Néstor Carlos Kirchner Ostoić (; 25 February 195027 October 2010) was an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the
president of Argentina
The president of Argentina, officially known as the president of the Argentine Nation, is both head of state and head of government of Argentina. Under Constitution of Argentina, the national constitution, the president is also the Head of go ...
from 2003 to 2007. A member of the
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei.
Fo ...
, he previously served as
Governor of Santa Cruz Province from 1991 to 2003, and mayor of
Río Gallegos from 1987 to 1991. He later served as
first gentleman of Argentina during the early tenure of his wife,
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...
, the first (and only) person to serve in this role. Ideologically, he identified himself as a
Peronist
Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...
and a
progressive, with his political approach called
Kirchnerism.
Born in
Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, Kirchner studied law at the
National University of La Plata. He met and married
Cristina Fernández at this time, returned with her to Río Gallegos at graduation, and opened a law firm. Commentators have criticized him for a lack of legal activism during the
Dirty War
The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...
, an issue he would involve himself in as president. Kirchner ran for mayor of Río Gallegos in 1987 and for governor of
Santa Cruz in 1991. He was reelected governor in 1995 and 1999 due to an amendment of the provincial constitution. Kirchner sided with
Buenos Aires provincial governor
Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...
against President
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...
.
Although Duhalde lost the
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
presidential election, he was appointed president by the
Congress
A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...
when previous presidents
Fernando de la Rúa and
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá resigned during the
December 2001 riots. Duhalde suggested that Kirchner run for president in 2003 in a bid to prevent Menem's return to the presidency. Menem won a plurality in the first round of the presidential election but, fearing that he would lose in the required
runoff election
The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...
, he resigned; Kirchner became president as a result.
Kirchner took office on 25 May 2003.
Roberto Lavagna, credited with the economic recovery during Duhalde's presidency, was retained as minister of economy and continued his economic policies. Argentina negotiated a
swap of defaulted debt and repaid the International Monetary Fund. The
National Institute of Statistics and Census intervened to underestimate growing inflation. Several
Supreme Court
In most legal jurisdictions, a supreme court, also known as a court of last resort, apex court, high (or final) court of appeal, and court of final appeal, is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...
judges resigned while fearing
impeachment
Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In Eur ...
, and new judges were appointed. The amnesty for crimes committed during the Dirty War in enforcing the
full-stop and
due-obedience laws and the
presidential pardons were repealed and declared unconstitutional. This led to new trials for the military who served during the 1970s. Argentina increased its integration with other Latin American countries, discontinuing its automatic alignment with the United States dating to the 1990s. The
2005 midterm elections were a victory for Kirchner, and signaled the end of Duhalde's supremacy in Buenos Aires Province.
Instead of seeking reelection, Kirchner stepped aside in
2007
2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year.
Events
January
* January 1
**Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...
in support of his wife, who was elected president. He participated in
Operation Emmanuel to release
FARC hostages, and was narrowly defeated in the
2009 midterm election for deputy of Buenos Aires Province. Kirchner was appointed
Secretary General of
UNASUR in 2010. He and his wife were involved (either directly or through their close aides) in the 2013 political scandal known as
the Route of the K-Money, even though no judicial investigation ever found any proof of wrongdoing by Néstor or Cristina Kirchner. Kirchner died of cardiac arrest on 27 October 2010 at age 60 and received a
state funeral
A state funeral is a public funeral ceremony, observing the strict rules of protocol, held to honour people of national significance. State funerals usually include much pomp and ceremony as well as religious overtones and distinctive elements o ...
.
Early life
Kirchner was born on 25 February 1950, in
Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz, a
federal territory at the time. His father, Néstor Carlos Kirchner, of German-Swiss descent, met the
Chile
Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...
an María Juana Ostoić, of Croatian descent, by
telegraphy
Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas pi ...
. They had three children: Néstor,
Alicia, and María Cristina. Néstor was part of the third generation of Kirchners living in the city. As a result of
pertussis, he developed
strabismus
Strabismus is an eye disorder in which the eyes do not properly align with each other when looking at an object. The eye that is pointed at an object can alternate. The condition may be present occasionally or constantly. If present during a ...
at an early age; however, he refused medical treatment because he considered his eye part of his
self-image
Self-image is the mental picture, generally of a kind that is quite resistant to change, that depicts not only details that are potentially available to an objective investigation by others (height, weight, hair color, etc.), but also items that ...
.
When Kirchner was in high school he briefly considered becoming a teacher, but poor diction hampered him; he was also unsuccessful at basketball.
Kirchner moved to
La Plata
La Plata () is the capital city of Buenos Aires province, Argentina. According to the 2022 Argentina census, census, the La Plata Partido, Partido has a population of 772,618 and its metropolitan area, the Greater La Plata, has 938,287 inhabit ...
in 1969 to study law at the
National University
A national university is mainly a university created or managed by a government, but which may also at the same time operate autonomously without direct control by the state. In the United States, the term "national university" connotes the highe ...
. During this period, the decline of the
Argentine Revolution, the return of former president
Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...
from exile, the election of
Héctor Cámpora as president, his resignation and the election of Perón, and the beginning of the
Dirty War
The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...
had led to severe political turmoil. Kirchner joined the University Federation for the National Revolution (FURN), a political student group whose relationship with the
Montoneros guerrillas is a matter of debate.
Kirchner was not a leader of the group.
He was present at the
Ezeiza massacre, in which right-wing Peronist snipers opened fire on a celebration of Juan Perón's return at the
Ezeiza International Airport. He was also present at the
expulsion of Montoneros from Plaza de Mayo. Although Kirchner met many members of the Montoneros, he was not a member of the group. By the time the Montoneros were outlawed by Perón, he had left FURN.
In 1974, Kirchner met
Cristina Fernández, three years his junior, and they quickly fell in love. They were married after a courtship limited to six months by the political turmoil in the country. At the
civil ceremony, Kirchner's friends sang the Peronist song
"Los Muchachos Peronistas". He graduated a year later, returned to
Patagonia
Patagonia () is a geographical region that includes parts of Argentina and Chile at the southern end of South America. The region includes the southern section of the Andes mountain chain with lakes, fjords, temperate rainforests, and glaciers ...
with Cristina,
and established a
law firm
A law firm is a business entity formed by one or more lawyers to engage in the practice of law. The primary service rendered by a law firm is to advise consumer, clients (individuals or corporations) about their legal rights and Obligation, respon ...
with fellow attorney Domingo Ortiz de Zarate. Cristina joined the firm in 1979.
