Four left-wing or center-left Latin American heads of state on Wednesday August 24 expressed their support for Argentinian Vice-President Cristina Kirchner, victim according to them of
“judicial persecution”
, in a corruption trial where 12 years in prison were brought against her.
The presidents of Argentina Alberto Fernandez, of Mexico Andrés Manuel López Obrador, of Bolivia Luis Arce and of Colombia Gustavo Petro have in a joint statement said their
"absolute rejection of the unjustifiable judicial persecution suffered by Vice President Cristina Kirchner"
.
This persecution, they continue, is intended to
“remove her from public, political and electoral life, to bury the values and ideals she represents, with the ultimate objective of imposing a neoliberal model”
.
The young left-wing president of Chile, Gabriel Boric, is not among the co-authors of this text of support, communicated Wednesday by the Argentine presidency.
Read alsoArgentina: 12 years in prison and ineligibility required against Vice-President Kirchner for corruption
Peronist Cristina Kirchner, a key figure on the Argentinian left, president of the country from 2007 to 2015, vice-president and president of the Senate since 2019, remains popular and eminently influential in the political life of the country.
Twelve years in prison and ineligibility for life were required Monday against her, in a trial for fraud and corruption, relating to the awarding of public contracts in her stronghold of Santa Cruz (south), under her presidencies.
A verdict will not be known until the end of 2022, and Cristina Kirchner, who enjoys parliamentary immunity, may not go to prison even if convicted, or even stand for re-election in late 2023.
Tuesday in a very offensive and political speech, she once again denied any embezzlement, denounced through this trial targeting her the
“Peronism trial”
by a justice according to her instrumentalized by the right-wing opposition.
President Fernandez and the Minister of Justice Martin Soria have themselves strongly disavowed the process, the Head of State
"condemning"
a
"legal and media persecution"
, and his minister considering that
"the lack of impartiality of the court and
(of) the
prosecutors was exposed”
.