For the first time in Argentina's history, a sitting vice-president has been convicted. On Tuesday, December 6, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner (hereinafter "the delinquent") was sentenced to six years in prison and disqualified for life from holding public office in the case known as Vialidad. The sentence, six years less than that requested by the prosecutor, hasn’t been finalized, so she can still appeal. Justice can be slow, which is why some are saying this has just begun and may last for years.
Of course, I don’t need prosecutor Luciani to remind me of the fact that the delinquent stole a billion dollars (or more). Luciani asked for 12 years in prison and life disqualification for defrauding the State and for leading an illicit association. However, what surely hurts the delinquent the most is the fact that she must also return 84 billion pesos (about 480 million dollars) stolen from all Argentines.
The machinery of Kirchner's theft through public works has already been explained and proven ad nauseam. It is also not that complex to understand and even the delinquent and her family did not go to great lengths to hide it. They felt that their impunity would last forever. However, it is worth describing their scheme in a few words: the Kirchner family turned a bank employee, Lázaro Báez, into a businessman. They hired him to do a large amount of public projects, which he overcharged for, and many of the projects were not finished. The surplus money was returned to the Kirchner family through hotel rentals and mysterious purchases of their properties, all, of course, with the help of some officials. It was really quite crude, to the point that Néstor and Cristina Kirchner's Secretary of Public Works, José López, appeared one morning in a convent with bags containing $9 million and a gun. You know, things you see on a daily basis. And what about the late Daniel Muñoz, secretary to the late Néstor Kirchner (delinquent president from 2003 to 2007 and husband of the delinquent), who mysteriously was able to buy $70 million worth of properties in the United States and planned to acquire as much as $500 million worth of properties in Turks and Caicos? Well, the whole environment of Kirchnerism has always been that modest: planes, yachts, high-end cars, helicopters, luxury properties, entire companies, etc., in the hands of a "gardener,” a "chauffeur,” a "secretary" and countless officials; on the condition that they were to be loyal to the criminals, of course.
I thank prosecutor Luciani for his time, his explanation and his courage, but I believe that judges should also start to take the offender's words as a confession. Of course, it is not a confession like the ones you are used to hearing; you have to know how to read between the lines, but above all you have to put up with screaming, threats, ironic laughter, crying, ironic laughter and screaming again, and so on. Well, you know, just like any serious person who has all his psychic abilities in order.
However, the delinquent took it upon herself to spew her usual hatred against critical journalists, opposition politicians, judges and prosecutors. He pointed out an alleged trip to the south of the country made by federal judges, a Buenos Aires minister, the attorney of the City of Buenos Aires and leaders of the Clarín media group. The information was published by the pro-government newspaper Página 12.
The delinquent's accusations were harsh, of course, but with respect to the crude corruption scheme orchestrated by Kirchnerism, she said little more than nothing. For the sake of comprehension, dear reader, imagine that someone wrongly accuses you of having stolen money from a cash box. How would you defend yourself? Would you say that the person accusing you is a mobster who only wants to harm you, or would you try to prove your innocence? Think about it.
Apparently, when the delinquent fails to send her bootlickers to squeeze judges, prosecutors feel lost. When she manages to remove them and place her cronies, Justice suddenly seems to work. But not today, of course; today there is the "judicial mafia.” The delinquent, head of a gang of criminals, who orders judges to be squeezed, who launches one threat after another, who stole huge sums of money in a country sunk in misery, etc., does not mince words when it comes to calling someone a "mafioso.” A real gem.
I don’t need prosecutor Luciani to remind me of the fact that the delinquent stole a billion dollars (or more). Luciani asked for 12 years in prison and life disqualification for defrauding the State and for leading an illicit association. However, what surely hurts the delinquent the most is the fact that she must also return 84 billion pesos (about 480 million dollars) stolen from all Argentines.
This is not the delinquent's first confession, since, in addition to other defenses of this type against those who investigate or were investigating her thefts, let’s not forget how she behaved after the murder of Alberto Nisman, the prosecutor who appeared dead mysteriously in his apartment after accusing her of covering up for the Iranian perpetrators of the terrorist attack against the AMIA (Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina) in Buenos Aires (1994), which left 85 dead. After Nisman's murder, in January 2015, the delinquent said that he was killed, then that he committed suicide, and Kirchnerism launched a horrible smear campaign against a dead man who could no longer defend himself. And all this, of course, without offering condolences to Nisman's daughters. Is it not a confession? After all, the prosecutor knew too much and was not afraid to denounce the offender despite all the power she had.
Argentina is rotten: inflation will be in the triple digits by the end of the year, poverty is growing, street crime is out of control and the government of the non-president Alberto Fernandez is lost and putting populist patches to the disasters it makes. Well, nothing new under the Argentine sun.
The Argentine National Team has given a Kirchnerism a hand by winning the World Cup. Labor Minister Kelly Olmos, who in an unusual confession said that it was preferable for the Argentine team to do well in Qatar than to alleviate the crisis, got her wish. "Then we will continue to work against inflation [because] one month is not going to make a big difference." The smokescreen ends immediately after the World Cup and reality will return in all its splendor. In short, we already know what the government's priorities are and what its favorite strategy is: bread and circuses.
During her defense trial after being sentenced by the courts, the delinquent shouted that she has no plans to run in another election. Many wonder what the objective behind this decision is. Doesn't the delinquent need the privileges given to her by politics to avoid jail? The truth is that, in the event that the conviction becomes final, the delinquent will be imprisoned at home and will be able to victimize herself. However, if she runs for president, she will surely suffer a humiliating defeat that she wants no part of. In fact, their tireless attempts to distance herself from Alberto Fernandez is already well-known, as if the latter were not her Government and Alberto her puppet. Her political defenses are only heard by 20% of the hard core of seals who applaud her no matter what she does or says. However, it is advisable not to believe 90% of what they say and the remaining 10% should be taken with a pinch of salt.
The delinquent is between a rock and a hard place, as her repeated confessions prove. All that is left for you to do is to make the least bad decision. Impunity and Kirchnerism are over and there is no alternative.
