Néstor Kirchner, the last president of Argentina, and husband (“first gentleman”?) to the current president, died yesterday. He and his wife have been so frequently vilified in the US media as Argentine analogues to Venezuela’s Chávez, but in comparison to his venal and buffoonish predecessor, Carlos Menem, I think that this couple has been a profound improvement in governance (not to say perfect, obviously… corruption is relative).
I’m surprised at his death – it’s clearly premature. And it rather throws a wrench into the plan of his and his wife’s to rule the newly re-branded People’s Republic of Pampas indefinitely, as an alternating diarchy. Who will replace Fernández de Kirchner, next year?
