Néstor Kirchner

Néstor Carlos Kirchner [ nɛstɔr karlɔs kirʃnɛr ] ( born February 25, 1950 in Río Gallegos, Santa Cruz province, † October 27, 2010 in El Calafate, Santa Cruz Province ) was an Argentine politician. From 25 May 2003 to 10 December 2007, he was President of Argentina and from 4 May 2010 to his death in the first Secretary General of the Union of South American Nations.

• 2.1 Mayor and Governor
• 2.2 Presidency 2003-2007

Life

Early years

Kirchner grew up in Río Gallegos. His mother was a Chilean Croatian origin. His father's ancestors came from German-speaking Switzerland. From 1969 to 1976 he studied law at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata. After his graduation, he worked in his hometown of Rio Gallegos as a lawyer and debt collector in the service of the moneylender FINSUD. In that capacity, he more than twenty properties were overwritten.

Health problems and death

During the year 2010, the health problems Kirchner accumulated. In February, he underwent surgery after a stroke in the carotid artery, it was followed by an angioplasty in September. Despite advice against his doctors, he devoted himself intensively politics.

On 27 October 2010 Kirchner died of a heart attack. He died in a hospital in the town of El Calafate.

Personal

Kirchner was married since December 2007, incumbent President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, he with whom he had met at the university and the two children Máximo and Florencia.

Political career

Kichner in his youth was initially not interested in politics. However, during his studies, he became a member of the group linksperonistischen FURN ( Federación Universitaria de la Revolución Nacional) and later had contacts with members of radical Peronist movements such as the Juventud Peronista. He never belonged to the urban guerilla Montoneros, which was closely connected with this organization, but by his own admission. After his return to Río Gallegos in 1976 he was imprisoned twice.

Néstor Kirchner founded in 1996 Corriente Peron Ista, a "progressive " direction within the Peronist party, which is in the tradition of Juan Domingo Perón. As a political model he called among other things, Felipe González and Bill Clinton.

Mayor and Governor

Kirchner was from 1987 to 1991 mayor of his hometown of Rio Gallegos in southern Patagonia. On December 10, 1991, he was elected Governor of the Province of Santa Cruz and 1995 and re-elected in 1999. When he took office in 1991, the Province of Santa Cruz debt of around 1.2 billion U.S. dollars had. 2001, the province was virtually debt free, which can be attributed to Kirchner attracting foreign investors in the mining industry and the tourism industry.

In the presidential elections on 27 April 2003 in which a total of 18 candidates competed, Kirchner received in the first round 22 % of the votes and was thus also behind the Peronist former President Carlos Menem, who came to around 24%. However, to the necessary se runoff occurred not because Menem withdrew his candidacy. Kirchner laid on 25 May 2003 before Congress the oath of office as Argentine president from.

Presidency 2003-2007

During his tenure, the ailing Argentine economy, the merit stabilized to the economic growth of this period, however, due mainly to his Economy Minister Roberto Lavagna. His wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner was on 28 October 2007, the first elected female president of the country, she joined the Office on 10 December 2007 as a direct successor of her husband.

Controversies

Although the popularity ratings of Néstor Kirchner in polls in the early days were particularly unusually high, there was from 2006 increasingly critical of his administration.

Although Kirchner always began for human rights even before he took power in 2003, critics accused him of having used this theme only for demagogic purposes. His undemocratic behavior was often accused. Thus exceeded the number of presidential decrees in his tenure that the laws sanctioned by Congress, which was considered by many to bypass the legislature. Some journalists' associations also saw in many of his measures ( prohibition program, layoffs of journalists targeted procurement of state advertising), an authoritarian restriction of press freedom.

Kirchner's government was not free of scandals. So they refused to bring assets the province of Santa Cruz of foreign bank accounts back into the country. Were also allocated Kirchner: the possible involvement of his government in drug trafficking scandal of the airline Southern Winds, the veritable " purchase " of the opposition MP Borocoto, removing all members of the Argentine upper Court, which were replaced by kind-hearted judge, maintenance and financial support of " piqueteros oficialistas " ( piqueteros ) as a party shock troops and intimidation tool. There was also the allegation ( put forward by members of the INDEC itself), to have been mistaken about the statistics office INDEC from the beginning of 2007, the public became aware of manipulated inflation data.