Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner is an Argentine lawyer and politician who served as the country’s president between 2007 and 2015. She was Argentina’s second female president and the country’s first female president elected directly. Her husband, Néstor Kirchner, was president from 2003 to 2007, and she took over as president after he stepped down. She began her legal career after graduating from the National University of La Plata. Despite sympathizing with the Peronist Youth throughout her university years, she did not participate in any noteworthy political activities as a young woman. In the late 1980s, she entered politics when she was elected to the Santa Cruz Provincial Legislature in 1989. Her political career took off in the 1990s, and she was elected to the Senate to represent Santa Cruz. Her husband’s political career was also on the rise at the time, and she assisted him in his successful presidential campaign in 2003. She also served as an itinerant ambassador for the government as the country’s First Lady. Néstor Kirchner declined to run for re-election in 2007, instead proposing Cristina Kirchner, who was elected president and took office in December 2007.
Childhood and Adolescence
Eduardo Fernández, a bus driver, and Ofelia Esther Wilhelm had Cristina Elisabet Fernández on February 19, 1953 in La Plata, Argentina.
During the 1970s, she studied law at the National University of La Plata. She met Néstor Kirchner here, whom she would subsequently marry in 1975. She was a member of the Peronist Youth movement as a student, however, she did not engage in any major political activities.
The Career of Cristina
Argentina went through a period of political turmoil in the 1970s. The 1976 Argentine coup d’état removed then-president Isabel Peron, and the military junta took control of Argentina. Cristina Kirchner and her husband moved from La Plata to Rio Gallegos to work as lawyers during this time.
Argentina regained democracy in 1983, and Cristina began her political career later that year. Kirchner attended the Justicialist (Peronist) Party (PJ) conference in 1985 as a provincial delegate. During this time, her spouse also became a successful politician.
In 1989, she was elected to the Santa Cruz Provincial Legislature, and she was re-elected in 1993. She was elected to the Senate in 1995 and the Chamber of Deputies in 1997 to represent Santa Cruz. In 2001, she was re-elected to the Senate.
Nestor Kirchner was well established in his career at this point, and he was aiming for the president. Cristina volunteered for her husband’s presidential campaign but did not appear in public. In May 2003, her husband was sworn in as the President of Argentina.
Cristina rose to the position of First Lady while also acting as an itinerant ambassador for her husband’s government. Due to her style of speaking, she was frequently likened to former First Lady Eva Perón, the second wife of former President Juan Perón.
Néstor Kirchner declined to seek re-election in 2007 and instead proposed Cristina. She embarked on a vigorous campaign and was sworn in as the President of Argentina on December 10, 2007. She was Argentina’s second female president, after Isabel Martnez de Perón, and the first elected to the position.
In 2008, she implemented a new sliding-scale taxing scheme for agricultural exports, substantially hiking duties on soybean exports from 35% to 44%. Farmers were enraged, and farming associations across the country went on strike.
The country was engulfed in a series of violent protests, and it took a long time for things to return to normal. Her popularity suffered as a result of this episode, but she was able to recover.
She introduced a universal child benefit plan to combat poverty in 2009, with the goal of reaching around five million children and teenagers. The program was a success, reducing poverty and increasing school attendance rates.
Her administration finished the debt exchange began by her husband Néstor Kirchner in 2005 in 2010, eliminating 92 percent of the bad debt leftover from the country’s sovereign default in 2001.
In the same year, she spoke at the Global Summit of the International Trade Union Confederation (CSI) in Vancouver, Canada.
She made a historic journey to Peru in March 2010 and attended the bicentennial of Venezuela’s independence festivities in April in an effort to strengthen ties with other Latin American countries. In addition, she inked 25 trade agreements with Venezuela in the areas of food, technology, and energy.
In 2011, she ran for re-election and was elected again. Her second tenure as president proved to be more difficult than the first. She had little success in taming Argentina’s soaring inflation, which was endangering the country’s economy.
During her tenure, there were also claims of crony capitalism, manipulation of official statistics, persecution of Argentina’s independent media, and the use of the tax agency as a censorship tool, among other things.
She stood down from the presidency on December 10, 2015, after being barred by the constitution from seeking another term in the 2015 presidential election.
Cristina’s Major Projects
In October 2009, as president, she introduced a universal child benefit plan to combat poverty, with the goal of reaching nearly five million children and teenagers. The program increased school attendance while also assisting in poverty reduction.
Achievements & Awards
During Cristina Kirchner’s visit to Peru in 2010, Peruvian President Alan Garcia bestowed the country’s highest honor, the Order of the Sun, on her.
Personal History and Legacy
She met Néstor Kirchner while studying at the National University of La Plata, and they married in 1975. Máximo and Florencia were the couple’s two children. In 2010, her husband passed away.
Estimated Net worth
Cristina Kirchner has a net worth of $115 million USD. Cristina Kirchner is an Argentinian politician. Cristina Elisabet Fernandez de Kirchner was born in February 1953 in La Plata, Argentina.
She was Argentina’s 52nd and current President. Kirchner’s widow, Kircher, is the former president’s widow. She was Argentina’s first female president elected directly and the first woman to be re-elected. She also happens to be Argentina’s second female president.