http://tangocountry.zoomblog.com/ Interesting news commentaries about Argentina and, sometimes, other Latin Amer es 2006-08-08T16:40:00-03:00 Sun, 06 Jul 2008 06:31:29 GMT hourly 1 2000-01-01T12:00+00:00 http://www.zoomblog.com/pics/blogs/ZoomBlog_mini.gif http://www.zoomblog.com/ http://tangocountry.zoomblog.com/archive/2006/08/08/just-Who-Is-Nestor-Kirchner.html http://tangocountry.zoomblog.com/archive/2006/08/08/just-Who-Is-Nestor-Kirchner.html Kirchner was governor of the Patagonian Province of Santa Cruz, a vast area stretching from the Atlantic Ocean to the Andes. It is cold and for the most part a barren province. But it has oil. And it has very large ore deposits. It has priviledged fishing along the South Atlantic coast and lots of good sheep grazing on its plains. A lot more sheep than people. The population is just under 200,000.
As Governor, Kirchner changed the province's constitution so he could be re-elected over and over again. He was the virtual owner of the province and exerted his dictatorial powers accordingly. Kirchner muzzled the media and members of his family were (and still are) in all top government positions.

Kirchner's wife, Cristina Fernandez, was senator for Santa Cruz, but soon after her husband became president with 22% of the votes, she was magically transformed into Senator for the Province of Buenos Aires, the richest in the country.

Kirchner now rules by decree, violating the constitution and totally by-passing Congress. Opposition is weak, almost non-existent. From dictator ruling over 200,000 souls, he is now Dictator of a nation of 38-million. ]]> 2006-08-08T16:40:00-03:00 Pete35