By the time of Kirchner's graduation and move to Patagonia, Juan Perón had died, his vice president and wife,
Isabel Perón
Isabel Martínez de Perón (, born María Estela Martínez Cartas; 4 February 1931) is an Argentine politician who served as the 41st president of Argentina from 1974 to 1976. She was one of the List of elected and appointed female heads of s ...
, had become president. Isabel Perón was unseated by a
coup d'état
A coup d'état (; ; ), or simply a coup
, is typically an illegal and overt attempt by a military organization or other government elites to unseat an incumbent leadership. A self-coup is said to take place when a leader, having come to powe ...
which installed a military government. The Kirchners worked for banks and financial groups which filed
foreclosure
Foreclosure is a legal process in which a lender attempts to recover the balance of a loan from a borrower who has Default (finance), stopped making payments to the lender by forcing the sale of the asset used as the Collateral (finance), coll ...
s, since the
Central Bank's 1050 ruling had raised
mortgage loan
A mortgage loan or simply mortgage (), in civil law (legal system), civil law jurisdictions known also as a hypothec loan, is a loan used either by purchasers of real property to raise funds to buy real estate, or by existing property owners t ...
interest rates,
and also acquired 21 real-estate lots for a low price when they were about to be auctioned. Their law firm defended military personnel accused of committing crimes during said war.
Forced disappearance
An enforced disappearance (or forced disappearance) is the secret abduction or imprisonment of a person with the support or acquiescence of a State (polity), state followed by a refusal to acknowledge the person's fate or whereabouts with the i ...
s were common during the Dirty War, but unlike other lawyers of the time the Kirchners never signed a ''
habeas corpus
''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a legal procedure invoking the jurisdiction of a court to review the unlawful detention or imprisonment of an individual, and request the individual's custodian (usually a prison official) to ...
''.
Julio César Strassera, prosecutor in the 1985
Trial of the Juntas case against the military, criticized the Kirchners' lack of legal actions against the military, and considered their later interest in the issue a form of hypocrisy.
The Dirty War eventually ended, and the
National Reorganization Process
The National Reorganization Process ( PRN; often simply , "the Process") was the military dictatorship that ruled Argentina from 1976 to 1983. In Argentina it is often known simply as the ("last military junta"), ("last military dictatorship") ...
allowed political activity in preparation for a return to democracy. Kirchner led one of the three internal factions of the local
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei.
Fo ...
(PJ), but Peronist
Arturo Puricelli prevailed in the primary elections. Kirchner founded the Ateneo Juan Domingo Perón organization, which supported deposed president Isabel Perón and promoted political dialogue with the military. Cristina Fernández became an attorney of the PJ in Santa Cruz, with the help of Rafael Flores, a former friend from the FURN.
Raúl Alfonsín, who was running for president for the
Radical Civic Union
The Radical Civic Union (, UCR) is a major political party in Argentina. It has reached the national government on ten occasions, making it one of the most historically important parties in the country. Ideologically, the party has stood for r ...
(UCR), denounced an agreement between the military and the
Peronist
Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...
unions which sought an amnesty for the military. Kirchner organized a rally on behalf of Rodolfo Ponce, a union leader mentioned by Alfonsín in his denouncement. Alfonsín won the
1983 presidential election, and Puricelli was elected governor of Santa Cruz. Puricelli sought to unify the local Peronist movement by adding members of the other factions into his government, and appointed Kirchner president of the provincial social-welfare fund.
Kirchner quickly expanded the activities and scope of his office, building a parallel state. This soon started a conflict with Puricelli. Instead of being fired, Kirchner resigned and accused the governor of reducing the funds for social welfare. He ran for mayor of
Río Gallegos in 1987 and won by the slim margin of 110 votes. Kirchner's friend, Rudy Ulloa Igor, helped him to victory by registering some groups of Chilean immigrants to vote (immigrants were allowed to vote in mayoral elections), and persuading them to vote for Kirchner.
Julio de Vido and
Carlos Zannini began working with Kirchner at this time. Kirchner used the state-owned media to promote his activities. The Peronist
Ricardo del Val was elected governor that year, and the province was impacted by inflation in 1989. Kirchner became the main opponent of del Val, who was impeached and removed from office in 1990 due to the inflation crisis.
Governor of Santa Cruz
Kirchner ran for governor of Santa Cruz in 1991. Although he received only 30 percent of the vote, below the 36 percent of the UCR, he was elected due to the ''
Ley de Lemas'' that added the votes for the Peronist faction of Puricelli to his own. When Kirchner took office,
Santa Cruz was experiencing an economic crisis, with high unemployment and a budget deficit equal to 1.2 billion pesos, which amounted to an equal number of U.S. dollars because of the
Convertibility plan. He expanded the number of provincial Supreme Court justices from three members to five and appointed three judges loyal to him; this gave him control of the provincial judiciary.
Kirchner was criticized for preventing the investigation of corruption cases.
Santa Cruz received 535 million pesos in oil royalties in 1993, which Kirchner deposited in a foreign bank. He was elected to the Constituent Assembly which drafted the
1994 amendment of the Argentine Constitution
The 1994 amendment to the Constitution of Argentina was approved on 22 August 1994 by a Constitutional Assembly that met in the twin cities of Santa Fe, Argentina, Santa Fe and Paraná, Argentina, Paraná. The calling for elections for the Constit ...
proposed by the Peronist president
Carlos Menem
Carlos Saúl Menem (2 July 1930 – 14 February 2021) served as the 50th president of Argentina for ten years, from 1989 to 1999. He identified as Peronism, Peronist, serving as President of the Justicialist Party for 13 years (from 1990 to 200 ...
. Kirchner voted against the amendment that would allow the reelection of the
president, which was approved. Locally, he proposed an amendment to the provincial constitution authorizing indefinite reelection of the governor.
