Why Kirchner’s Comeback Goes Through Argentine Court

Former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who returned to the public eye after winning a seat to the Senate in 2017, is running for vice-president while standing trial for alleged corruption charges stemming from her presidency and that of her late husband, Nestor Kirchner. The unexpected results of primaries on Aug. 11 boosted the chances that Argentina will see a return to Kirchner’s populist and protectionist policies. With several other prosecutions pending, the notoriously slow nature of the nation’s judicial system makes a resolution highly unlikely before voters return to the polls on Oct. 27.

In the trial that began on May 21, she’s accused of leading an "illicit association" with other government officials and businessman Lazaro Baez, whose companies received numerous public works contracts in the province of Santa Cruz while she was president, from 2007 to 2015. (The case also covers the presidency of her husband, from 2003 to 2007, who was governor of Santa Cruz for over a decade before taking on country’s top job.) Separate prosecutions that haven’t yet reached oral trial allege that Baez repaid the Kirchners’ with exorbitant amounts to stay at their family-owned hotels in Patagonia without actually using the rooms. The defense argues that there’s no way to prove that Kirchner explicitly doled out contracts to Baez in order to be paid back via hotel stays.