Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner pushes back, calling her indictment political persecution.
Hours after being indicted by Federal Judge Julián Ercolini for her alleged involvement in orchestrating a scheme to embezzle public funds through public works contracts during her administration, former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner took to social media to weigh in on the issue.
In a letter entitled “Postcards for New Year's Eve,” Fernández de Kirchner claimed to be the victim of political persecution and criticized Macri, his administration and the judges in charge of the cases against her, a number of whom have a record of routinely clearing Macri allies even in cases where public documentation proves wrongdoing.
Her indictment comes as polls show the populist former president running ahead of two major candidates in the key Buenos Aires Province Senate race next year, with Macri's candidate coming in third.
Recession and political prisoners
Macri, who took office a year ago, is facing falling approval ratings despite favorable media coverage as the recession worsens. GDP was reported today to have fallen 4.7% in October over the same time last year - the deepest recession since the 2002 debacle.
“They fired the Economy Minister after claiming the economy is doing very well. That’s why Macri is on vacation until next year. In flooded Pergamino they sent people not to help but to repress them. Argentina spent the first Christmas with political prisoners since democracy returned,” she wrote in reference to the imprisonment of indigenous social leader Milagro Sala since January.
Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the OAS, and the UN - as well as Pope Francis - consider Sala a political prisoner and have called for her immediate release.
Double standards
Fernández argued that the multiple court rulings against her illustrate how the judicial system is being partial, favoring the Macri administration or its allies in cases such as the dollar futures scandal (in which the Central Bank lost $4 billion - but many in Macri's entourage profited - when he devalued the peso by 40% overnight last year).
“Judge Ercolini, whose wife is a spokesperson for Macri's Minister of Justice, now calls our constitutional administrations criminal conspiracies,” Fernández said, adding that this was the same methodology used by Argentina's right-wing dictatorships to persecute political opponents in the past.
“As writer José Saramago said,” Fernández concluded, “real power doesn’t show itself and doesn’t run for office. No one chooses it and it doesn’t like to be named or pointed at. And that’s what we did: show what could not be shown, judge what could not be judged, say what was forbidden to mention. Doing that has a price; nothing is free.”
At: http://www.thebubble.com/criminal-conspiracy-cfk-denounces-political-persecution-orchestrated-by-the-government/