Menem and Kirchner were reelected to their respective offices in 1995. Kirchner established a faction in the PJ opposing Menem's
neoliberal
Neoliberalism is a political and economic ideology that advocates for free-market capitalism, which became dominant in policy-making from the late 20th century onward. The term has multiple, competing definitions, and is most often used pej ...
economic policies, but
Eduardo Duhalde
Eduardo Alberto Duhalde (; born 5 October 1941) is an Argentina, Argentine former peronist politician who served as the interim President of Argentina from January 2002 to May 2003. He also served as Vice President of Argentina, Vice President ...
, governor of the populous Buenos Aires province, ignored him and rallied a stronger opposition to Menem within the PJ.
The number of state workers grew from 12,000 to 70,000 during Kirchner's administration. The creation of private-sector jobs in the province was minimal, and private companies were driven away. A local journalist interviewed by journalist
Jorge Lanata said that this placed ''de facto'' restrictions on
economic freedom and allowed Kirchner to control the population. Most available jobs were in
public works
Public works are a broad category of infrastructure projects, financed and procured by a government body for recreational, employment, and health and safety uses in the greater community. They include public buildings ( municipal buildings, ...
.
With Menem constitutionally restricted from running for a third presidential term, Duhalde ran for president in
1999
1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons.
Events January
* January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers.
* January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...
. Kirchner sided with Duhalde in his dispute with Menem and sought reelection as governor of Santa Cruz. The PJ was defeated on the national level by the radical
Fernando de la Rúa, who became president. Kirchner was reelected, despite the growth of the UCR in the province. Following an
economic crisis, De la Rúa resigned two years later during the
December 2001 riots. The Congress appointed
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá, governor of San Luis, as interim president. When Rodríguez Saá also resigned, Duhalde was appointed president. He was the politician with the highest legitimacy to be appointed president, as he had placed second in the 1999 elections and won the 2001 legislative elections in the Buenos Aires province, the district of Argentina with the largest population. He slowly restored the economy and hastened the presidential election when two ''
piqueteros'' were killed during a demonstration. However, the provincial elections were held on their original dates.
2003 presidential election

Carlos Menem ran for a new term as president in 2003, and Eduardo Duhalde tried to prevent it. Instead of holding primary elections within the PJ, the 2003 elections used a variant of the ''
Ley de Lemas''. All the Peronist candidates were allowed to run in the general election, using their own tickets. Although Kirchner ran for president with Duhalde's support, he was not the president's first choice. Trying to prevent a third term for Menem, Duhalde approached
Santa Fe governor
Carlos Reutemann and
Córdoba governor
José Manuel de la Sota; Reutemann declined, and De la Sota did not run because he was insufficiently popular. Duhalde also unsuccessfully approached
Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...
,
Adolfo Rodríguez Saá,
Felipe Solá, and
Roberto Lavagna, all of whom refused to run. Duhalde initially resisted supporting Kirchner, fearing that Kirchner would ignore him if elected. Kirchner run on the
Front for Victory ticket, one of the several fronts put up by the PJ. Since Kirchner was identified with the centre-left, Duhalde appointed the centre-right
Daniel Scioli as his vice-presidential candidate. Only a handful of Peronist governors supported either candidate; most remained neutral, awaiting the election to forge a relationship with the victor.
The
general election
A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...
was held on 27 April. Menem won the first round with 24.5 percent of the vote, followed by Kirchner with 22.2 percent. The conservative
Ricardo López Murphy finished third, substantially behind the two main candidates. Since Menem was well short of the threshold required to win, a
runoff election
The two-round system (TRS or 2RS), sometimes called ballotage, top-two runoff, or two-round plurality, is a single-winner electoral system which aims to elect a member who has support of the majority of voters. The two-round system involves one ...
was scheduled for 18 May. By this time, however, Menem's public image had deteriorated, and polls showed Kirchner receiving 60 to 70 percent of the vote. To avoid a humiliating defeat, Menem pulled out of the runoff in a move criticized by the other candidates.
The judiciary declined requests for a new election and refused to sanction a runoff election between Kirchner and López Murphy, although López Murphy said he would not have participated in any event. The election was validated by the Congress, and Kirchner became president on 25 May 2003. Kirchner's 22.2 percent is the lowest vote percentage ever recorded for an Argentine president in a free election.
Local elections were held in October. The mayor of Buenos Aires,
Aníbal Ibarra, was reelected in a runoff against
Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...
. Neither were Peronists, but Ibarra supported Kirchner and Macri was supported by Duhalde. Duhalde remained an influential figure in the Buenos Aires province; his ally
Felipe Solá was elected governor by a landslide, and the PJ received its highest number of deputies since 1983 and won mayoral elections in several cities lost to the UCR in 1999. The three leading candidates in the Buenos Aires province were all Peronists. Victories in the other provinces gave the PJ control of the Congress, and three-quarters of Argentina's governors were Peronists. According to journalist
Mariano Grondona,
Argentine politics had become a
dominant-party system
A dominant-party system, or one-party dominant system, is a political occurrence in which a single political party continuously dominates election results over running opposition groups or parties. Any ruling party staying in power for more tha ...
.
Presidency
First days
Kirchner took office as president of Argentina on 25 May 2003. Contrary to tradition, the ceremony was held at the
Palace of the Argentine National Congress rather than
Casa Rosada. He announced that he would spearhead change on many issues, from politics to culture. The ceremony was attended by the provincial governors, Supreme Court president
Julio Nazareno, the heads of the armed forces, and Cuban leader
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
. Raúl Alfonsín was the only former president in attendance. Kirchner walked to the Casa Rosada along
Avenida de Mayo, breaking with protocol to get close to the people, and was accidentally hit in the head with a camera.
As he was elected with a small percentage of the vote, Kirchner sought to increase his political clout and public image. He sought political allies in all political parties, not just the PJ. The ''
Radicales K
K Radicalism also known as ''Radicales K'' were a faction within the Radical Civic Union (UCR), a list of political parties in Argentina, political party in Argentina.
History
Early history and foundation (early 2000s–2007)
President Nést ...
'' supported him from within the UCR. This practice of reaching out to multiple parties became known as "Transversalism". Striking an "anti-establishment image", Kirchner set about creating "a sense of political renewal" in Argentina. He retained four members of Duhalde's cabinet. Economy Minister
Roberto Lavagna, credited with the economic recovery, was kept to ensure that Kirchner maintained the economic policies laid down during the previous administration.
