Source: Reuters

On a Buenos Aires residential street, two protesters painted a telling image in colorful strokes: a portrait of a lone woman on her balcony overlooking a mass of people below.

The figure was one of Argentina’s most prominent politicians in the last two decades – leading opposition leader and former first lady and two-time president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, who was put under house arrest last week in a six-year sentence for corruption.

It means the end of a political career – at least formally – for the 72-year-old, a divisive populist whose big government model is now being dismantled by the “chainsaw” austerity of libertarian President Javier Milei. The sentence also bans Kirchner, who had announced plans to run for Buenos Aires province’s legislature, from public office.

That second-floor balcony – the one place from which Kirchner can now rally her base due to her city apartment lockdown – is becoming a focal point for supporters on the Peronist left, with her detention putting a spotlight back on her as a symbol of resistance to Milei.

“It gives Cristina’s leadership political clout that she was losing,” said Camila Perochena, a historian at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Buenos Aires.

“This gives her extra life.”
Kirchner’s house arrest has brought tens of thousands of protesters into the streets of Buenos Aires in recent days, and injected much-needed energy into her movement, which had been battling internal divisions and disillusionment, especially since losing the 2023 presidential election to Milei.

“This puts her right in the center of the political stage,” Juan Grabois, a prominent leftist social leader and a close ally of Kirchner, told Reuters.

‘WE WILL RETURN’

At least in the short term, experts said the corruption sentence linked to roadway contracts would help Kirchner, though longer-term it remains to be seen if she can effectively wield influence without being able to attend rallies and events in person.

Last Wednesday, Kirchner was in her home serving house arrest while in the central Plaza de Mayo, her voice boomed from huge loudspeakers before crowds that had marched in downtown Buenos Aires.

“We will return, and what’s more we will return with more wisdom, more unity, more strength,” she told supporters in a pre-recorded message. “From wherever I am, from whatever trench, I will do everything I can to be there with you.”

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