MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Mrs. Kirchner on the international campaign trail

Argentina's First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez

Argentina's First Lady, Senator Cristina Fernandez and a serious candidate to succeed her husband if President Nestor Kirchner finally does not run for reelection next October, is back on the international trail on a high exposure tour.

Next Tuesday Mrs Kirchner will be flying to Ecuador and Venezuela for a four days visit with the purpose of strengthening her profile as a possible presidential candidate following on a recent "successful" experience in France. In Ecuador the Argentine First Lady will be visiting the country's two main cities, Quito the capital and Guayaquil, and is scheduled to meet with President Rafael Correa at least on two occasions, with the purpose of advancing of strategic cooperation in such areas as agriculture, food and production. A particularly interesting issue will be Mrs Kirchner's conference on Argentina's post default experience and drastic debt relief program when the Kirchner administration finally managed to convince most creditors to accept a 75% face value reduction on defaulted sovereign bonds. An achievement considered one of the most successful debt restructuring operations and which the Ecuadorian administration of President Correa would like to repeat. Contrary to France where she was accompanied by a small delegation headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Jorge Taiana, this week Senator Fernandez is traveling with a larger committee including Economy minister Felisa Miceli and the leading members of her team. In Caracas besides the official contacts including President Hugo Chavez who was in Argentina a couple of weeks ago, the First Lady will be giving a conference to the Jewish community of Venezuela that is not in good terms with the current administration. President Chavez, an ally of Ecuador's Correa and a strong financial supporter of Argentina is also closely associated with the regime of Iran that denies the Holocaust, preaches the elimination of the state of Israel and sending the Israeli population to Europe. Mrs Kirchner a declared admirer of Mrs Hillary Clinton who is running for the US presidency, has established a strong relation with the Jewish Community both in Argentina and New York. Last week she was present together with several members of the Argentine cabinet at the fifteenth anniversary of the bombing of Israel's embassy in Buenos Aires in 1992, where all speakers openly condemned Iran for sponsoring anti Israel terrorist groups. Following on Argentine prosecutors' presentations, Interpol last week decided to issue arrest warrants for several Iranian top officials allegedly linked to another terrorist action in Buenos Aires, in 1994, against a Jewish community organization which killed over eighty people and injured hundreds. However Iran's closest ally in Latinamerica, President Hugo Chavez two Fridays ago was the main speaker at a huge political rally in Buenos Aires lashing at US president George Bush and the first leg of a counter tour of the region which included Bolivia, Nicaragua and Haiti. At the time President Bush was visiting Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.