Ginés González García
Ginés González García (31 August 1945 – 18 October 2024) was an Argentine politician and physician who served twice as the country's Ministry of Health (Argentina), Minister of Health under the successive presidencies of Eduardo Duhalde an ...
stayed as Minister of Health.
Anibal Fernandez was moved to the Ministry of the Interior and
José Pampuro to the Defense Ministry. Kirchner brought in four members of his cabinet from his days as governor of Santa Cruz.
Alberto Fernández, who organized his political campaign, was appointed chief of the cabinet of ministers.
Sergio Acevedo was placed in charge of intelligence.
Julio de Vido was appointed Minister of Federal Planning, an office similar to his provincial one. Since the appointment of relatives was not unusual in Argentina, Kirchner's appointment of his sister
Alicia as Minister of Social Development was uncontroversial.
Chancellor
Chancellor () is a title of various official positions in the governments of many countries. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the (lattice work screens) of a basilica (court hall), which separa ...
Rafael Bielsa was from another political party,
FREPASO.
Relations with the judiciary
The Argentine judiciary had been unpopular since the presidency of Carlos Menem, most of whose judicial appointments were based on loyalty; his judiciary was known as the "automatic majority".
Kirchner sought to remove the most controversial judges and organized the
impeachment
Impeachment is a process by which a legislative body or other legally constituted tribunal initiates charges against a public official for misconduct. It may be understood as a unique process involving both political and legal elements.
In Eur ...
of Supreme Court president Julio Nazareno, who chose to resign.
Judge
Adolfo Vázquez also resigned before impeachment, citing personal reasons. Judges
Eduardo Moline O'Connor and
Guillermo López also resigned under similar circumstances.
The vacancies were well received by the public, boosting Kirchner's popularity.
He arranged a new system to appoint judges. Instead of simply proposing a new judge candidate to the Congress, the presidency first released names of a number of potential candidates, who were then evaluated by several non-governmental organizations, who assessed if the candidate was suitable as a judge. The
Ministry of Justice and Human Rights compiled all the support and criticism, and the president then decided which candidate would be proposed to the Congress, which made the final decision, as under the previous system.
Raúl Zaffaroni, a former FREPASO politician, was the first judicial appointment under the new system. He was followed by
Elena Highton de Nolasco, the first woman appointed to the Supreme Court. The appointment of
Carmen Argibay (another female judge) was controversial, since Argibay was an
atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
and a supporter of
legal abortion. The judges held liberal views on criminal justice, countering social demands for harsher, pro-victim policies after the
murder of Axel Blumberg. However, the new Supreme Court had little political power, as the national government ignored all rulings that were not favorable.
Economic policy
The pillars of the economic plan were trade and fiscal
budget surpluses and a high exchange rate for the United States dollar. The surplus was increased by taxes levied during de la Rúa's presidency and the
devaluation
In macroeconomics and modern monetary policy, a devaluation is an official lowering of the value of a country's currency within a fixed exchange-rate system, in which a monetary authority formally sets a lower exchange rate of the national curre ...
which occurred during the Duhalde administration. Kirchner sought to rebuild the Argentine industrial base, public works and public services, renegotiating the operation of public services privatized by Carlos Menem and owned by foreign companies. His policies were accompanied by a nationalist rhetoric sympathetic to the poor. However, despite the financial prosperity, there was no significant decrease in the number of people living in poverty, which was 8 to 10 million people, or almost 25% of the country.
Kirchner and Lavagna negotiated a
swap of defaulted national debt in 2005, a write-down to one-third of the original debt. Kirchner refused a
structural adjustment program, and instead made a single payment to the IMF with Central Bank reserves. Although the economy grew at an eight-percent annual rate during Kirchner's term, much of its growth was due to favorable international conditions rather than Argentine policies. Argentina was benefited by the increase of the international price of
soybean
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean. Soy is a staple crop, the world's most grown legume, and an important animal feed.
Soy is a key source o ...
and other foods. However, some argued that this economic growth can also be attributed to Kirchners policies to increase domestic demand. Foreign investment remained low because of the Argentine hostility towards the IMF, the U.S. and the United Kingdom, the re-nationalization of privatized companies (such as the
water supply
Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. Th ...
, managed by the French company
Suez
Suez (, , , ) is a Port#Seaport, seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest c ...
), diplomatic isolation and
state interventionism. The energy sector suffered, and lack of investment reduced energy reserves during the 2000s.
Lavagna proposed to slow economic growth and control inflation. Kirchner rejected this, promoting wage increases to reduce
economic inequality and extending
unemployment insurance and other types of
social welfare
Welfare spending is a type of government support intended to ensure that members of a society can meet basic human needs such as food and shelter. Social security may either be synonymous with welfare, or refer specifically to social insurance p ...
. Public services such as public transportation, electricity, gas and water supply were subsidized and kept at low prices. Food industries were subsidized as well. The subsidies eventually expanded to several uncommon areas. This increased the economic activity, but also increased inflation and reduced the private investment in those areas. Unable to control inflation, the government influenced the
National Institute of Statistics and Census of Argentina
The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (, mostly known for its acronym INDEC) is an Argentine decentralized public body that operates within the Ministry of Economy, which leads all official statistical activities carried out in the co ...
, which under-reported it, as well as poverty (which was calculated with the inflation figures). The
superpowers law, sanctioned during the crisis, was prorogated and eventually made permanent in 2006; this law allowed the president to rearrange the budget with supervision from the Congress. Kirchner sought to win over the
Argentine Workers' Central Union and leaders of more moderate ''piquetero'' factions to reduce the chances of strikes and protests. Their usual system of protest (blocking streets) made them highly unpopular. However, Kirchner refused to suppress the ''piquetero'' demonstrations to avoid the risk of further violence.
Lavagna refused to run for senator in the 2005 midterm elections and criticized the overpricing of public works managed by Minister of Federal Planning Julio de Vido. As a result, Kirchner asked Lavagna to resign. Finance secretary
Guillermo Nielsen, who managed the debt restructuring, also resigned.
Felisa Miceli, head of
Banco de la Nación Argentina, replaced Lavagna as Minister of Economy. Miceli resigned in 2007, months before the presidential elections, because of a scandal over a bag with a large amount of money which was found in her office bathroom. She was replaced by Secretary of Industry
Miguel Gustavo Peirano.
