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Argentina: thousands gather to hear president Cristina Fernández's parting shots Argentina: thousands gather to hear Cristina Fernández's parting shots
(about 9 hours later)
Tens of thousands of supporters jammed Argentina’s most famous square on Wednesday night to say goodbye to president Cristina Fernández, who lauded her government’s achievements while criticising the incoming administration in the same withering tones she aimed at opponents throughout her eight years in office. With a massive turnout of teary-eyed crowds who filled the wide Plaza de Mayo square and overflowed down its adjoining avenues, Argentina bid farewell on Wednesday evening to its outgoing president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, perhaps the country’s best-loved leader since the return of democracy 32 years ago.
As blue and white Argentinian flags waved and people cheered on a balmy night, Fernández gave a speech that was both a recap of her years in power and a clear sign she does not plan to make things easy for president-elect Mauricio Macri, who will be inaugurated on Thursday. But as she prepared to complete a tetchy handover on Thursday to the former Buenos Aires mayor, Mauricio Macri, supporters were already calling for her to come back and preparing for the political battles to follow succession.
“We believe in what we have achieved so we need to have a positive attitude to ensure that these things will not be destroyed,” Fernandez told a sea of supporters in front of the presidential palace. “We will return, we will return,” chanted the tightly-packed wall of supporters outside the Casa Rosada presidential palace. Many of them carried placards reading “Cristina 2019”, expressing the hope that Fernández might compete for a third term.
Fernández addressed the crowd on Plaza de Mayo in downtown Buenos Aires amid widespread criticism for her decision not to attend Macri’s inauguration. It will be the first time since the 1983 end of Argentina’s military dictatorship that a president has not attended the inauguration of an elected successor. Having already served twice, the leftwing leader was constitutionally barred from running in this year’s contest, which was won by Macri of the centre-right Cambiemos alliance.
The two spent much of the last 10 days bickering over where the presidential baton and sash would be handed over. Macri wanted to receive them at the Casa Rosada presidential offices from Fernández, while she insisted the handover happen in Congress. Many Argentinians viewed the argument as a national embarrassment. The pro-business politician is expected to steer Argentina away from the populist economics of Fernández and the alliances she wove with countries such as Russia, Cuba, Iran and Venezuela. He has said he will seek to restore former close ties with the US and Europe.
Without mentioning him by name, Fernández framed the tiff as Macri’s fault. She also criticised a federal court ruling on Wednesday in a case brought by Macri that determined her presidency ended at midnight, saying it would leave Argentina without a president until Macri’s swearing-in at midday on Thursday. Related: 'I'm hoping for better things to come': readers' views on Argentina's future
“I can’t talk much because after midnight I’ll turn into a pumpkin,” she joked. Behind the thick walls of the Casa Rosada, the massive “Pink House” facing the historic square from which she ruled Argentina for the last eight years, Fernández’s last act as president was to unveil a bust of her late husband, Néstor Kirchner, who preceded her in office in 2003 and stepped aside to let her become president in 2007 before dying of heart failure three years later.
Related: Literal passing of Argentina presidential baton causes threats against silversmith The Kirchners formed an unbeatable presidential tandem for 12 years, dividing Argentina between passionate supporters and ardent opponents of their “national and popular” brand of government. Fernández’s sendoff was typically passionate.
Fernández talked about “an agenda from the outside being imposed on the region”, apparently referring to the US and others she sees as enemies of Argentina. During her two terms in power, Fernández frequently accused other countries of meddling in this South American nation’s affairs, though rarely provided details. “I think she’s exceptional, a brilliant woman,” said schoolteacher Alicia Testai, who joined the throng on the Avenida de Mayo.
For 12 years, Fernández, and before her, late husband and predecessor, Néstor Kirchner, dominated the political landscape. The couple rewrote the country’s social contract, spending heavily on social programs for the poor while passing liberalising laws, such as legalising gay marriage in 2010. With her marched Lea Braslavsky, an engineer who worked with the World Bank in Washington DC for 30 years but returned to Argentina after the Kirchners came to power. “It was a dream what was happening, how the country was able to stand on its feet again, the distribution of wealth, the empowerment of the people,” Braslavsky said.
They also aligned Argentina with socialist leaders such as the late Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Bolivian president Evo Morales, who attended Fernández’s farewell speech. A loud roar arose from the giant crowd as Fernández emerged from the Casa Rosada to speak from a stage erected in front of the square. “I can’t talk long because I turn into a pumpkin at midnight,” Fernández joked.
