Word: ndez
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Cristina Fernàndez de Kirchner has the qualifications for the job. She is Argentina's glamorous and vivacious First Lady and is all but certain to be its next President. Feel free to make the inevitable comparison to the country's 20th century heroine, because Fernàndez, 54, enjoys being called the "new Evita." She certainly shares some of Eva Perón's passion and combativeness. But in truth, she more resembles a contemporary headliner: Hillary Clinton. Fernàndez, too, married her law-school sweetheart and helped him become the Governor of a small southern province...
What makes Fernàndez a potential intermediary between the U.S. and Latin America's neolefties is that she's fluent in both political tongues. She came on the scene in the 1980s, when democracy returned in the wake of Argentina's bloody, far-right military junta, and her speeches are peppered with terms dear to Chàvez & Co., like "social justice" and "popular sovereignty." But she also uses expressions from Washington's vocabulary, like "fiscal responsibility" and "capitalistic rationality." And unlike Latin American leaders who accuse the U.S. of evil imperialist designs, she welcomes Washington's leadership...
That description could also fit Fernàndez and her husband Néstor Kirchner. Both cut their political teeth not amid the upper crust of Buenos Aires but in his home province of Santa Cruz, in the country's Patagonian south. When they moved to the capital, she was already a seasoned politician, known for anticorruption and human-rights crusades. Although she had greater name recognition with voters, the couple decided that Kirchner would run for President in 2003 because his greater familiarity with economic policy made him better suited to a country on the verge of bankruptcy. Smart call...
Argentines had long speculated that Kirchner, 57, might not seek re-election and would let his wife run instead. Fernàndez says it was part of an effort "to set an example" of relinquishing power in a country that has seen too many leaders overstay their welcome at the presidential palace, the Casa Rosada (Pink House). Their critics see another motive. They believe husband and wife will rotate the presidency, thereby getting around the constitutional ban on holding more than two consecutive terms. By this logic, Kirchner will run again in 2011, then Fernàndez...
Jorge I. DomÃnguez, the Antonio Madero professor of Latin American politics and economics, and vice provost for international affairs, called Fernández a “bridge-builder†after his speech...