Foreign policy

Kirchner took a pragmatic approach to
Argentine foreign policy, and
Argentina–United States relations did not continue the
special relations of the 1990s. Chancellor
Rafael Bielsa called the relationship between the countries "cooperation without cohabitation" in contrast to that of the Menem era, which was known as "carnal relations". Kirchner opposed the proposed
Free Trade Area of the Americas, as it was based on
majority rule
In social choice theory, the majority rule (MR) is a social choice rule which says that, when comparing two options (such as bills or candidates), the option preferred by more than half of the voters (a ''majority'') should win.
In political ...
among all the countries of the Americas, whereas he preferred a
proportional representation
Proportional representation (PR) refers to any electoral system under which subgroups of an electorate are reflected proportionately in the elected body. The concept applies mainly to political divisions (Political party, political parties) amon ...
system that would have given the
Mercosur bloc more influence. The
4th Summit of the Americas, hosted in
Mar del Plata
Mar del Plata is a city on the coast of the Argentine Sea, Atlantic Ocean, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina. It is the seat of General Pueyrredón Partido, General Pueyrredón district. Mar del Plata is the second largest city in Buenos Aires ...
, ended with violent protests against U.S. President
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician and businessman who was the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Bush family and the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he i ...
; negotiations stalled, and the FTAA was not implemented. Kirchner told the United Nations that, although he opposed terrorism, he did not support the
War on Terror. He refused to receive U.S. Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld, and sent forces to the
United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti.
Kirchner sought increased integration with other Latin American countries. He revived and tried to strengthen the
Mercosur
The Southern Common Market (commonly known by abbreviation ''Mercosur'' in Spanish and ''Mercosul'' in Portuguese) is a South American trade bloc established by the Treaty of Asunción in 1991 and Protocol of Ouro Preto in 1994. Its full me ...
trade bloc and improved relations with Brazil, but without automatically aligning with that country, the regional power of South America. The president tried to keep a middle ground between Brazil and Venezuela, since he considered the Brazilian
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...
too conservative, and the Venezuelan
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
too anti-American. Kirchner worked with left-wing presidents Lula, Chilean
Ricardo Lagos, Chávez,
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
from Cuba and
Evo Morales from Bolivia.
2005 midterm elections
Kirchner soon distanced himself from Duhalde, removing those close to the former president from the government to reduce his political influence. He also sought supporters across the social and political spectrum to counter Duhalde's influence in the party. Although Duhalde was not initially against Kirchner, Kirchner tried to prevent the presence of alternative leaderships within the PJ. However, they put their differences behind them during the October 2003 legislative elections. Their dispute was fanned by the political weight of Buenos Aires province (the most populous in Argentina, with almost 40 percent of the national vote), and continued through the
2005 midterm elections. Without consensus in the PJ for a candidate for senator in the Buenos Aires province, both leaders had their wives run for office:
Hilda González de Duhalde for the PJ and
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...
for the Front for Victory, which contested the election as a different party. Cristina Kirchner won the election.
As in 2003, the elections were defined by Peronist factions; the opposition parties could not put up a united national front. The victory gave Kirchner the confidence to remove Lavagna, Rafael Bielsa, Jose Pampuro, and Alicia Kirchner from his cabinet and replace them with ministers who, though less well-known, had perspectives closer to his own.
Human rights policy
Although the
Dirty War
The Dirty War () is the name used by the military junta or National Reorganization Process, civic-military dictatorship of Argentina () for its period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983. During this campaign, military and secu ...
ended in the eighties, Kirchner considered it an unresolved issue. In his inaugural speech, he supported human rights organizations which sought the incarceration of the military connected with the National Reorganization Process. He also ordered the top military leadership to retire. Kirchner sent a bill to the Congress to annul the
full stop law and the
Law of Due Obedience, which had halted trials of the military for crimes related to the Dirty War. The laws had been repealed in 1998, but that repeal had little legal significance, as only an annulment would reopen the cases. Although this initiative was opposed by Duhalde and Scioli, most legislators considered it a symbolic gesture since the laws' constitutionality would be decided by the Supreme Court. Both laws were annulled by the Congress in August 2003, and many cases were reopened as a result. The Supreme Court declared the laws, and Menem's
presidential pardons, unconstitutional in 2005. Jorge Julio López, witness in a trial of police officer
Miguel Etchecolatz,
disappeared in 2006.
This caused a national scandal, as it was suspected that he was disappeared to intimidate other witnesses in the upcoming trials, and the government was unable to locate him.
Kirchner also changed the
extradition
In an extradition, one Jurisdiction (area), jurisdiction delivers a person Suspect, accused or Conviction, convicted of committing a crime in another jurisdiction, into the custody of the other's law enforcement. It is a cooperative law enforc ...
policy, allowing extradition for people prosecuted abroad and not facing charges in Argentina. He also supported the requests by human rights organizations to turn the former detention centers into memorials for the disappeared. Argentina became a signatory of the UN
Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations to War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in 2003. A creative interpretation of the convention by the courts allowed them to circumvent the statutory limitations to crimes committed decades in the past, and also the ''
ex post facto'' applicability of laws that were not in force at the time of the crimes.
The
Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo
The Mothers of Plaza de Mayo () is an Argentina, Argentine human rights association formed in response to abuses by the National Reorganization Process, the military dictatorship by Jorge Rafael Videla. Initially the association worked to find ...
held their final demonstration in 2006, believing that Kirchner, unlike previous presidents, was not their enemy. They became political allies of Kirchner, who placed them in prominent locations during his speeches, and the group became a powerful NGO. He appointed
Nilda Garré, who had been a political prisoner during the Dirty War, as the country's first woman
Minister of Defense.
Although Kirchner repudiated the military forces who participated in the Dirty War, he overlooked the guerrilla movements of the time. The government ignored the 30th anniversary of the
ERP attack on the tank regiment in
Azul and the 15th anniversary of the
1989 attack on La Tablada barracks. According to Rosendo Fraga, Kirchner downplayed the presence of terrorist organizations during the Dirty War. Guerrillas who committed suicide or who were executed by their own organizations were re-categorized in 2006 as victims of
state terrorism
State terrorism is terrorism conducted by a state against its own citizens or another state's citizens.
