant to the government's orders. On April 1, the government organised a rally during which thousands of pro-government protesters marched through downtown Buenos Aires in support of the bill increasing Argentina's export taxes on the basis of a sliding scale; at the event, Kirchner called on farmers to act "as part of a country, not as owners of a country."

With Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez

In April 2008, on the 26th anniversary of the Falklands War, Kirchner stepped up Argentine claims to the Falkland Islands. She called Argentina's rights to the islands "inalienable".

"With faith in God, and with the work that we all have to do to build a country that is strong and respected around the world, so that our voice is heard in all International forums, and we can denounce the shameful presence of a colonial enclave in the 21st century".

The large majorities in the Argentine Congress enjoyed by the Front for Victory could not ultimately guarantee a legislative blank check: on July 16, 2008, the presidentially-sponsored bill met with deadlock, and was ultimately defeated by the tie-breaking "no" vote of Vice President Julio Cobos himself. The controversy cost the FPV 16 Congressmen and 4 Senators by way of defections. This put an end to the 2008 Argentine government conflict with the agricultural sector, though it cost Cobos access to the executive branch of the government. He was reportedly cosidered "a traitor" by the followers of Kirchner's administration. Cobos denied that he would resign, although the relationship between the President and the Vice President has an uncertain future.

The President hosts two other influential women, Colombian activist Íngrid Betancourt and U.S. entertainer Madonna, in Buenos Aires.

A poll result published in El País, Spain's most widely circulated daily newspaper, revealed that following the protests, Fernández's approval rating had "plummeted" from 57.8% at the start of her administration to an unprecedented 23%. Once recovered from the conflict with agrarian interests, Cristina Kirchner's public approval improved; her job approval ratings rose by 30% (Poliarquía, 08/22/08). Her inflexible handling of the protests and reluctance to review the policies that sparked the protest have led to speculation that it is her husband, predecessor in office and current leader of the Justicialist Party, Néstor Kirchner, who controls her administration. The British weekly newspaper The Economist has described this situation as Kirchner "paying the price for her husbands pig-headedness", and as of February 2009, her job approval rating was 28%.

On October 20, 2008, Fernández proposed the transfer of nearly US$30 billion in private pension holdings to the social security system, a law that was passed by Congress in late November.

President Cristina Kirchner is a member of the Council of Women World Leaders, an international network of current and former women presidents and prime ministers whose mission is to mobilize the highest-level women leaders globally for collective action on issues of critical importance to women and equitable development.

Cristina Fernández visiting India

Fernández was invited to the prestigious Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy in Washington, D.C., on November 15, 2008, by President George W. Bush. During her stay in Washington, she held meetings with Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown), Madeleine Albright (representing U.S. President-elect Barack Obama), Senator Christopher Dodd and Australia's Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd at the Park Hyatt Hotel. She then attended the G20 meeting in London April 2, 2009 and was given a seat of honour at the dinner held the night before at 10 Downing Street, when she was seated across from President Obama.

Also in the year 2008, Cristina Kirchner vetoed the "Law of protection of the glaciers" ( Template:Lang-es ), which had been approved almost unanimously in Congress (only 3 senators opposed the law). Critics have stated that the President's attitude would threaten over 75% of the country's water reserves.

Cristina Kirchner has travelled extensively as president, visiting Algeria, Brazil, Cuba, Egypt, France, Libya, Mexico, Qatar, Russia, Spain, the UK, the U.S. and Venezuela, among other nations.

2009

With Michelle Bachelet and Pope Benedict XVI conmemorating Argentina and Chile friendship

Following the June 28, 2009, mid-term elections, the ruling FPV's party list lost its absolute majority in both houses of Congress, shedding a further 24 seats in the Lower House (including allies) and 4 in the Senate. They lost in the four most important electoral districts (home to 60% of Argentines), and among these, the loss was narrow only in the Province of Buenos Aires. The FPV obtained a very narrow victory, overall, as a percentage of the national vote, and retained their plurality in Congress. This will be reflected in strengthened opposition alliances, notably the center-right Unión Pro, the centrist Civic Coalition and the left-wing Proyecto Sur, when elected candidates in both chambers take office on December 11, 2009.

