MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

”Cristina Fernandez, the (elected) president with most power in the history of Argentina”

Carlos Corach, former Interior minister of President Carlos Menem

President Cristina Fernandez has more power than Juan Domingo Peron “ever had” and Peronism in Argentina is guarantee of governance, according to Carlos Corach a former Interior minister from former President Carlos Menem administration and a respected solicitor and political analyst.

“Cristina Fernandez is probably the president which has enjoyed more power in the history of Argentina. I’d say even more, she has more power than what Peron had. Peron had to deal and negotiate with very strong corporations, and economic and political sectors”, said the former minister.

Corach added that Peron (the Army Colonel who was president from 1946/1952, re-elected in 1952 but ousted by a military coup in 1955, to return triumphantly in 1973) had to learn to live with the Armed Forces, a very powerful Catholic Church and an opposition that also had strong and charismatic leaders”.

“Currently the majority of those players don’t hold such positions. So the conclusion then is that CFK is the most powerful (elected) president in Argentine history”. However “a democratic and political system need of counter balances for a political equilibrium and that today is non existent”.

Corach admitted that the evolution of policy in recent years has led to this situation and recalled a famous Peronism party congress back in 2001, which he identified as “the beginning of the very strong institutional deterioration process” suffered by Argentina.

Asked specifically about Kirchnerism and its quest for power concentration, Corach said that political science shows “that power leads to the concentration of power” and admitted that Peronism “has in its DNA a strong tendency to concentrate power”.

“All of us Peronists have committed mistakes, in the government of Peron, in Menem’s and under the current administration. We all committed mistakes but nevertheless the Argentine electorate continues to vote for Peronism and this is because it has internally engraved that Peronism is the guarantee for governance” in Argentina.

Likewise Corach said that there are “great similarities” between Menemism and Kirchnerism, and Carlos Menem and Nestor Kirchner “had much in common”.

“They both implemented socio-economic plans that were prevalent in the economic thinking at the global stage of their time. Likewise and I said so on leaving office in 1999, ‘Menemism’ does not exist because they are political currents which nurture on the charismatic personality of a leader or the political boss at the time. What remains is the essence of Peronism and it’s very close link with the trade unions’ movement”, added Corach.

Finally he recalled that when former president Nestor Kirchner was governor of the province of Santa Cruz “we had regular and standing contacts, he would come regularly to my office, many times with (Federal Planning Minister Julio) De Vido, and I have travelled many times to the province and Rio Gallegos. We shared lunch quite often at the Governor’s residence, with his wife and my wife”.