It contrasts with '' state-sponsored terrorism'', in which a violent non-state actor conducts an act of terror under sponsorship of a state. ...
, and their survivors were compensated by the state.
However, victims of the guerrillas were not compensated.
Journalist
Ceferino Reato said that the Kirchners sought to replace the
theory of the two demons, which blamed the Dirty War on both the military and the guerrillas, with a "theory of angels and demons", which blamed only the military.
After the presidency
Kirchner did not run for a reelection in the
2007 presidential elections. His wife,
Cristina Fernández de Kirchner
Cristina Elisabet Fernández de Kirchner (; born 19 February 1953), often referred to by her initials CFK, is an Argentine lawyer and former politician who served as the 56th president of Argentina from 2007 to 2015, and later as the 37th Vice ...
, ran instead. Media observers suspected that Kirchner stepped down as president to circumvent the term limit, swapping roles with his wife.
Cristina Kirchner was elected, and Néstor Kirchner became
First Gentleman.
He remained highly influential during his wife's term, supervising the economy and leading the PJ.
Their marriage has been compared with those of
Juan and
Eva Perón and
Bill and
Hillary Clinton
Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, lawyer and diplomat. She was the 67th United States secretary of state in the administration of Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, a U.S. senator represent ...
.
He participated in
Operation Emmanuel in Colombia in December 2007, which sought to release a group of
FARC hostages, including Colombian politician
Íngrid Betancourt. Kirchner returned to Argentina after negotiations failed. The hostages were freed a year later during
Operation Jaque, a covert operation by the Colombian military.
Néstor Kirchner played an active role in the
2008 government conflict with the agricultural sector, when Cristina Kirchner introduced a new sliding-scale taxation system for agricultural exports that raised custom taxes to soybean exports to 44%. At that time, he became president of the
Justicialist Party
The Justicialist Party (, ; abbr. PJ) is a major political party in Argentina, and the largest branch within Peronism. Following the 2023 presidential election, it has been the largest party in the opposition against President Javier Milei.
Fo ...
and publicly supported his wife in the conflict; Kirchner accused the agricultural sector of attempting a ''coup d'état''. He spoke in support of a bill to set the taxes by law at a demonstration at the
Palace of the Argentine National Congress. Many senators who had supported the government rejected the proposal, and the voting was tied 36–36. Vice-president
Julio Cobos, president of the Chamber of Senators, cast the decisive vote in opposition to the measure.
In the
June 2009 legislative elections, Kirchner was defeated by
Francisco de Narváez of the
Union PRO coalition for
National Deputy of
Buenos Aires Province
Buenos Aires, officially the Buenos Aires Province, is the largest and most populous Provinces of Argentina, Argentine province. It takes its name from the city of Buenos Aires, the capital of the country, which used to be part of the province an ...
. The Front for Victory was defeated in the Buenos Aires, Santa Fe and Córdoba, and the Kirchners lost the Congressional majority. Voter disenchantment with the Kirchners was caused by inflation, crime and the previous year's agricultural conflict, which cost them rural support. The Kirchners pushed a media law through during the Congress'
lame-duck session. The Kirchners described it as an
antitrust
Competition law is the field of law that promotes or seeks to maintain market competition by regulating anti-competitive conduct by companies. Competition law is implemented through public and private enforcement. It is also known as antitrust l ...
law to limit media ownership, but critics considered instead that it was used to reduce the
freedom of the press
Freedom of the press or freedom of the media is the fundamental principle that communication and expression through various media, including printed and electronic Media (communication), media, especially publication, published materials, shoul ...
.
Kirchner was nominated by Ecuador for
Secretary General of the
Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), but was rejected by Uruguay when Uruguay and Argentina were involved in a
pulp-mill dispute. The dispute was resolved in 2010; new Uruguayan president
José Mujica supported Kirchner, who was unanimously elected UNASUR's first secretary-general at a
member-state summit
A summit is a point on a surface that is higher in elevation than all points immediately adjacent to it. The topographic terms acme, apex, peak (mountain peak), and zenith are synonymous.
The term (mountain top) is generally used only for ...
in Buenos Aires on 4 May. Kirchner successfully mediated the
2010 Colombia–Venezuela diplomatic crisis.
Style and ideology
Kirchner was often labelled a left-wing and
progressive president,
with the cultural critic Alejandro Kaufman stating that Kirchner was "an Argentine social democrat: a centre-left Peronist", who had been elected on a "moderate-progressive" platform. However, that assessment is relative. Although he was left of previous Argentine presidents from Raúl Alfonsín to Eduardo Duhalde and contemporary Brazilian president
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...
, he was right of other Latin American presidents such as
Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
and
Fidel Castro
Fidel Alejandro Castro Ruz (13 August 1926 – 25 November 2016) was a Cuban politician and revolutionary who was the leader of Cuba from 1959 to 2008, serving as the prime minister of Cuba from 1959 to 1976 and President of Cuba, president ...
. Kirchner's nationalist approach to the
Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute was closer to the right, and he did not consider left-wing policies such as the
socialization
In sociology, socialization (also socialisation – see American and British English spelling differences#-ise, -ize (-isation, -ization), spelling differences) is the process of Internalisation (sociology), internalizing the Norm (social), norm ...
of production or the
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English)
is the process of transforming privately owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization contrasts with p ...
of public services which were privatized during the Menem presidency. He did not attempt to modify
church–state relations or reduce the armed forces. Kirchner's economic views were influenced by his tenure in the government of Santa Cruz: a province rich in oil, gas, fish and tourism, with an economy focused on the
primary sector. Usually avoiding long-term policies, he moved left or right according to circumstances.
A
Peronist
Peronism, also known as justicialism, is an Argentine ideology and movement based on the ideas, doctrine and legacy of Juan Perón (1895–1974). It has been an influential movement in 20th- and 21st-century Argentine politics. Since 1946, Pe ...
, Kirchner handled political power as Peronist leaders have traditionally done. He made frequent use of controversies with other political or social forces and the
polarization of public opinion, which became characteristic of his political style. This strategy was used against the financial sector, the military and police, foreign countries, international bodies, newspapers, and Duhalde himself with varying degrees of success. Kirchner sought to generate an image contrasting with those of former presidents Carlos Menem and Fernando de la Rúa. Menem was seen as frivolous and De la Rúa as doubtful, so Kirchner tried to be seen as serious and determined.
