“Under the corrupt populist government of President Cristina Fernandez
Argentina is back on the road to ruin” is the kick off for an extremely
critical report to be discussed by the US Congress and which was drafted
by Douglas Farah, senior research fellow at the International
Assessment and Strategy Centre under the heading of “Back to the
future”.
The 64 pages Farah report dates from last February and enumerates
some of the most controversial issues of Cristina Fernandez
administration: relations with the Teheran regime; change of position
regarding the AMIA attack despite the findings from Prosecutor Alberto
Nisman which are reproduced in the report; expansion of organized crime,
particularly referred to drugs traffic; the shady relations with
business people friends of the Kirchner family and power or crony
capitalism with special reference to the energy sector, plus attacks on
freedom of expression and freedom of the press such as stigmatizing the
media and journalists, the use of official publicity and intervening in
the newsprint market.
According to the Farah report Cristina Fernandez domestically faces a
raft of crises. Inflation has ballooned to an estimated annualized 28%,
the highest in Latinamerica. Unemployment is climbing, the flight of
capital is accelerating, official corruption is very much extended, the
dollar clamp has eroded business opportunities and dozens of
international corporations have been forced to abandon Argentina.
The report however is previous to the advance of the Argentine
Executive on the Justice branch and system, and the latest major
corruption case which has a businessman close to the family and alleged
‘front man’ for former president Nestor Kirchner, exposed as probably
the main public works contractor in Patagonia (with a monopoly of
different companies) and involved in money laundering to Belize,
Caribbean, Panama and Switzerland.
“The government of Cristina Fernandez is facing multiple political
and economic crises and has further strengthened her alliances with the
US and the region’s democracy major antagonists: Venezuela and Iran”.
Likewise the report states that the growing authoritarianism of
Cristina Fernandez and her growing disdain for the rule of law both
nationally and internationally puts Argentina on the path to
international default and isolation from its most democratic traditional
partners, including the US, Brazil, Chile and Colombia.
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