Allegations of impropriety have contributed increasingly to the Kirchners' decline in approval, as well. The couple's own, latest federal financial disclosure in July 2009 revealed an increase in their personal assets by 7 times, since Néstor Kirchner's 2003 inaugural. The increase was partly the product of land deals in El Calafate, a scenic, Santa Cruz Province town where the couple has long vacationed and own property (including 450 acres of land and two hotels).

On October 17, 2009, President Cristina Fernandez proposed the compulsory submission of DNA samples in cases related to crimes against humanity, in a move lauded by the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo, but excoriated by opposition figures as a political move against Clarín Media Group Chairperson Ernestina Herrera de Noble, who is in litigation over her suspected adoption of two children of the "disappeared," and whose hitherto cordial relations with Kirchnerism had recently soured. Similar motives are alleged by the opposition against the president's Media Law, which would restrict the number of media licences per proprietor and allocate a greater share of these to state and NGOs, thereby limiting the influence of Clarín and the conservative La Nación. The president's proposed enactment of mandatory primary elections for all of Argentina's myriad political parties, and for every elected post, was likewise rejected by opposition figures, who charged that these reforms could stymy minor parties and the formation of new ones.

With President of China Hu Jintao

Following charges of embezzlement filed by a local attorney, Enrique Piragini, on October 29, Federal Judge Norberto Oyarbide ordered an accounting expert to investigate the origin of the Kirchners’ wealth. Public records show that since their arrival to power in 2003, the declared assets of Cristina and Néstor Kirchner have increased by 572%. A preliminary report on the investigation by the Argentine Anti Corruption Office (OA) established that the official figures provided by the Kirchners "don't stack up". The investigation was suspended by Judge Oyarbide on December 30, though a week later, Piragini appealed the ruling.

On 29 October 2009 she launched a universal child benefit plan ( Template:Lang-es ) as a way to fight poverty with the goal to reach approximately five million children and youths .

2010

Cristina Fernández and Barack Obama

The year began with controversy surrounding the president's order that a US$6.7 billion escrow account be opened at the Central Bank for the purpose of retiring high-interest bonds, whose principal is tied to inflation. The move met with the opposition of Central Bank President Martín Redrado, who refused to implement it, and following an impasse, he was dismissed by presidential decree on January 7, 2010.

Redrado refused to abide by the initial decree removing him from the presidency of the Central Bank, however, and petitioned for a judicial power to keep him in office. Accordingly, the president enacted another decree for his dismissal, citing "mis-conduct" on Redrado's part. The legitimacy of this new decree was questioned as well, as his dismissal would deny Redrado due process. Congress was at a recess period at the time, but most of its opposition members considered returning to override the decrees through an extraordinary session. The session became a source of controversy as well: Kirchner considered that, according to the 63rd article of the Constitution, only the President may call for an extraordinary session while the Congress is in recess. Cobos replied instead that all regulations concerning decrees require the immediate advise and consent of Congress, that the body's by-laws (56 and 57) allow extraordinary sessions called by any member, and that the commission formed for that purpose functions all at all times, even during recess.

The planned use of foreign exchange reserves through a Necessity and Urgency Decree was itself questioned by several opposition figures, who argued that such a decree may not meet a threshold of "necessity" and "urgency" required by the Constitution of Argentina for its enactment. Judge María José Sarmiento handed down a ruling preventing said use of reserves, and the Government reacted by appealing the ruling. President Kirchner defended the policy as a cost saving maneuver, whereby government bonds paying out 15 percent interest would be retired from the market. The move, however, also provided numerous vulture funds (holdouts from the 2005 debt restructuring who had resorted to the courts in a bid for higher returns on their defaulted bonds) a legal argument against the central bank's autarky, and thus facilitated a judgement lien on January 12 against a central bank account in New York.

With Hillary Clinton in Buenos Aires, March 2010

Judge Sarmiento also annulled the decree that removed Redrado and reinstated him as President of the Central Bank the following day. The ruling also refuted claims of mis-conduct cited by President Cristina Kirchner to justify his removal. International media described the attempted removal of Redrado as authoritarian, while criticizing the planned use of reserves for debt retirement, as well as accelerating spending growth, as fiscally irresponsible. Opposition Congresswoman Elisa Carrió, a likely candidate in the upcoming 2011 presidential campaign, has raised the possibility of impeachment procedures against Mrs. Kirchner.

