Condemns Cristina Kirchner

Argentina has entered an unprecedented stage in its recent history.

The Argentine federal court sentenced Vice President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner to six years in prison on Tuesday for corruption and permanently disqualified her from holding public office.

The judges have proven the existence of "an extraordinary fraudulent maneuver that harmed the pecuniary interests of the national public administration" and that consisted of the allocation of public works contracts in exchange for bribes.

According to the Prosecutor's Office, the total defrauded from the state coffers amounted to 1,000 million dollars (953 million euros) during Kirchner's two terms as president, between 2007 and 2015. The sentence considers Fernández de Kirchner guilty of defrauding the State, but acquits her of the crime of illicit association:

It is the first time that an acting member of the highest level of the Executive has been sentenced.

The ruling was enthusiastically received by the opposition to the ruling Peronism, which, upholding the fight against corruption, came out in a storm against the two-time president.

For the Government, however, "an innocent person" has been sentenced in a "sham trial", as the president, Alberto Fernández, said.

Kirchner, whose current rating protects her from jail, spoke of a "judicial mafia" and a "firing squad."

“an innocent person” has been sentenced in a “sham trial”, as the president, Alberto Fernández, said.

Kirchner, whose current rating protects her from jail, spoke of a "judicial mafia" and a "firing squad."

“an innocent person” has been sentenced in a “sham trial”, as the president, Alberto Fernández, said.

Kirchner, whose current rating protects her from jail, spoke of a "judicial mafia" and a "firing squad."

Between these two extremes, there is a society that observes in astonishment the frontal clash between the executive and judicial powers.

The sentence against Fernández de Kirchner, the result of a three-year investigation and which can be appealed, has exposed the alarming deterioration of the institutions of Argentine democracy, which next year will be 40 years old.

Forms have been lost and both sides consider themselves irreconcilable enemies, when their function should be to seek common spaces to get out of the serious economic crisis that is hitting Argentina.

After learning of her sentence, the vice president anticipated on Tuesday that she will not be a candidate for any office in the October 2023 elections. It was her response to what she considered an attempt at judicial proscription.

But before she criticized a fact that, if verified, tarnishes the process against her.

A series of chat rooms obtained through illegal espionage revealed the private conversations of judges, opposition politicians and media entrepreneurs about the best strategy to hide from the press a paid trip to a billionaire's estate in Patagonia.

The group includes the magistrate who initiated the investigation against Kirchner, as well as a security minister from the City of Buenos Aires.

The exchange gave the vice president gunpowder to question the honor of the judges who had just sentenced her.

Given the importance of the ruling against Kirchner, less than a year before the presidential elections, there can be no loopholes or doubts about his solvency.

The judiciary must be independent, as in any democracy, but also transparent and free from scandals that question its decisions.

If there are suspicions, they must be investigated without delay and to the end;

that is the best way to neutralize criticism.

And the executive power, meanwhile, must refrain from charging its political artillery against the decisions of the judges, a fundamental link of the rule of law.

If the vice president, who is a privileged part of the State and enjoys jurisdiction, considers that it is an unfair sentence, she has every right to fight to defend her innocence,

but the best place to do this is in court and through the appeal channels.

Fanning the bonfire in an already extremely tense society only serves to deepen the discredit of some basic institutions for the democratic game.