MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

CFK anticipates to huge rally that Kirchnerism will continue after December

“We're after twelve summers for Argentina, so please let us ensure the thirteenth summer”, said Cristina Fernandez

Argentine president Cristina Fernandez (CFK) demanded that the “current twelve year transformation process of Argentina” and Peronism continue in office and underlined that this objective does not depend on one person, but on the people's voting and defending all that was conquered in the last twelve years.

 Cristina Fernandez made the statements during the Monday 25 May Revolution celebrations, her last as head of state, addressing a huge crowd packed in downtown Buenos Aires at the iconic Plaza de Mayo, fully illuminated for the occasion.

“We're after twelve summers for Argentina, so please let us ensure the thirteenth summer”, said Cristina Fernandez in clear reference to the twelve years in office of her late husband Nestor Kirchner and herself, and looking ahead to October's presidential election, hopefully with another Peronism victory.

Although the motive of the celebration was the 1810 May Revolution, little was said about the event 205 years ago and much about paying tribute to her husband Nestor Kirchner, while warning that certain figures in the opposition wished to return Argentina to the turmoil of the 1970s and 90s.

“The ones who are really from the 70s, and ideological fanatics are those who want to return to the 90s or to the violence of the 70s,” the head of state told a packed iconic Plaza de Mayo in a speech transmitted on national broadcast.

CFK recalled the day former president Néstor Kirchner began his mandate, 12 years ago on 25 May 2003.

“When he said that he was not going to leave his convictions at the door of Government House, some said he was from the 70s and an ideological fanatic,” Cristina said.

“We are the government of change and transformation... Néstor had to rebuild and bring together the pieces of the country that had been left [after the crisis of 2001]”.

During her speech, the head of state affirmed that the future of Peronism at the head of the national government did not hang on any one candidate, but a “collective project”.

“It is not about leaving or staying. This is a collective project, not one person's. It depends on all of you so that it deepens,” she cautioned those gathered in the Plaza.

The Argentine president also looked back to the rejection of the Latin American Trade Agreement by Kirchner, Brazil's Lula Da Silva and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in the Americas Summit held in Mar del Plata and attended by former US president George W. Bush, and sent a message to trade unions to continue defending collective salary agreements.

“I hope that after December 10 union leaders give the same force and commitment to obtain the raises and benefits that Argentine workers have managed in the last 12 years,” she affirmed, referring to the official end of her second term at the end of 2015.

It is estimated that over a million people participated in the various cultural events and rally staged by the Argentine government to celebrate the anniversary of the 1820 May Revolution, and Nestor Kirchner's first term in office inauguration in 2003, the 'transformation' period.

Concerts, music, and a food fair were the prelude to the closing rally headed by the head of state which began at 6.30 pm. Buenos Aires time and continued well into midnight at the Plaza de Mayo.