Cristina Fernández and her husband Néstor were in January 2010 reported to the Judiciary because of "illicit gain". It was reported that their personal fortune grew surprisingly too much from the period of 2007 to 2008. This incident came on the heels of the issues with the Central Bank and Martín Redrado.

With German Chancellor Angela Merkel

At the start of the month of February 2010, one of Cristina Fernández's private asessors resigned his post due to the claims of "illicit gain". Just two weeks afterwards, another of her private asesors, Julio Daniel Álvarez, resigned for the same reason.

On February 22, 2010, British oil explorer Desire Petroleum, started drilling exploration wells some 60 miles north of the disputed Falkland/Malvinas Islands, despite strong opposition from Argentina which took the issue to the Latin America and Caribbean Presidents summit where it received unanimous support . According to geological surveys carried out in 1998, there could be 60 billion barrels of oil in the area around the islands but the 2010 drill carried out poor results. After Desire's share price plummeting as a result the company announced further work could begin later this year.

On March 2010 received the visit of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton which give great support to the way her administration was managing the foreign debt issue and emphasize the relation between the two countries something which was not reported by local major news media

With President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev on April 2010

On April 2010 received in Buenos Aires Chile's new president Sebastián Piñera on his first foreign tour abroad who reaffirmed the current strong ties between the two countries . Cristina Fernández then assisted to the Nuclear Security Summit at Washington DC, after which meet with President Barack Obama who thanked Argentina’s role in international estabilization and earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Back to Buenos Aires, she received the visit of the President of Russia Dmitry Medvedev the first such a visit in Argentina's history. Two days later, the Prime Minister of Vietnam Nguyễn Tấn Dũng arrived. On April 19, she was invited to the bicentennary of the independence celebrations in Venezuela, where she was the main speaker in front of the National Assembly. She signed 25 trade agreements with Venezuela relating to food, technology and energy.

On May 2010, the President traveled to Spain for the European Union-Latin America and the Caribbean summit, where she was asked to compare the 2010 European sovereign debt crisis and the 2001 Argentine's default . Back to Buenos Aires, during the Argentina Bicentennial celebrations, Cristina Fernández did not participate on the military parade of 5000 troops (which includes delegations of Brazil, Chile, Uruguay, Bolivia, etc.) on the 9 de Julio Avenue, which was considered a gest of contempt towards the Argentine Armed Forces.

On June 2010, her administration completed the debt swap (which was started by former president Néstor Kirchner in 2005) achieving a 92% of the bad debt left from its sovereign default in 2001 . Argentina external debt now represents 30% of the country's GDP, whilst the Central Bank foreign reserves reached us$ 49 billion, more than the amount that was available when the decision to pay foreign debt earlier in the year was taken.

Received by Canada PM Stephen Harper

Also on June 2010, She gave a speech at the International Trade Union Confederation (CSI) Global Summit, being held in Vancouver, Canada where she assured that "many Euro-zone countries today have applied the same policies that led Argentina to disaster (in 2001)," stating, also, that "it's an inescapable responsibility of the government to intervene in the financial system." . Later, she traveled to Toronto to attend the G20 Summit spoken contrary to Europeans fiscal austerity plans as the global economic turnaround may slow down. French PM Nicolas Sarkozy responded her by saying that the Latin American representatives who reject the Eurozone adjustments do not know the "harrassment" to the Euro , to which Cristina Fernández responded that he shouldn't "question somebody" just because he doesn't "agree" with what they say and also clarified that Argentina is interested in the euro because parts of its reserves are held in euros and that she's "sure that Sarkozy does not have even one cent in Argentine pesos in his Central Bank.". Later to the press she added, "In Latin America we can give cathedra about harassment and seizure." She also had a chance to speak with new British PM David Cameron.