He sought to concentrate political power, and the emergency
superpowers law giving discretionary powers to the president to change the national budget was periodically renewed. The Front for Victory (conceived as a ''
lema'' of the PJ) became a
political alliance of the PJ, pro-Kirchner factions in other parties, and minor left-wing parties. The
progressivist population, lacking leadership since the crisis which discredited the
UCR, also supported the new coalition. Most Peronists simply defected to the new party, and the end of the economic crisis and the discretionary control of state finances allowed Kirchner to discipline his allies and co-opt his rivals. As a consequence, the Congress became compliant and the opposition was unable to present a credible alternative to the government. In addition to concentrating power, Kirchner micromanaged most government tasks or assigned them to trusted aides regardless of cabinet hierarchy. He managed relations with the United States and Brazil, leaving relations with Bolivia and Venezuela in the hands of Minister of Federal Planning Julio de Vido. There were no cabinet meetings during Kirchner's presidency, rare in a national government; this may have been influenced by his governance of Santa Cruz, a sparsely populated province in which the cabinet was of little use and decisions were primarily made by the governor.
Kirchner had a disregard for bilateral relations whenever these interfered with his domestic policies.
[ As such he cut down gas export to Chile in 2004 despite Chilean protests, clashed with Uruguay over the environmental impact of a planned pulp mill and had trade disputes with Brazil.][ During his tenure Kirchner left in the lurch numerous World leaders,] including President of Vietnam Trần Đức Lương.
Kirchner was a staunch opponent of capital punishment and manifested his posture in the aftermath of the execution of Saddam Hussein, when, while acknowledging the crimes committed by Hussein, he called for the abolishment of capital punishment, condemning the execution.
Allegations of embezzlement
The Skanska case occurred during Kirchner's presidency, during which several members of de Vido's ministry were accused of bribery in requests for tender for pipeline construction, based on a tape recording of Skanska employees discussing the bribes. The case was closed in 2011, when it was ruled that the tape was not acceptable evidence and there was no overpricing. It was reopened in 2016 (with Cristina Fernández de Kirchner no longer president), and the tape was accepted as evidence. The Kirchners' net worth, as reported to the AFIP revenue service, increased by 4,500 percent between 1995 and 2010. A substantial increase occurred in 2008, from 26.5 million to 63.5 million Argentine pesos, due to the sale of long-owned land, hotel rentals, and time deposit
A time deposit or term deposit (also known as a certificate of deposit in the United States, and as a guaranteed investment certificate in Canada) is a deposit in a financial institution with a specific maturity date or a period to maturity, c ...
s in Argentine pesos and U.S. dollars. They founded a business-consulting company, El Chapel and established the Hotesur SA and Los Sauces firms to manage their luxury hotels in El Calafate. The Kirchners expanded Comasa, a firm of which they had a 90-percent ownership. Their salaries as politicians were 3.62 percent of their total earnings. Kirchner was tried for unjust enrichment
Restitution and unjust enrichment is the field of law relating to gains-based recovery. In contrast with damages (the law of compensation), restitution is a claim or remedy requiring a defendant to give up benefits wrongfully obtained. Liability ...
in 2004, with the case focusing on the increase in his wealth from 1995 to 2003. The case was first heard by judge Juan José Galeano and moved to judge Julián Ercolini, who acquitted him in 2005. A new case involving both Kirchners was heard by judge Norberto Oyarbide, who acquitted them in 2010. The TV program '' Periodismo para todos'' aired an investigation in 2013, detailing a case of embezzlement
Embezzlement (from Anglo-Norman, from Old French ''besillier'' ("to torment, etc."), of unknown origin) is a type of financial crime, usually involving theft of money from a business or employer. It often involves a trusted individual taking ...
and an associated money trail involving the Kirchners and businessman Lázaro Báez. Báez received 95 percent of the requests for tender in Santa Cruz province since 2003, more than four billion pesos, and the scandal was known as the Route of the K-Money (). In the 2014 Hotesur scandal, a company owned by Báez rented more than 1,100 rooms per month at Kirchner family hotels even when they were unoccupied. A money-laundering scheme was suspected, funnelling public-works money to the Kirchner family.
In April 2016, Kirchner's secretary and confidant Daniel Muñoz (who died early that year) was identified in the Panama Papers
The Panama Papers () are 11.5 million leaked documents (or 2.6 terabytes of data) published beginning April 3, 2016. The papers detail financial and attorney–client information for more than 214,488 offshore entities. These document ...
as owner of real-estate investment firm Gold Black Limited. Company director Sergio Todisco was investigated by prosecutors who suspected that the company was used for money laundering
Money laundering is the process of illegally concealing the origin of money obtained from illicit activities (often known as dirty money) such as drug trafficking, sex work, terrorism, corruption, and embezzlement, and converting the funds i ...
. At the end of the year, judge Julián Ercolini indicted Cristina Fernández de Kirchner and several members of their cabinet, charging them with a criminal conspiracy that would have started when Néstor Kirchner first became president.
Death
Kirchner died on 27 October 2010, at the age of 60. The day was a national holiday for the INDEC
The National Institute of Statistics and Censuses (, mostly known for its acronym INDEC) is an Argentine decentralized public body that operates within the Ministry of Economy, which leads all official statistical activities carried out in the co ...
to run a national census, so he was at home in El Calafate. Kirchner was rushed to a local hospital and was pronounced dead at 9:15 a.m. from cardiac arrest. He had undergone two medical procedures that year: surgery on his right carotid artery in February and an angioplasty
Angioplasty, also known as balloon angioplasty and percutaneous transluminal angioplasty, is a minimally invasive procedure, minimally invasive endovascular surgery, endovascular Medical procedure, procedure used to widen narrowed or obstructe ...
in September. His death was a surprise for the Argentine population, to whom he had always represented his heart problems as not very serious.
His body was flown to the Casa Rosada for a state funeral, and three national days of mourning were declared. Kirchner's funeral was attended by thousands, despite heavy rain. According to media reports, 1,000 people per hour entered the Casa Rosada in groups of 100 to 150. Cristina Kirchner, dressed in mourning, stood next to the coffin. People brought candles, flags and flowers, some of which Cristina accepted personally.
