"Without evidence but without doubt": the unusual grounds for banning Cristina Kirchner
Argentina’s vice-president and former president, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, was sentenced on December 6 to six years in prison - plus a lifelong ban on holding public office - after being found guilty of steering public works to a supporter.
The ruling - published three months later, only last Thursday - includes 1,600 pages, which for many in Argentina's right wing-dominated media was in itself "proof."
The ruling, however, was phrased by the court itself as one in which: "we have no evidence, but nor do we doubt" or "it is very difficult to obtain evidence in this type of organization, but it is evident that..." or "all the indications point to..." - seasoned with hundreds of superlative adjectives.
The case itself was marred by violations of due process, notably double jeopardy (Kirchner had already been acquitted on the same charges) and the court's allowing Federal Prosecutor Diego Luciani to introduce evidence in closing statements: text messages which seemed to implicate relatives of her arch-rival, former President Mauricio Macri, far more than Kirchner-era officials.
The federal tribunal overseeing the case - led by judges Andrés Basso, Jorge Gorini, and Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu - thus limited the political rights of millions of citizens, given that most polls show that Vice President Kirchner, 70, would give the ruling, center-left Front for All coalition its best chance in elections this October should she be the nominee.
And the political benefit to banning Kirchner has not been lost on Argentina's right-wing Together for Change coalition - who are seeking to return to power after being swept out in 2019 on the heels of a foreign debt bubble crash known locally as the "Macrisis."
Kirchner's defense counsel, Carlos Beraldi, had sought to recuse Judge Rodrigo Giménez Uriburu and Luciani after photos emerged in August showing the two beaming after playing soccer on Macri's estate.
Beraldi also sought in August to recuse Judge Jorge Gorini after proof emerged he had conferred with Macri's hard-line former Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich - was was similarly rebuffed by the tribunal itself.
Bullrich's top adviser during Macri's 2015-19 term, Gerardo Milman, is currently under investigation for potential links to a fascist "Federal Revolution" plot to assassinate Kirchner last September.
A history of coups and lawfare
To Mrs. Kirchner, the assassination attempt - together with her conviction and banning three months later - jeopardizes the democratic pact between the political parties, and seeks to end what has been the first forty years of uninterrupted democracy in Argentina's 207 years of independence.
And as if to underscore the authoritarian intent of the ruling, Judge Giménez Uriburu is the son-in-law of the late Army Chief of Staff Cristino Nicolaides - the leading opponent of the last dictatorship's decision in 1983 to hold elections.
Argentina has had a long and sordid history of "lawfare" - the use of the judiciary to persecute political opponents.
The country's three most prominent founding fathers - José de San Martín (Argentina's George Washington), Manuel Belgrano (its Thomas Jefferson), and Mariano Moreno (its Thomas Paine) - all endured baseless corruption allegations once the local landowning elite deemed them to be too reformist.
Argentina's first democratically-elected president, Hipólito Yrigoyen, was similarly smeared by conservative opponents before and after the 1930 coup against him - the first in a series of increasingly tragic coups until 1976, which ushered in a fascist dictatorship that worked lock-step with landed elites but killed up to 30,000 and bankrupted Argentina.
The 1930 coup was endorsed by the country's Supreme Court - which even today is closely aligned with right-wing interests, to the point of unilaterally ordering changes to the federal budget and reinstating laws rescinded by Congress years earlier.
Few doubt that should Kirchner run for president this year, her conviction (currently under appeal) is likely to be confirmed within weeks or even days of the election - all but guaranteeing the pro-Macri opposition's return.
Macri's first central bank president, Federico Sturzenegger - who himself had fraud charges dismissed after Macri took office in 2016, over a ruinous 2001 debt swap - was called to testify today over public threats to "seize (progressive cable network) C5N" and Kirchner's own assets should Together for Change win this October.
At: https://www-pagina12-com-ar.translate.goog/530635-sin-pruebas-pero-sin-dudas?_x_tr_sl=es&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner waves to supporters shortly before her conviction last December of steering public works during her 2007-15 tenure.
Convicted, and banned from holding public office, on a circumstantial case - as the court itself admitted, noting in its ruling that "we have no evidence" - Kirchner's ban has been compared to similar cases against Brazilian President Luiz "Lula" da Silva and former Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa.
da Silva was convicted of bribery on the eve of the 2018 election, based on a waterfront property he never owned and the testimony of a contractor kept in a rat-infested dungeon; the sentence was later vacated by Brazil's Supreme Court.
And Correa's 2020 sentence - like Kirchner's - was based, that court conceded, not on evidence but on "psychological pressure."
From the days of the Inquisition, Latin America has a long and sordid history of "lawfare" against figures who run afoul of landed elites.
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Besides the arbitrary, banana-republic nature of her prosecution, there is - as you mentioned - the very real danger that the RW will inflict another foreign debt crisis on Argentina.
Take out $100 billion in foreign loans, use most of it allow elites to dollarize (and offshore) assets - and then leave the country holding the bag.
And that, would be an injustice against 46 million people - most of whom are good, God-fearing and law-abiding people just trying to get by.
For Macri's gang, Mrs. Kirchner is simply the biggest obstacle in their way of that - having largely succeeded in discrediting the unlucky Mr. Fernández.
Qué será.
Have a great week, Judi. Happy Spring! 
