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LATIN AMERICA

Opposition in Argentina asks: Who is governing the country?

Government maintains that Fernández de Kirchner is in control as she recovers from surgery

Buenos Aires / Madrid -
A supporter of Fernández de Kirchner walks by the hospital where the president is recovering.
A supporter of Fernández de Kirchner walks by the hospital where the president is recovering.D. F. (EFE)

While President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner recovers from surgery performed on Tuesday to remove a cerebral blood clot at a Buenos Aires clinic, opposition leaders in Argentina are beginning to wonder who is actually running the country.

The growing concerns stem over questions over the transfer of powers to Vice President Amado Boudou and comments made by top Cabinet officials that Fernández de Kirchner was still in control.

The 60-year-old president underwent surgery to drain a blood clot located beneath the brain’s outer layer, caused by a fall she suffered in August. Doctors, who have told her that she will have to rest for at least a month, said she is recovering “satisfactorily” at the private Favaloro Foundation Hospital, where she underwent the two-hour procedure.

“The president’s team is governing; it is very solid and it is doing so with the vice president. But they are clear that the decisions come from the president, who imparts instructions,” said Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina in a radio interview on Wednesday.

The lack of official information from the government – beginning with the president’s first checkup on Saturday – has also confused the situation. While the Casa Rosada presidential office has never acknowledged whether Fernández de Kirchner will formally ask Congress for a medical leave – which she hasn’t – or if Boudou will sign the transfers of powers – which he finally did on Monday – the government has come out in defense of the vice president’s role during the Argentinean leader’s current health crisis.

The 49-year-old Boudou is under investigation for alleged illegal enrichment and influence peddling in connection with a currency printing press sales transaction that took place when he was economy minister.

Boudou cut short a controversial trip to Brazil, where a photograph of him riding a motorcycle was published by the Brazilian daily O Estado de São Paulo, on the same day Fernández de Kirchner checked herself into the hospital. Under the caption “The president moves aside while the vice president moves on motorcycle,” the image caused a stir in Argentina. With just weeks before important congressional elections, the opposition has targeted Boudou in its campaign.

“He’s better prepared to ride a motorcycle, not run a country,” said Felipe Solá, a former Kirchnerite deputy. Solá is now aligned with Sergio Massa, who served as Fernández de Kirchner’s Cabinet chief before distancing himself from the president and is now the favorite to win in the race in the strategic Buenos Aires province on October 27.

Government officials and representatives from the president’s ruling Victory Front (FPV) bloc have charged that there is a conspiracy between the opposition and media – especially La Nación and Clarín newspapers – to engage in “a permanent defamation campaign” against Boudou.

In show of the FPV’s support, Boudou was joined on Monday at a campaign rally in Córdoba by Carlos Zannini , a powerful advisor to Fernández de Kirchner, and the president’s son, Máximo Kirchner, who also wields a lot of influence among the bloc’s younger supporters. Their presence was a public sign that Boudou has all the backing he needs, according to analysts.

But as Diana Conti, a Kirchnerite lawmaker put it: “Cristina is the one calling the shots on the most important political issues and the vice president obeys.”

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