MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Kirchner's populist pals criticized

A day after President Néstor Kirchner spoke up for the presidents of Bolivia and Venezuela in a joint press conference with the Spanish Primer Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the Spanish press was not satisfied with the visiting head-of-state's words.

Both left-leaning El País and right-of-centre ABC newspapers were critical of Kirchner's defence of Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and Evo Morales of Bolivia.

But even so, Kirchner's Cabinet Chief Alberto Fernández said the five-day visit to Spain ? which ends today ? had been positive.

Kirchner yesterday met with Argentines who reside in Spain, many of whom left Argentina in the 1970s as exiles under the military dictatorship. In the meeting at the Argentine ambassador's residence in Madrid, Kirchner highlighted his drive to punish members of the military and police responsible for human rights abuses at the time.

The President also criticized the neo-conservative economic policies of fellow-Peronist former president Carlos Menem, which he blames for the economic crisis that hit Argentina in late 2001.

Kirchner's rhetoric has earned him a name abroad alongside Morales and Chávez as a representative of modern Latin American populism.

But yesterday, ABC said he is "attempting to keep an equal distance from orthodox measures ? which are serving him well to pull the country out of the crisis ? and the extravagant populist ideas" of Chávez and Morales.

Morales does not have a good reputation after he nationalized gas reserves, given that Spanish oil and gas firm Repsol-YPF is one of the biggest investors in that sector in Bolivia.

Before meeting with Rodríguez Zapatero, Kirchner met with Spanish business leaders on Thursday and said the meeting had gone well.

Yesterday he justified his intervention in economic matters, something he has been criticized for since people say he is not an economist.

"I like economics, and people get angry at me for it. But, I read, I am self-educated (on the matter). Certain economists get nervous because I intervene. But it is always better to give them (economists) a bit of realism and put their feet on the ground," said Kirchner.

The comment seemed aimed against former economy minister Roberto Lavagna, Kirchner's first economy minister. Lavagna resigned last November over differences with Kirchner. Buenos Aires Herald