On July 2010, she traveled to the People's Republic of China with the goal of, according the Chinese embassy at Buenos Aires, strengthening the strategic partnership between both countries After her return, she signed a bill legalizing same-sex marriage in Argentina. This strained the government's already strained relationship with the Catholic Church. She also reaffirmed her policy of debt reduction in announcing to continue to pay foreign debt with Central Bank foreign reserves which reached a country historic record of $51 billion USD in July.

On August 2010 she preceded the 39th Mercosur summit at San Juan where the trade bloc agrees to reduce customs fees and signs a free-trade deal with Egypt ‎

Relationship with the media

Fernández and her husband have always had a tempestuous relationship with the national media, particullary Grupo Clarín corporation which is owner of video cable networks, multiple TV Channels, radios, the main newspaper and through most of a decade before 2010 the monopoly of the Argentine football, a so-called opinion-former. By 2010 was obvious for independent sources that the traditionally major news media were in a direct fight with the government and often reporting misleading Information

In April 2008, Kirchner received a stern public rebuke from the Argentine media owners Association (Spanish: Asociación de Entidades Periodísticas Argentinas, or ADEPA) for having publicly accused the popular cartoonist Hermenegildo Sábat of behaving like a "quasi mafioso". In addition, a government proposal to create a watchdog to monitor racism and discrimination was received with suspicion by ADEPA, who called it a "covert attempt to control the media". Néstor Kirchner, Cristina's husband and predecessor in office, received a similar rebuke for publicly and falsely denouncing Joaquín Morales Solá, a journalist critical of the government, for having produced an inflammatory text published in 1978.

On September 11, 2009, she advanced the decriminalization of injurious calumny against public officials, a charge which had, in 2000, resulted in a prison term of one year for Eduardo Kimel, a journalist investigating the San Patricio Church massacre of 1976. She drew fire from a highly controversial Audiovisual Media Law proposed shortly afterwards, however. Defended by the government as a reform intended to fragment ownership of media companies as to encourage plurality of opinion, the bill was criticised by part of the opposition as a means to silence voices critical of the government, especially those in the Clarín media group (the country's largest). However, a significant amount of opposing congressmen voted in favor of the law, as they considered it was clearly an improvement on the existing one, and that the government had been willing to negotiate and modify parts of the proposed new law to improve it.

The law has aroused further controversy, given that in its passing through the chambers of the legislature, the mandatory 7 day period between debate and assent of the new legislation was ignored. The view among the part of the opposition that opposed the bill is that Kirchner’s government is trying to rush the law through parliament before December 2009. when the government will lose its absolute majorities in Congress.

Dr. Lauro Laíño, the president of ADEPA (media owners), in a speech given on the 24 September 2009, opposed the proposed law, and added that in Latin America, especially in Venezuela and Argentina, “press freedom was being undermined under the suspicious pretext of plurality” Others, notably press freedom advocacy group Reporters Sans Frontières, have expressed some support for the measure, citing the need to repeal the Radio Broadcast Law of 1980 enacted by the National Reorganization Process, Argentina's last military government.

The acrimony between Cristina Kirchner's government and the national media was exacerbated by a series of lock-ins carried out by the truck drivers' union lead by Pablo Moyano, son of Hugo Moyano, a close ally of the Kirchner government. During the lock in, the country's most widely circulated newspapers (Clarín and La Nación) were prevented by force and threats of violence from distributing papers to newsstands. On 7 November 2009, the Association of Newspaper Editors of Buenos Aires (AEDBA) issued a statement in which it claimed that the truck drivers' unions' actions had been the fiercest attack on the free circulation of newspapers the country had seen since its return to democratic rule in 1983..

On 2010 the Supreme Court of Argentina ruled that the judicial movement made by an opposition deputy who tried to suspend the new Media Law, which was approved by the National Congress, was illegal .

Magazine opinion

In 2009, she was ranked by the magazine Forbes as eleventh in the list of the 100 most powerful women in the world.

External links

• Template:En icon Cristina Fernandez on Honduras Coup
• Template:Es icon Office of the President
• Template:Es icon Official site of Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
• Template:Es icon Senate of the Argentine Republic website
• Template:Es icon Extensive biography by CIDOB Foundation
• Template:Nndb