“She made me proud to be Argentine for the first time in my life,” said onlooker Pablo Vega. “She defended the interests of the country more than anybody.” The president was referring to a last-minute judicial injunction obtained by Macri that ruled her term over at midnight, instead of at noon on the day of the handover, as had traditionally been the case.
Martin Sosa, an 18-year-old student, said he feared Macri would return Argentina to the neoliberal 1990s. “I am grateful to this government because it gave us back our dignity by helping the poor. It gave us work, opened factories, improved access to public education and healthcare,” he said. “I am worried Macri will undo all this. He represents wealthy people.” The court order was the climax of a tense buildup to Thursday’s inauguration, which has at times resembled a soap opera more than an orderly democratic transition. During the unseemly feud, Fernández claimed she felt verbally abused as a woman in a heated phone argument with Macri over the inauguration arrangements.
Macri, who ran on free-market ideas, beat Fernández’s chosen successor by three percentage points in a runoff election in November. The close result underscored the deep polarisation in Argentina, and Fernández has made clear she will continue to be heard, albeit from the sidelines. Macri had wanted Fernández to present him the traditional silver-capped presidential baton at the Casa Rosada, as was the custom up until the 2003. Fernández refused, insisting she would only hand over the ceremonial staff during his inauguration at the Congress building, as has been the custom for the last three presidential handovers.
Fernández – who was barred by the constitution from seeking a third consecutive term – leaves office with approval ratings about 40%, and some have speculated the 62-year-old might try to run again in 2019. Had Macri accepted the outgoing president’s proposal, he would have been deprived of what he hopes will be a triumphant ride in an open convertible down the 10 blocks from Congress after his inauguration to receive the baton in the Casa Rosada.
However, just as many Argentinians love her, many also loathe her, and the fight over the presidential transition brought out the frustration of detractors. Macri may also have been fearful that the Fernánadez would have received louder cheers in Congress because her FPV party has more legislators.
By Wednesday afternoon, her decision not to attend the inauguration had spawned a trending Twitter hashtag: #CFKVerguenzaMundial, or Fernández’s world shame. Negotiations over the transition ceremony finally collapsed after an angry Fernández fired off a cascade of tweets accusing Macri of screaming at her during a phone argument they had about the arrangements.
Fernandez’s party, the Front for Victory, still holds the most seats in the legislature and could make it hard for Macri to implement wholesale change. “I must confess I was surprised by the president-elect’s exalted verbiage, a euphemism for screams,” Fernández tweeted. “To the point that at one moment I had to remind him that, beyond our posts in office, he was a man and I a woman, and that it was out of place from him to treat me like that.”
Macri will also struggle to reel in unsustainable state spending without sparking street protest. However, some change is inevitable, according to private economists. Foreign reserves in Argentina are running precariously low, capital controls have stunted investment and inflation is about 25%. The phonecall, which Macri has not commented on, proved the last straw for the already brittle relationship between the two. “I thought, that’s as far as my love goes,” Fernández tweeted.
Fernández was finally prevented from having the final say in the handover process when the court ended her term 12 hours ahead of time, with the unusual gap being filled by Federico Pinedo, the acting president of the Senate from Macri’s Cambiemos alliance, who will now hand the baton to his party boss at the Casa Rosada as Macri wished.
The squabbling between the two even descended to who gets to keep the Casa Rosada’s official Twitter account. The account was changed on Wednesday to “Casa Rosada 2003-2015, a Twitter tribute to presidents Néstor Kirchner and Cristina Kirchner” in an attempt by Fernández to prevent it from being turned over to Macri’s administration.
No fue magia... fue mágico. pic.twitter.com/xKYKpIo0Fh
Press reports in Argentina, however, indicated that Twitter could turn over the account to the new government instead.
Once all-powerful, with approval ratings that peaked over 70% at times, it is unlikely that Fernández will fade quietly from public view. The massive farewell salute from her followers, unlike any known for an outgoing president in Argentina before, suggests she may not have to.
“History isn’t written with a ruler, a carpenter’s square or with a compass, it is not a straight line, it is an undulating line that sometimes seems to move backwards,” Fernández said with reference to Macri’s victory, which is seen by her and her supporters as a threat to the social programmes and progressive policies of her administration.
Braslavsky, standing in the Plaza de Mayo to bid her cherished leader farewell, has no fear Fernández will be gone too long. “Look at all the people here today, that’s how we know she will be back four years from now,” she said smiling.