Cristina Kirchner and the Politics of Buenos Aires

By: Sophia Berhie

October 3, 2012

About three months ago, I began my semester abroad in Buenos Aires. Upon arrival, I traded my cotton dresses and silk blouses for leather boots and cozy, wool sweaters. More difficultly, I exchanged my native English for the Argentinean castellano—a form of Spanish, which mixes aspects of the Italian accent with a copious amount of “ch” sounds.

As I settled into my new home, I learned to be an aggressive pedestrian, to cautiously avoid the ubiquitous dog poop piled up on every street block, and take daily tea breaks called meriendas. Immersing myself was at times difficult, especially when it came to the complicated and strike-prone public transportation system. However, every experience further nuanced my understanding of the Argentine people.

Though I did know not it before I arrived, Buenos Aires is a highly politicized society. It is a city of contradictions. Its architecture is sometimes European, other times modern, in many places crumbling, and everywhere covered with graffiti. Though its people appear homogeneous, the Porteños, or the people of Buenos Aires, are an amalgamation of Spanish descendants, immigrants from Italy, Germany, and China, and a small percentage of indigenous peoples. Further, every porteño has an opinion on their president, their economy, and the war lost to Great Britain over the Malvinas (also known as the Falkland Islands).

Last week, President Christina Fernandez de Kirchner, who is notably unpopular amongst Porteños, made a trip to my home, Georgetown, as I remained behind in hers. President Kirchner skirted around many of the questions and enraged many Porteños when she claimed to speak regularly with the press, though not through consistent press conferences.

President Kirchner’s record is increasingly unpopular. She recently nationalized YPF, one of the largest oil companies in Argentina and has made it illegal to buy US dollars above the official rate of 4.7 pesos/1 USD. (Many people illegally buy and sell dollars on the black market for between 6-6.2 pesos/1 USD.) Further she infamously manipulated official reports of the national inflation rate and is currently working to change the Constitution so that she may run for office for a third term.

On the other hand, President Kirchner has made significant efforts to instill laws that remember the tens of thousands of Argentines killed and “disappeared” during the military dictatorship, which ended in the 1983—an initiative that garners a large amount of public support for the president.

In spite of her current unpopularity within Buenos Aires, President Kirchner won a landslide victory in her 2011 reelection campaign. Her popularity outside of the city and province of Buenos Aires is an important reason. Another is the absence of a strong opposition. President Kirchner’s main political opponent is the neoliberal leaning Mauricio Macri, the chief of government of the City of Buenos Aires. Despite Macri’s high approval rating with Porteños, he is widely unknown outside of the province of Buenos Aires. Although Porteños do not love Cristina, many Argentines outside the city still do.

Although I am missing my first, on-site voting experience in the 2012 presidential election, I have a front row seat to the Argentine political discourse. In the past few months, I have encountered the polemic and extremely polarized debate over Argentina’s political history and present state. It’s seen in the graffiti splattered throughout the city. It’s heard through the clanking of pots and pans on the Buenos Aires streets during the impromptu but regular protests every time President Kirchner makes a speech on television. Moreover, it’s embedded in the minds and attitudes of every porteño. My semester in Argentina is giving me the opportunity to observe and live within the political dialogue that manifests itself throughout the city of Buenos Aires.

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