Lurid allegations of murder and drug smuggling have overshadowed the build-up to this weekend’s primary elections in Argentina as outgoing president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner attempts to ensure a Peronist ally follows her to the Pink House.
The claims have been leveled against the president’s cabinet chief, Aníbal Fernández, who a convicted gangster recently claimed was living a double life as a trafficking kingpin known as “the Walrus”.
The ruling camp say the story has been fabricated by the opposition and the powerful Clarín media group – which has often clashed with President Fernández – in an attempt to dent the popularity of Peronist candidates ahead of Sunday’s open party primaries. The vote, in which Argentinians can vote for any candidate from any party, will offer a gauge of public opinion ahead of the presidential election on 25 October.
Opinion polls suggest Fernández’s preferred successor, Daniel Scioli – the current governor of Buenos Aires – is ahead of his rivals. He will run uncontested as the candidate of the ruling Frente Para la Victoria (Victory Front) this Sunday, while the conservative opposition alliance Cambiemos (Let’s Change) will see three candidates challenge for the nomination, including the frontrunner Mauricio Macri, the mayor of Buenos Aires.
But the campaign has been overshadowed by press reports claiming that the president’s righthand man Fernández masterminded the murder of three drug smugglers who triangulated the sale of vast amounts of the prescription drug ephedrine (used for the production of methamphetamine) between China and Mexico via Argentina in 2008.
Although press accusations of involvement with drug cartels have been raised before, these reached fever pitch this week after one of the criminals convicted for the triple murder alleged on the country’s most-watched television news programme Periodismo Para Todos that it was Fernández, then the justice minister, who had given the order.
Speaking from prison, convict Martín Lanatta claimed Fernández ordered the killings to elbow his way into the profitable business.
“The ephedrine-smuggling business ended up entirely in the hands of Aníbal Fernández with intelligence people,” said Lanatta.
He and another witness linked to the drug ring, José Luis Salerno, claimed Fernández was known under the code name “the Walrus” because of his abundant mustache.
The cabinet chief has denied the accusations. “I’m leading the polls,” said Fernández, who is running for governor of Buenos Aires province in the October elections. “They’re trying to keep me from becoming governor.”
The more sober side of the campaign has focused on the extent to which the next president will continue the Kirchnerist policies of the past 12 years, particularly with regard to workers’ rights, fighting inequality, controls on the economy and relations with international financial markets. Macri has promised a change of direction and more business-friendly policies.
Scioli is considered a relatively moderate figure inside the Peronist movement, but he has chosen a key ally of Fernández as his running mate and adopted a leftist stance in campaign speeches praising trade unions and pledging increased spending on public works and education.
Critics claim the outgoing president will maintain a strong influence if he wins. Scioli derided suggestions that Fernández will be a backseat driver.
“You know what, I’m going to do it my way,” he told supporters on Thursday, pledging to fight inflation and make Argentina more attractive to foreign investment.
(The Guardian)