Kirchner's death evoked international reactions moments after it was announced, with Brazil and Venezuela also declaring three national days of mourning. Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos
Juan Manuel Santos Calderón (; born 10 August 1951) is a Colombian politician who was the President of Colombia from 2010 to 2018. He was the sole recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize.
An economist by training and a journalist by trade, S ...
and the Organization of American States
The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas.
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...
declared a moment of silence, and U.S. president Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...
sent condolences. Attendees at Kirchner's funeral included Venezuela's Hugo Chávez
Hugo Rafael Chávez Frías (; ; 28 July 1954 – 5 March 2013) was a Venezuelan politician, Bolivarian Revolution, revolutionary, and Officer (armed forces), military officer who served as the 52nd president of Venezuela from 1999 until De ...
and Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (; born Luiz Inácio da Silva; 27 October 1945), known Mononym, mononymously as Lula, is a Brazilian politician, trade unionist and former metalworker who has served as the 39th president of Brazil since 2023. A mem ...
.
Legacy
Although Kirchner was known to have health problems, his death was unexpected, and had a great impact on the politics of Argentina. Kirchner died at an early age, while still being a highly influential figure in politics, despite not being president at the time. Presidents Manuel Quintana, Roque Sáenz Peña and Roberto María Ortiz died in office, but none of them had a political clout comparable to that of Kirchner. President Juan Perón
Juan Domingo Perón (, , ; 8 October 1895 – 1 July 1974) was an Argentine military officer and Statesman (politician), statesman who served as the History of Argentina (1946-1955), 29th president of Argentina from 1946 to Revolución Libertad ...
had a similar power and died in office, but his death was not unexpected, as he had already reached the life expectancy
Human life expectancy is a statistical measure of the estimate of the average remaining years of life at a given age. The most commonly used measure is ''life expectancy at birth'' (LEB, or in demographic notation ''e''0, where '' ...
of the time. Other figures of the history of Argentina who achieved great political clout, such as José de San Martín
José Francisco de San Martín y Matorras (; 25 February 177817 August 1850), nicknamed "the Liberator of Argentina, Chile and Peru", was an Argentine general and the primary leader of the southern and central parts of South America's succe ...
, Juan Manuel de Rosas
Juan Manuel José Domingo Ortiz de Rozas y López de Osornio (30 March 1793 – 14 March 1877), nicknamed "Restorer of the Laws", was an Argentine politician and army officer who ruled Buenos Aires Province and briefly the Argentine Confedera ...
, Julio Argentino Roca, Carlos Pellegrini and Hipólito Yrigoyen, all died when they were already retired from politics, or even abroad.
Initially, the death of Kirchner caused a power vacuum, as Cristina Fernández de Kirchner had ruled so far as a figurehead
In politics, a figurehead is a practice of who ''de jure'' (in name or by law) appears to hold an important and often supremely powerful title or office, yet '' de facto'' (in reality) exercises little to no actual power. This usually means that ...
, while Néstor Kirchner still managed the government. She changed the style of the government making it more authoritarian, and more critical of the United States. She broke with allies of her husband, such as the union leader Hugo Moyano, and increased the political clout of the youth wing La Cámpora instead. She also relied on her public image more than her husband had. The popularity of the Kirchners had been in a decline at the time of Néstor's death, but after being widowed, Fernández de Kirchner's popularity increased greatly. As a result, she won the reelection in the 2011 general elections by a landslide.
The '' Relato K'' built a cult of personality
A cult of personality, or a cult of the leader,Cas Mudde, Mudde, Cas and Kaltwasser, Cristóbal Rovira (2017) ''Populism: A Very Short Introduction''. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 63. is the result of an effort which is made to create ...
around the figure of Kirchner. While in office, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner avoided referring to him by name, and talked instead about "He" or "Him", with emphasis on the pronoun and with a universally capitalized form. As in the English language, in the Spanish language this figure of speech is usually reserved
Reserved is a Polish apparel retailer headquartered in Gdańsk, Poland. It was founded in 1999 and remains the flagship brand of the LPP (company), LPP group, which has more than 2,200 retail stores located in over 38 countries and also owns su ...
to make reference to God. Kirchner was also compared with San Martín, in an attempt to raise him to a similar status as a national hero. This comparison was included, for instance, in an official video by the ministry of social welfare. A month after his death many districts renamed streets, schools, neighbourhoods, institutions and other places after "Néstor Kirchner". Some noteworthy examples are the Néstor Kirchner Cultural Centre (formerly "Bicentennial Cultural Centre") and the second leg of the 2010–11 Argentine Primera División season. The change proved controversial in some cities, such as Caleta Olivia, where the renamed street was formerly named after the Falklands War
The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...
veterans. A bill to rename a street after Kirchner was rejected in Apóstoles, Misiones. No renaming bill was even considered in Buenos Aires, as a previous law only allowed streets to be named after people who had died at least a decade before. The presidency of Mauricio Macri
Mauricio Macri (; born 8 February 1959) is an Argentine businessman and politician who served as President of Argentina from 2015 to 2019. He has been the leader of the Republican Proposal (PRO) party since its founding in 2005. He previously ...
proposed a bill in 2016 to forbid any public places or institutions from being named after people unless they had died at least two decades before; if approved, all the state properties named after Kirchner would have to be renamed.
Honours and awards
Foreign honours
Honorary degrees
*: Fudan University
Fudan University (FDU) is a public university, national public university in Yangpu, Shanghai, Yangpu, Shanghai, China. It is affiliated with the Ministry of Education (China), Ministry of Education and is co-funded with the Shanghai Municipal ...
, 17 June 2004
*: National University of Entre Ríos, 16 December 2010 (posthumously)
*: National University of Lanús, 20 December 2010 (posthumously)
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
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External links
Néstor Kirchner
at the Encyclopædia Britannica
The is a general knowledge, general-knowledge English-language encyclopaedia. It has been published by Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. since 1768, although the company has changed ownership seven times. The 2010 version of the 15th edition, ...
Néstor Kirchner
at the '' Casa Rosada'' website
Biography by CIDOB
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