By Leila Miller
BUENOS AIRES (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.”
Listening in the Plaza was Andrea Albarracin, 35, a member of Kirchner’s Peronist Justicialista Party.
“I don’t hear a Cristina who has been defeated,” she said.
Maria Teresa Garcia, secretary general of the party, told Reuters that Kirchner would continue to lead because “there isn’t another person who can raise her voice like Cristina.”
‘THEY ARE COMING FOR CRISTINA’
Many who gathered in the last few days outside of Kirchner’s home repeated her claims that her detention – after an original 2022 sentence when she was vice president was upheld by the Supreme Court this month – was an act of political revenge by the right-wing.
“They’re coming for Cristina because she represents and epitomizes everything the concentrated powers of this country detest,” said supporter Christopher Loyola, who backed the Peronists’ big state spending on education, health and science.
That big government focus helped Argentina have one of the strongest social safety nets in the region and boosted the public sector, but money printing to sustain it was partly to blame for years of soaring inflation and deep deficits.
The night that Kirchner’s sentence was upheld, Loyola waited in the cold to show his backing for Kirchner, who while divisive still has some 30% popular support, according to local polls, that gives her influence over the wider Peronist bloc.
Last week, large banners outside Kirchner’s apartment said “Always with Cristina.” Vendors sold T-shirts with Kirchner’s face. Supporters danced as a brass band played “Muchachos,” Argentina’s last soccer World Cup anthem.
Yamila Perdomo, 41, a tour guide who had an Argentine flag draped on her back, had caught a glimpse of Kirchner on her balcony waving to supporters.
“If this can happen to the most powerful woman in our country, imagine what guarantees regular citizens have,” said Perdomo. “We are here in defense of democracy.”
(Reporting by Leila Miller; Editing by Adam Jourdan and Marguerita Choy)
