Cristina Kirchner, the fiery ex-president who dominated Argentine politics for 12 years along with her late husband Nestor, remains as divisive out of office as she was while in power.
Her controversial legacy took a new hit Tuesday when she was charged in a corruption case and slapped with a $630-million fine.
Kirchner (2007-2015), is accused of favoring a construction magnate friend, Lazaro Baez, for public contracts in Patagonia, her southern political bastion.
The 63-year-old former president denies wrongdoing and calls the charges "political persecution."
And she still has a powerful support base to back her up.
Nearly every time she appears in court, swarms of protesters gather outside to denounce her opponents and proclaim their undying allegiance to Cristina.
To her working-class base, Kirchner and her husband are saviors who salvaged Argentina after a 2001 economic crisis and stood up for the little guy.
To her generally better-off opponents, she is an uncompromising bully who steered the economy back into recession and embarrassed the country with nasty attacks against her favorite foes.
They included the old Falklands War enemy Britain, big media conglomerates whose empires she sought to dismantle, and "vulture" fund capitalists who sued Argentina over its defaulted debt.
- Sidelined? -
Kirchner took office in 2007, vowing to continue the work started by her husband and predecessor.
Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) had inherited an economy in shambles after what was then the largest sovereign debt default in history.
But he turned it around thanks to booming demand for Argentine agricultural exports and his tough negotiations to restructure most of the country's $100 billion in privately held debt.
He and his wife were widely expected to continue their term-for-term tango, but he died of a heart attack in 2010.
Cristina Kirchner, a former senator and experienced politician in her own right, defended his legacy all the more combatively and won re-election in 2011.
She stood down last year -- when term limits barred her from running again -- with an approval rating of more than 50 percent. But she failed to get her chosen successor elected.
Argentines voted for the center-right businessman Mauricio Macri instead.
Kirchner now accuses his camp of trumping up charges against her to sideline her from the political scene.
- Power couple -
Born in La Plata, near Buenos Aires, Kirchner met Nestor as a 20-year-old student and married him six months later.
They got their start in national politics in Santa Cruz province in Patagonia, where Nestor became governor and Cristina a senator.
Kirchner has sought to channel the legacy of Eva Peron, the adored first lady of the populist president Juan Peron in the 1940s and 50s.
But while many Argentines worship Evita, Kirchner's legacy is darker.
She also stands accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollar futures at artificially low prices, causing Argentina to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
And critics continue to link her to the mysterious 2015 death of Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor who had accused her of obstructing his investigation into a 1994 bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center.
Those allegations have been thrown out in several courts.
Meanwhile, some supporters already tout Kirchner as a presidential candidate for 2019.
Asked last year how he thought she would spend her post-presidential life, her former chief of staff Anibal Fernandez said she "won't just stay home picking roses or taking care of the grandkids."
Kirchner has two children: Maximo, a congressman, and Florencia.
Cristina Kirchner, the fiery ex-president who dominated Argentine politics for 12 years along with her late husband Nestor, remains as divisive out of office as she was while in power.
Her controversial legacy took a new hit Tuesday when she was charged in a corruption case and slapped with a $630-million fine.
Kirchner (2007-2015), is accused of favoring a construction magnate friend, Lazaro Baez, for public contracts in Patagonia, her southern political bastion.
The 63-year-old former president denies wrongdoing and calls the charges “political persecution.”
And she still has a powerful support base to back her up.
Nearly every time she appears in court, swarms of protesters gather outside to denounce her opponents and proclaim their undying allegiance to Cristina.
To her working-class base, Kirchner and her husband are saviors who salvaged Argentina after a 2001 economic crisis and stood up for the little guy.
To her generally better-off opponents, she is an uncompromising bully who steered the economy back into recession and embarrassed the country with nasty attacks against her favorite foes.
They included the old Falklands War enemy Britain, big media conglomerates whose empires she sought to dismantle, and “vulture” fund capitalists who sued Argentina over its defaulted debt.
– Sidelined? –
Kirchner took office in 2007, vowing to continue the work started by her husband and predecessor.
Nestor Kirchner (2003-2007) had inherited an economy in shambles after what was then the largest sovereign debt default in history.
But he turned it around thanks to booming demand for Argentine agricultural exports and his tough negotiations to restructure most of the country’s $100 billion in privately held debt.
He and his wife were widely expected to continue their term-for-term tango, but he died of a heart attack in 2010.
Cristina Kirchner, a former senator and experienced politician in her own right, defended his legacy all the more combatively and won re-election in 2011.
She stood down last year — when term limits barred her from running again — with an approval rating of more than 50 percent. But she failed to get her chosen successor elected.
Argentines voted for the center-right businessman Mauricio Macri instead.
Kirchner now accuses his camp of trumping up charges against her to sideline her from the political scene.
– Power couple –
Born in La Plata, near Buenos Aires, Kirchner met Nestor as a 20-year-old student and married him six months later.
They got their start in national politics in Santa Cruz province in Patagonia, where Nestor became governor and Cristina a senator.
Kirchner has sought to channel the legacy of Eva Peron, the adored first lady of the populist president Juan Peron in the 1940s and 50s.
But while many Argentines worship Evita, Kirchner’s legacy is darker.
She also stands accused of ordering the central bank to sell dollar futures at artificially low prices, causing Argentina to lose hundreds of millions of dollars.
And critics continue to link her to the mysterious 2015 death of Alberto Nisman, a prosecutor who had accused her of obstructing his investigation into a 1994 bombing at a Buenos Aires Jewish center.
Those allegations have been thrown out in several courts.
Meanwhile, some supporters already tout Kirchner as a presidential candidate for 2019.
Asked last year how he thought she would spend her post-presidential life, her former chief of staff Anibal Fernandez said she “won’t just stay home picking roses or taking care of the grandkids.”
Kirchner has two children: Maximo, a congressman, and Florencia.
