MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CFK's fractured ankle may be something else

Argentina President Cristina Fernandez suffers from a broken ankle... Or is it something else?

Argentina's president was airlifted from Rio Gallegos to Buenos Aires late on Friday with a broken ankle. But is the Government concealing a more serious health problem?

 Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner Sunday said in her Twitter account (@CFKArgentina) that she was “keeping rest” at the Presidential Olivos residency in the outskirts of Buenos Aires, rejecting versions by the La Nacion newspaper that she was being “locked up” there, while other media reports cast doubt on the accuracy of the fractured ankle version that went public on Friday.

The president had been taken Friday afternoon to the Regional Hospital of Rio Gallegos, which she left in a wheelchair. It was then reported that the MRI and other medical examinations that needed to be done were beyond the facility's technical capabilities and therefore it was decided to airlift the president to the Sanatorio Otamendi in Buenos Aires, where she had already been treated earlier this year of other, unrelated health problems. At about 1 am Saturday, the Presidential Medical Unit confirmed that it was “a non-displaced bimalleolear fracture” of her left ankle following a contusion and that she was prescribed “immobilization, symptomatic treatment and evolutionary control.”

But some media delving deeper into the question seem to spot a few red flags. “She once claimed she had tripped on the Tango 01 stairs while heading for Rio Gallegos, she said on another occasion that she had stumbled onto one of her grandson's toys and now it's a sprained ankle,” the so-called independent Tribuna de Periodistas website published. The fact that the official story mentions a fracture instead of a sprain does not change the nature of things.

“The president is not telling the truth and is mistrustful of her own medical entourage,” the article, signed by Christian Sanz, read. “Hence she decided to 'resign' her [physician] Luis Bonomo, whom she suspected of certain leaks to the press.”

Fernandez's self-centredness and fears are not exactly new. In her December 23 column on the Infobae website, Political Science professor and journalist Maria Zaldivar had described the President's mindset: “Cristina is mistrustful by nature and has a conspirative look on life which makes her lock herself up, amidst a fistful of her nearest ones because she perceives the rest of the world to be hostile.”

Sanz also explained that “the excuse isn't very credible.” He added that “every medical school freshman knows that a simple X ray can detect that kind of injury; there's no need for MRIs or cat-scans.”

“The only thing for certain is that the head of state had a chronic subdural hematoma during 2013, about which no further details were disclosed during this past year,” Sanz expressed.

Due to her broken ankle, Fernandez will not be attending Dilma Roussef's inauguration and will instead be represented by Vicepresident Amado Boudou.