You don’t have to be in Argentina for long before someone starts talking to you about President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Some of the nicer things I have heard her called are dictadora, bruja, and loca — dictator, witch, crazy. Argentines aren’t known for sugar coating their opinions.
This isn’t exactly how you would expect a president to be described. President Kirchner is the first female president to be elected in Argentina and the second woman to hold the position -— Isabel Martínez de Perón acted as president for two years after her husband, Juan, died in 1974. After de Kirchner’s husband served the presidency from 2003 to 2007, she was elected in 2007, and then again in 2011. This means the family has been in office for nearly 10 years, overseeing the recovery of the economy after its 2001 economic calamity. And while Argentina enjoyed relative prosperity in the middle of President Kirchner’s first term, today’s landscape looks grim, and the people are letting President Kirchner know exactly how they feel.
Over the past few years, the sound of clanging pots and pans has become synonymous with this presidency. These sounds — protests known as cacerolazos because of the cacerolas, or pots, that they bang together — resonate around the city whenever Kirchner makes a statement on TV, aiming to drown out the voice the people have come to hate. Ever since I came to Buenos Aires, the tiny chimes of cacerolas have interrupted my studying on countless occasions, and small protests are a frequent part of life. On Sept. 13, the largest protest under the current presidency broke out on the streets of Buenos Aires, in barrios across the city and provinces across the country.
This gathering of millions, spread solely through social media, stemmed from a variety of factors that came together to create the perfect storm of discontent amongst porteños — those who live in a port city — as well as an insecure Argentine peso and soaring inflation rate and the increased crime and social unrest that follows from economic instability.
And now the president has been threatened by the International Monetary Fund. For many years, Argentina has reported an inflation rate of 10 percent, when in reality, the number sits at nearly 25 percent. The IMF recently issued Argentina a yellow card, warning that if Kirchner continues to fudge the numbers, a red card will be issued. Unfortunately, there is no warning worse than a red card, so if the country continues down the path they are heading, they will be the first country expelled from the international organization.
Based on the negative sentiment coursing through the city, Kirchner’s position in the political arena looks fairly precarious. But, of course, when you have a majority in both houses, anything is possible. She has already passed a bill allowing 16-year-olds to vote, thereby increasing her odds at re-election, and she is looking into the possibility of amending the constitution so that she may be elected for a third term. Only time will tell what happens, but these are certainly going to be an interesting few months in Buenos Aires.
A version of this article appeared in the Monday, Oct. 22 print edition. Suzi Brown is a foreign correspondent. Email her at [email protected].
