WHEN NÉSTOR Kirchner was sworn in as president in May 2003 he vowed to root out the culture of corruption that many Argentinians blamed as a major contributing factor to the economic breakdown of 2001.
Emboldened by this pledge, judges went after former president Carlos Menem, whose 10 years in power up to 1999 became notorious for the continuous stream of corruption scandals that tumbled off the front pages – but no one ever ended up being held accountable.
Now, eight years on, Menem sits unmolested in the senate, where he votes loyally with the government of Cristina Kirchner.
Meanwhile, the Kirchner family’s declared assets have increased in value by more than 600 per cent. The local press frequently runs stories of their shady business dealings, many involving lucrative land deals.
But inquiries have been quietly shelved by prosecutors.
Potentially the most dramatic accusation of wrongdoing involving the administration emerged last year when Argentina’s former ambassador to Venezuela said Argentinian companies were paying hundreds of millions of dollars in backhanders to the Kirchner administration for the right to win lucrative business contracts in Venezuela.
Ambassador Eduardo Sadous claimed in testimony to congress that planning minister Julio de Vido, an old ally of the Kirchners from their home province in Patagonia, maintained a “parallel embassy” in Caracas in order to manage the scheme.
Néstor Kirchner and his ally Hugo Chávez had signed agreements granting Argentina the right to supply Venezuela with food, machinery and medicines as part of broader efforts to cement a leftist alliance between the two populist regimes.
Following the agreements, trade between the two countries ballooned from $126 million to $2.6 billion in 2009. Over a year after the ambassador’s allegations, opposition members of congress have made little headway in their investigation into the case. The government denies all wrongdoing.
